For better or worse

Why does it smell? Is the question. And this time it wasn't me.
We had a problem with our basement drain.  Ever since we stopped using the shower in the basement ever since we finished out bathroom up on the second floor, we've noticed something wrong with the floor drain.  It was dry.  And I could feel a draft coming up from the drain. Not good.
There was always a problem with the drain. We have noticed when we are away that the basement seems to smell when we get back.

A house seems like it's a never ending string of projects.  Well this wasn't so much a reno but was also a necessity.

I knew this was going to be a big job.
The drain pipes under our house are made of clay. That's what they put in during the 1950's.  And it's not uncommon for the pipes to collapse. Which would suck, for us! Contractors salivate at the job, cuz it's not cheap.

In any case.  Not what I was thinking of doing for our 14th anniversary, but this isn't a weekend type project.  Well it is, but it could 2 weekends worth of work.  And having a mound of dirt in the basement.  Yeah, that's crappy.

So I got to work on a couple of projects that I knew needed to be done, and I needed a contiguous block of time to work on and be able to finish it without rushing.

So come Monday morning I was breaking the floor.  I didn't think I would need a jackhammer.  But after 30 mins of going nowhere with my hammer drill and chisel.  I headed over to Home Depot to rent a tool that would make my life easier.
Boschammer to the rescue.  This tool is awesome!
I wasn't sure if I would need to rent for a full day, but I did just in case I needed to open the floor up more in order to be able to remove the drain.  And sure enough I did.  Glad I had it.  I couldn't believe how much dirt I had to dig up in order to get access to the trap.  It's a big honking 4" clay pipe trap.  And then I had to be able to get my cutter wheel in the ground to cut the pipe.  Basically i dug down 24+ inches to cut the old broken trap out.

I was shocked to find roots, but i wasn't too surprised.  If roots sense moisture they will move their way through the soil to get at it. It felt like the digging was never going to end.  I was running out of space to put the dirt.  I was piling it up against the wall.

But eventually with patience and perseverance and being careful.  The section of clay pipe that needed to be replaced was out.  It took me the entire day but what a relief.  I can now go to HomeDepot and get the fittings and pipe I needed to put it all back.
4 inch and 2 inch fittings and lengths of pipe.

This is the measure many times, to figure out how long to cut the pipe and then fit it all together to see if this is right, cuz once the glue is on.  That's it.
And  I've had to make a HD run to redo the 4 inch trap in ABS.  Lesson learned, only pencil in 1 spot, not 2.  Really messed me up.  set me back about an hour.
Oh well.  But i did manage to finish connecting everything up in day 2.  I even cemented up the clay pipe that goes to the downspout.  I'm sure that's where the ants were coming from.
I tested out the pipe before putting the dirt back in.

And the next day was the easiest.  It was cementing the opening.  Mostly cuz Sam was doing the work.  He showed me a much better way to mix the cement.  And that's to dump the bag out and add water bit by bit.  It's way easier than mixing it in the bucket.

And it works.  The water is in the trap and more importantly No more smell.  The only smell should come from me. Haha.

So I put everything back almost the way it was before, except now it's done properly.  Next year or whenever we plan to redo this laundry / bathroom area.  Once we know where things are going.  It'll be back to work.  I think this will be the very last project I have to do inside the house.

That will certainly be for the Better.