I'm new to this forum and a novice when it comes to plumbing. I will be calling a residential plumber about my situation but wanted the advice from those knowledgeable on this forum, before I do.

I inherited an old house from my Mom, it had been built in the early 30's. Most (not all) of the plumbing had been replaced with copper or pvc (or some other appropriate plastic). In my late mother's bathroom, however, she has a pedestal sink with a brass trap that connects to the tile wall. The trap started leaking; a friend - who is an apprenctice commercial plumber - looked at the situation and said the trap was old and leaking water onto the floor. He did not have the expertise to correct my problem. He did say, however, that the trap was made out of brass and that it needs to be replaced and "lead wiped" in - he thought the pipe behind the wall was proably lead.

I'll try and attach photographs of the trap and wall to this post.

I'm on a limited budget and would prefer not rehabbing the bathroom to fix this problem, if possible. In other words, I'm sure a plumber can bust through the tile wall, fix or remove or replace the drainage pipe in the wall, etc., correct the problem, and then force me to hire someone to rebuild the wall.

I'm hoping that it is possible for a new brass trap to replace the old one and that it could be "lead wiped" in.

Can anyone tell me if that's feasible? If not, could a new brass trap be retrofitted to part of the pipe coming out of the wall, and then a new owner down the line rehab the bathroom to his liking?

In sum, all I'm trying to do is to replace the trap so that water doesn't leak onto the floor and drains properly into the wall pipe.

Thanks for any advice you could give me.

quote; he thought the pipe behind the wall was proably lead.

What do you mean "he thinks"? It either is or is not and THAT determines how you fix it. I have never heard of a "commercial apprentice", unless that means he only works on "commercial structures" and has no idea how to fix residential stuff.

When I called him after reading your response, he did say it was a lead pipe. He also told me that he only works on commercial structures and that he doesn't have any experience in "lead wiping" in brass p-traps to lead pipes.

Remember, I'm only going by what he told me. How he knows it's lead, I have no idea. I tried to load the photographs but had difficulty doing so. If anyone wants to shoot me an e-mail I'm happy to send them the photographs.

Again any advice would be appreciated.

bullsnark@gmail.com

We don't have your e-mail, only the forum support people can access that information; we as users cannot.

If it is lead, then you may NEVER find a plumber who can fix it, unless he is 70+ years old. And, even then, I am not sure that I would want the hassle to do it.



Edited 1 times.

My e-mail address is:

Melisa123@aol.com.

Is the only solution to break through the tile wall?

i'm in that category but i wouldn't even know where to start. i've never done nor even seen a lead joint wiped..

You haven't? I thought you were older than that. However, wiping a trap into a lead lavatory waste also predates me. That is more of a 20s or 30s thing.

Please post some images:

[www.plbg.com]