# Very interesting problem..



## topher415 (Nov 13, 2013)

So this is a kind of hard situation to explain so bare with me. Let me start off by saying there is no way we are going to open up the wall it has a 100,000$ finish on it so thats out of the question. It is a wall hung toilet carrier (gerbrit) with a plastic 90 coming off the back. We always put a 3" test tee with a test ballon a couple feet down the line (the one that screws into the test tee and you blow it up). well unfortunately we forgot to take the test ballon out before they covered the wall up. so basically we are trying to cut the rubber off the ballon inside of the 3" pipe with a sharpened snake bit. We have already cut about half of the ballon off but this last little bit seems pretty stubborn. I'm just looking for some ideas. If more info is needed just post in this thread please.

One more piece of info that may or may not help all the pipe is cast iron except for the 90 that comes off the toilet carrier is abs.

thanks


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## PlungerJockey (Feb 19, 2010)

Go post an intro and get ready to pay to have that wall refinished.


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## topher415 (Nov 13, 2013)

PlungerJockey said:


> Go post an intro and get ready to pay to have that wall refinished.


i will post an intro but there has to be another way besides taking that wall apart.


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## rjbphd (Feb 5, 2010)

topher415 said:


> i will post an intro but there has to be another way besides taking that wall apart.


You want answer??? Post a full intro with ur credit card number


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## topher415 (Nov 13, 2013)

rjbphd said:


> You want answer??? Post a full intro with ur credit card number


Hahah I thought this was a forum where people SHARE ideas not charge for them.


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## rjbphd (Feb 5, 2010)

topher415 said:


> Hahah I thought this was a forum where people SHARE ideas not charge for them.


Only with licensed plumbers.... all others we get paid


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## topher415 (Nov 13, 2013)

rjbphd said:


> Only with licensed plumbers.... all others we get paid


I am a licensed plumber. My intro has my company and we have a website you can check out.


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## younger-plumber (Sep 12, 2008)

i cant believe leaving the ball in the test tee is a valid option. own up to the situation. cut the wall take the ball out. install some fancy cleanout cover and move on. cutting the rubber off of the test ball is ghetto...


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## topher415 (Nov 13, 2013)

younger-plumber said:


> i cant believe leaving the ball in the test tee is a valid option. own up to the situation. cut the wall take the ball out. install some fancy cleanout cover and move on. cutting the rubber off of the test ball is ghetto...


This is a multimillion dollar remodel we are talking about. there is no way they will accept a clean out cover on a wall that cost them $100,000. We have owned up to the problem and they want us to try every option before taking the wall down. IF we can cut the rubber off of the test ballon there will still be the plastic piece that screws into the test tee acting as the plug.. The test tee is like in the middle of the wall its not in a place you will not notice a clean out cover.


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

So who put the wall up without leaving access to the cleanout the test plug was installed in?

What does your code say about access to cleanouts?:whistling2:

In the land of IPC...

708.4 Concealed piping. Cleanouts on concealed piping or piping under a floor slab or in a crawl space of less than 24 inches (610 mm) in height or a plenum shall be extended through and terminate flush with the finished wall, floor or ground surface or shall be extended to the outside of the building. Cleanout plugs shall not be covered with cement, plaster or any other permanent finish material. Where it is necessary to conceal a cleanout or to terminate a cleanout in an area subject to vehicular traffic, the covering plate, access door or cleanout shall be of an approved type designed and installed for this purpose.

708.9 Access. Access shall be provided to all cleanouts.

It's hard for me to believe that the UPC & California Plumbing Code would not have similar provisions...


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## rjbphd (Feb 5, 2010)

topher415 said:


> This is a multimillion dollar remodel we are talking about. there is no way they will accept a clean out cover on a wall that cost them $100,000. We have owned up to the problem and they want us to try every option before taking the wall down. IF we can cut the rubber off of the test ballon there will still be the plastic piece that screws into the test tee acting as the plug..


