Replacing a section of downpipe

[Rosebud38]

Hi folks,
Hopes no-one minds me picking your brains. We had our bathroom refitted last year, an unwanted bidet removed and so its' waste pipe outside. In the process of putting a cap on the removed pipe site, the plumber cracked the downpipe and water has been leaking since. As the work was 'guaranteed for a year' and the plumber has been promising me that he'd come back to make good his errors since August, I did a guerrilla repair around the cracks with clear waterproof sealant as it's not okay to have waste water running into the garden.
Six months, many excuses and wasted days waiting in later, I guess he's not coming back, so I need to replace the section of downpipe with the cracks in it as the seal is beginning to leak. How easy is it to replace a section of downpipe? Is it something I could do myself?
Thanks
J

 

[noseall]

it will depend upon the material in question.

i guess you are talking about the 110mm soil stack?

 

[Rosebud38]

Yes, thanks, I didn't realise it was called that.

 

[noseall]

ok.

what is it made out of ?

 

[Rosebud38]

Grey plastic. The part with the cracks is a section of slightly heavier looking plastic - presumably put there when the waste was originally installed.
Thanks

 

[noseall]

plastic is the least difficult to work with. there are numerous fittings available and virtually all fittings are serviceable or changeable.

it will depend upon your degree of competence, range of tools and 'nous' when asking for fittings at the builders merchants.

 

[Rosebud38]

Thanks once again, Noseall. Is it possible to 'insert' a new section, or do you have to take the whole stack apart from the top iykwim? I was considering going to Wickes.

 

[noseall]

it is difficult to insert a section, without first taking the stack apart.

there are 'slip' couplers available that allow you to graft in a piece of pipe, should you damage a section. these couplers are available for horizontal underground drainage, but i'm not sure upon their above ground application.

i would still go for the dismantling method if the situation allows.

 

[Softus]

i guess you are talking about the 110mm soil stack?

From a bidet? I doubt it.

 

[Rosebud38]

Oh, dear. I don't have long ladders, and don't think I'd be confident that high anyway. Is there really no other way around the problem? It seems an awful lot of trouble and expense for a small area of cracking. Could I remove a piece of the section (the piece around the disconnected waste pipe which is cracked) and put a piece of new pipe over it somehow.
I imagine paying someone else to 'unstack' would be very costly. Now I understand why the plumber has been so obstructive about coming back - it would be a sizeable job for him, not the small one that I thought.
I'm in a mess.
Re: 110mm soil stack - I meant the down pipe that the bidet waste had been connected to - the bidet waste pipe was much narrower.

 

[Softus]

Don't phone the plumber - write to him.

State clearly, but nicely, that he said that he would return to rectify the damage caused in the course of his work last year.

Give him a date by which the remedial work must be done - something reasonable, like, say, one month.

State (again nicely) that if you don't hear from him that you will engage someone else to do the work and then recover from him the cost of doing so.

Your statutory rights allow to do this.

 

[Rosebud38]

Thanks for that. Unfortunately, he's self-employed and moved just after he finished our work last year. I was daft enough not to press him for his new address, as he had returned to repair one mistake and I thought he was a reasonable tradesman. My mistake.

 

[Softus]

It's too early to write him off - he might just be snowed under, and we're all guilty of letting things slide down the priority list sometimes.

Does he advertise anywhere? Can't you look him on the electoral roll?

If not, then just phone him and ask him for his address so that you can write to him. Maybe the thought of a letter will gee him up.

If he refuses to give his address, then I would get devious and ask a friend to call him and get him round to quote, and get the address that way.

 

[Rosebud38]

Thanks for your advice, and this would usually be the way I proceeded. However, after our last exchange i don't really want anything more to do with the guy. When he didn't show up (more than a few times), I'd call him, then get texts about him being in a&e with a cut hand etc etc. The last ones were allegedlyfrom his brother saying that he (the plumber) was being admitted to hospital wirth stabbing chest pains. Though he sounded very chirpy and hard at work when I called him from a phone box the next day. I know people who have died of sudden heart attacks and I found this very disturbing, especially as I am at home by myself with a young baby (as he knows). I think I am happy to 'let him get away with it' if it means that I don't have to be subjected to these sorts of texts again.
Does anyone have any thoughts as to whether you can just replace a section of soil stack without dismantling the whole thing and what would be the best way to proceed. I would like to have a go myself, and if not, feel informed when i get other plumbers round to quote for the work.
Thanks in advance

 

[Softus]

Does anyone have any thoughts as to whether you can just replace a section of soil stack without dismantling the whole thing and what would be the best way to proceed.

As long as the damaged section is longer than the length of one coupling, then you just cut it out and introduce a new section using one normal coupling and one slip coupling - no need to take anything apart at all.