Cast iron black main stack

[charmed]

I am working on remodeling an old house and in the middle of the house is a cast iron (I believe) main stack. The plumbing all needs to be replaced as some of it looks to be in bad shape, some is just not there (the pipes were cut off completely) and some is rusted out.

The main stack itself looks pretty good except one area that is rusted. I had two plumbing contractors come in and both said it would be more costly to repair the main stack versus replacing the whole thing with PVC.

Since both plumbing contractors said that, independently of one another, I would believe that. However my father in law heard that and said that they are just trying to get more money out of me. (He is not a plumber.)

Are there any opinions to this? I am attaching a small picture. There are cobwebs and so forth because the plumbing in this house hasn't been used in almost 2 years.

Thank you,

Dawn

[bobplumb]

Hi Dawn, I can tell you from personal experience, although it requires a lot of work, I am completely satisfied we replaced the old cast in our property. We found areas that looked great, and areas that were very compromised in areas we couldn't see until removal. Check with you local code inspector for advise if possible, and use forum and such for help. We replaced the entire cast system in our home, and have never had a major issue since. It served us very well changing over to PVC DWV. Make sure you use the correct sizing and DWV pipe for drains and vents.

[charmed]

An Update

Just an update -- all the plumbing was replaced and it turned out well.

Dawn