Then what's good is the plug if the service plumber have no access to it??


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## topher415 (Nov 13, 2013)

rjbphd said:


> Then what's good is the plug if the service plumber have no access to it??





Redwood said:


> So who put the wall up without leaving access to the cleanout the test plug was installed in?
> 
> What does your code say about access to cleanouts?:whistling2:




The test tee was not installed as a clean out. it was installed to test the little section of 3" we installed for the toilet. basically using it as a TEST tee..


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## younger-plumber (Sep 12, 2008)

topher415 said:


> The test tee was not installed as a clean out. it was installed to test the little section of 3" we installed for the toilet. basically using it as a TEST tee..


bahaha. not an acceptable answer to a code violation.keep cuttin rambo and hope that test ball doesnt leak . and id like to see what a 100k wall looks like btw


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

younger-plumber said:


> id like to see what a 100k wall looks like btw


Pics or it never happened....:laughing:


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## topher415 (Nov 13, 2013)

younger-plumber said:


> bahaha. not an acceptable answer to a code violation.keep cuttin rambo and hope that test ball doesnt leak . and id like to see what a 100k wall looks like btw


Well usually we replace the test tee with pipe after the inspector gives the thumbs up. but obviously that didn't happen this time.. I know the plastic part in the test tee will not leak since it is literally screwed into the test tee. I'll see if I can get a pic of the wall from my uncle honestly I haven't even seen the wall. But I don't need to see it to understand that wall isn't coming down. Already out of the office for today though so pics will come 2m.


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

There are some other options. You mentioned one already, cutting the rubber ball off of the test plug. Another idea might be opening up the top plate (horizontal piece on top of the wall studs) and fabricating a long wrench to unscrew the plug, retrieve it and replace it with a regular brass or pvc plug. A long 2X4 with a c.o. tool fastened to it could be the tool.

We want pictures.....:yes:


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## rjbphd (Feb 5, 2010)

Or u can fly me out to get the test plug out after opening the wall and still be cheaper than 100,000 wall...


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## ASUPERTECH (Jun 22, 2008)

Try a 3" root cutter head. If no go, if you know of a liner guy with reinstatement equipment, I'm sure they could grind it out.


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## topher415 (Nov 13, 2013)

Tommy plumber said:


> There are some other options. You mentioned one already, cutting the rubber ball off of the test plug. Another idea might be opening up the top plate (horizontal piece on top of the wall studs) and fabricating a long wrench to unscrew the plug, retrieve it and replace it with a regular brass or pvc plug. A long 2X4 with a c.o. tool fastened to it could be the tool.
> 
> We want pictures.....:yes:


Now that's a creative idea! Unfortunately with these houses those top plates are full of crazy blocking and the ceiling is most likely attached to the wall. How would you get it into the wall though without opening the floor up above? The 3 inch line is about 8 or 9 feet down from the ceiling and the joist bay is most likely about 12inches. So 12 inches is all you have from the sub floor to the top plate.


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## topher415 (Nov 13, 2013)

ASUPERTECH said:


> Try a 3" root cutter head. If no go, if you know of a liner guy with reinstatement equipment, I'm sure they could grind it out.


We have tried almost all of the heads from general. I'm going to make some razor sharp heads tonight. Thanks for the idea I will contact someone tmrw.


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## ASUPERTECH (Jun 22, 2008)

Large funnel head may grab/snag the rubber to


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## justme (Jul 4, 2012)

Spartan and ridgid make an attachment with a threaded bolt end , what you could is put a 2.5" hole saw on the bolt then tighten it up real tight and saw a way with the machine. Good luck


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## justme (Jul 4, 2012)

One other thing is grind the tip of the bolt to a point then put the hole saw on it. See the pic remove ridgid cutter and install hole saw. After you have the test ball popped and torn then use the attachment that looks like a spring funnel to get the rest of it .


