BMoxie Fixes Things :: Repairing a Clay Drain Pipe

Diehard readers know that I currently do not have gutters or downspouts on our 1880s farmhouse (actually I have some).   And it’s been that way for some seven years or so.  But it’s not like the ones that “came with the house” were really doing their job fully – galvanized steel and mostly rusted out.  To me, the lack of downspouts makes my house feel very unfinished.

I want to say that I haven’t installed them yet simply because the surgical repair on the home’s clapboard siding is not yet complete… but more true – and since I finished with most of the exterior trim last summer, the only thing really holding me up is/was . . . well, agreement with my wife.  You see, I want the half-round kind of gutters.  They’re a little more “period” (perhaps).  Standing in the way, the misses and her point — half-round comes in at about a third higher than a more standard k-style gutter installation.   And as she points out, “Who really looks at the gutters anyway?”

:~) … Anyways, I think she finally broke, and I am now ramping up on the gutters as well as some of the more biggerish outside projects we (read: I) have been putting off until the house (proper) was just a little more complete.  … But baby steps, and one thing at a time.

While I can say that living without downspouts is not ideal, I think we have been, for the most part, fortunate to have a pretty well built house.  What I mean – over all those seven years, our roof just dumping water right at the base of the foundation (not really), we only ever take on water in our basement, in one corner (this corner), and only in the heaviest of rains.   And it’s almost funny, the pounding of the water down peeled back the soil to reveal a broken clay pipe, one of the downspout leaders that are buried around our yard.

It sits off the corner of one of our porches in an area that is being reclaimed as a garden bed.   I figured I better repair it before we get the gutters going in soon.  I had repaired one of these clay drain pipes previously, and it was easy enough.  Especially easy, and as I think about it, thanks to one of my all-time favorite home improvement products – the Fernco fitting.

While 3” clay pipe shares the same inside diameter as a 3” PVC pipe, its outside diameter is much large (thicker pipe wall, and who knows how old this pipe is?).  Because of this, I had to use a Fernco with one end made for 3” pipe, the other end for 4” pipe (a reducer … or is that an expander?).  The stainless steel tension clamps to do a fine job tightening down to bridge the degree of variance here.

And anyway – I videod and figured it would provide a good overview with repairing a clay drain pipe.  But I have to say – I think if I found clay (aka terra cotta) pipe as part of my waste water system (It’s out there), I’d likely have to pay a pro to replace it (as much as possible) with PVC.  While it cuts pretty nicely with a diamond blade, it is somewhat . . . temperamental and has been known to crack or crumble easily.

In the case of controlling downspout drainage, it works just fine enough.  Bed and backfill repairs by hand (I chose also to include a 3mil plastic). Tests on the system (and/or on repairs) can be performed simply by placing a garden hose down the inlet . . . .

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For more on Fernco in In-Ground Applications here >> http://fernco.com/files/installation-instructions//coupling_in-ground_install.pdf.  Thanks for reading. ~jb