Andrelaplume; While we seldom need to place a cleanout in a walkway area in residential plumbing, however they are common in commercial plumbing and as you point out, a conventional cleanout plug with a raised head would present a serious trip hazard. To meet the need they make a flush cleanout plug that has a long recessed slot like an over sized screwdriver slot. You may not be able to find one in your local home supply center such as Lowes or Home Depot because even though the keep a huge inventory, they often confine their inventory to the fast turnover items. When looking for a rare or unusual plumbing part you will generally have much better luck trying your local neighborhood hardware store, such as Ace Hardware, True Value Hardware or an independently owned hardware. To give you a bit of a heads up on your search I pulled down my "Genova Products Company" catalog. (Genova is one of the leading manufacturers of PVC pipe) In the catalog the item your looking for is called a: "Toe Saver Floor Plug" 3" part number is 71853 4" part number is 71854 If your local hardware store does not stock the item ask them if they will special order you one? If not, you can contact Genova Products Co direct by snail mail: Genova Products Inc. 9034 E.Court St Box 309 Davison, Mi. 48423-0309 You might also run a search online to find their homepage and perhaps an email address or current 800 number.

greg: Yes, this appears to be a line that we hacked into. Interesting idea on how to trace its origin. joe: did you repair it (i.e., put it back together) or remove/plug it up? john: 100% of our household sewage goes out a drainpipe in the corner of our house marked "main sewer line" in the drawing above. We know this because it's all visible from the basement and because Mr. Weedy personally ripped out and redid all the plumbing in the entire house. We also know that that sewer line feeds into the street (not upstream to where that other pipe is) because we had a clog 6 months ago, snaked it out, called out the water company, etc. I did call the public works department and left a message. No return call yet.

Well thanks for your help! I agree, plus the YouTube videos I watched made it look so easy. I actually took the metal locking bracket in back off and tried to use just the plastic end cap and gasket to thread onto the pipe. It made it worse, as I couldn't even begin the thread; I needed the plastic ball and metal rod inside the end cap as well. Plus you have to install with the metal rod as that blocks the hole in the end cap. Otherwise there would be a huge leak. So I put it back together and screwed it in as best I could. The end cap will not reach the last three or four threads and does not form a tight seal. That plastic ball is in the way, although it appears to be seated correctly. If I push down harder and try to thread it all the way, the end caps gets automatically pushed back to an unthreaded position. But if I don't push hard enough, it leaks. If I push hard on the end cap itself, away from the pipe, I can knock it right off its threads onto the ground. I put a bowl under the pipes in case it leaks a little. I might eventually reattach the sink stopper if I move out, or I just may leave the stopper lose and/or donate a sink strainer, as they are cheap. I don't know if everything fit properly when the pipes were first installed, whenever that was. They look newer. They may have gotten too shallow of an end cap, so it may not be my fault. I am just a tenant working with what was supplied. Here are pics: End cap and plastic gasket in it are unscrewed, Plastic ball is in position at the pipe: Ball blocks me from completely and tightly threading plastic end cap: This is the best threading job I could do. 3 or 4 threads are still exposed and it almost leaks:

You can cut off and cap the copper pipes coming out of the floor, but I'd first try to figure out where they are coming from. You don't someone turning a shutoff in the basement or crawl space (I wonder what this does?) and finding out it controls the water line running to this pipe. Smaller sizes of cast iron pipe usually have threaded fittings, while large waste pipes may use oakum and lead for the seal. Old cast iron pipes are usually fine for vertical runs (vent stacks, etc.), but horizontal iron pipe runs trap moisture and form rust in the bottom (looks like stalagmites). This rust catches on whatever is draining through the pipe (hair, soap, etc.) and creates a blockage over time. A plumbers snake becomes your friend. The rubber fittings are usually called Fernco couplings, since its the most common manufacturer of this type of coupler. They are used to connect dissimilar pipes during renovation (iron pipe to PVC, etc.), or to reconnect a pipe that has been cut. There is nothing wrong with using them if the pipe is adequately supported on both sides of the rubber coupling. Bruce