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## TX MECH PLUMBER (May 27, 2011)

Like already said. A reinstatement tool will do it. They are made to grind up liner. And made to do it the size of the pipe. The wings will expand on them to really re tap very smoothly


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## topher415 (Nov 13, 2013)

justme said:


> Spartan and ridgid make an attachment with a threaded bolt end , what you could is put a 2.5" hole saw on the bolt then tighten it up real tight and saw a way with the machine. Good luck





justme said:


> One other thing is grind the tip of the bolt to a point then put the hole saw on it. See the pic remove ridgid cutter and install hole saw. After you have the test ball popped and torn then use the attachment that looks like a spring funnel to get the rest of it .





TX MECH PLUMBER said:


> Like already said. A reinstatement tool will do it. They are made to grind up liner. And made to do it the size of the pipe. The wings will expand on them to really re tap very smoothly





ASUPERTECH said:


> Large funnel head may grab/snag the rubber to


Thanks for all the great ideas guys. I'll let you know how it goes. Hopefully get some pics of that wall for you guys too haha.


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## TX MECH PLUMBER (May 27, 2011)

Yea is the wall gold plated or what ??? Marble ?


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## topher415 (Nov 13, 2013)

TX MECH PLUMBER said:


> Yea is the wall gold plated or what ??? Marble ?


Probably either a solid piece of marble or Some crazy custom tile/stone wall.


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## TX MECH PLUMBER (May 27, 2011)

Yea and what dam engineer put water and vents in that wall. Build the the dam building logically. If u have a 100k wall don't put pipes that will eventually fail in them. Duh


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## NORTHSTAR (Sep 16, 2010)

Redwood said:


> So who put the wall up without leaving access to the cleanout the test plug was installed in?
> 
> What does your code say about access to cleanouts?:whistling2:
> 
> ...



:thumbup:


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## topher415 (Nov 13, 2013)

NORTHSTAR said:


> :thumbup:


As stated before we usually take the test tee out after we pass inspection but we didn't catch it in time this time.


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## topher415 (Nov 13, 2013)

well i couldn't get a picture of the wall for you guys but its basically a bunch of little pieces of tile formed to make flowers all over this giant wall. the reason its so expensive is because the tile is really expensive/custom. The other side of the wall was 8" solid concrete. anyways we ended up having a similar snake head with thread/nut on the end and we put a whole saw on it. we did a couple of test runs to perfect it but thats what ended up working the best. there is still a little piece of the test ball left hanging on but we are working on it. the toilet flushes way better now. thanks a ton for the ideas everyone.


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## Plumbus (Aug 4, 2008)

How about access from the back side of the wall?

They make a cutter for removing the ridges formed inside PE pipe during fusion welding that will reach as far as 20'. Don't know if it will cut rubber, but PE is pretty hard.


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## ASUPERTECH (Jun 22, 2008)

Well? Status update? Pics? Something, the anticipation is killing me.


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## justme (Jul 4, 2012)

he used a hole saw on the end of his cable to get it.


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## topher415 (Nov 13, 2013)

well we ended up having to open the wall but they didn't open up very much luckily they had a little extra tile. the plastic 90 on the toilet carrier got too beat up and the snake actually punched a hole through the back of the 90. plus the test ball didn't get fully removed and I'm sure paper would have caught on it. so now its 100% fixed.


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## rjbphd (Feb 5, 2010)

topher415 said:


> well we ended up having to open the wall but they didn't open up very much luckily they had a little extra tile. the plastic 90 on the toilet carrier got too beat up and the snake actually punched a hole through the back of the 90. plus the test ball didn't get fully removed and I'm sure paper would have caught on it. so now its 100% fixed.


With all that bsing... could've opened the wall in the first place..


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## ASUPERTECH (Jun 22, 2008)

Kinda anti-climactic... Guess that's ok :-[


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## younger-plumber (Sep 12, 2008)

still no pics of this wall....ughh


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## love2surf927 (Dec 22, 2011)

Wow, seriously you wasted all that time and effort just to open the wall?


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