I enjoyed this. and Don, I remember that song. My DS never went off to camp, but we had a huge extra wooded lot which was the neighborhood hangout when young, a nearby creek to explore runniing thru undeveloped lots to build on when older. Bike trails and jumping ramps were favorites...never did regain my garden rakes and shovels and DH fussed about the plywood and tools hauled off and never returned...fun memories. josh

No. I am not saying the plumber is a lying. In fact, I now agree that you are getting a good service for $80. I guess my creative writing went over your head. I should have been more careful. Make no mistake: I do not and never would recommend duct tape to repair this problem. It was a playful reference to the Âall purpose repair. But I said it, because that would actually get rid of the odors. The Fernco fitting is a rubber sleeve with a high-strength band that will be a truly adequate remedy and to-code. Since this is a not a professional site, and appeals to DIYers, I was sort of suggesting that you are already doing the most of the work by exposing this repair. It is one small step to repair the pipe. Then again, for 8 dimes, you can let him work in the cramped attic, cut cast iron, if need and make the repair. Probably he will guarantee it. Unfortunately my mind wandered far astray, in pursuit of the truth about corrosion. That I will stand behind. Cast iron pipe and the other black kind (ABS, which you don't have, I suppose) and other pipe rated DVW are especial suitable for their resistance to corrosion. In any case, it has to be an extreme rarity for this pipe to fail in the way you described. I have seen CI pipe corrode and leak where raw sewage has stood for a long time. This occurs when there is a chronic problem, such as reverse slope, or long-term clogging, where the effluent stands in the pipe  always a horizontal one. (A vertical would have to be filled too, but fail later.) So, I am sticking with my statement that sewer gases are not the cause of this huge, gaping hole. It makes no sense that any corrosive agent would be concentrated at one point, and predictably, " at this spot (right above the toilet connection.)" Assuming that a conventional installation, using a closet bend, is how the toilet is connected, that fitting will flow into a sanitary Tee. And the vent pipe just above that is inserted into the hub of the Tee. That, in those years, would have been a lead-and-oakum caulk joint. The pipe would have been cut with a stress-inducing chain cutter, typically. IÂm guessing, that the pipe was partially broken during the installation, years ago. And that the subsequent joint making, which packs lead tightly against the OD of the pipe, introduced a heavy permanent breaking forced. Finally, with aging, vibration and thermal changes, the old damage revealed itself as a hole. If the break-out is small, it may not matter a lot. If one large piece fell to the bottom of the stack, it could create a clog there. Keep your eyes open for that. Sorry to be so hard on the guy. HeÂs probably a pretty good egg after all. But IÂd look out for the other fellow. $400 for a Âsmoke test means heÂs keeping the good stuff for himself. Fine Columbian, probably. Pinoke

The smell was especially pungent for years because of the enclosed Cabinet. Previously we had a cabinet. Prior-reno. Now we have drawers. Now, with drawers, we have the storage that drawers provide. And things are airy. Every time a drawer is opened, air is forced to circulate. The action of drawer-moving pushes air around. I like to put a piece of paper towel covering the powder residue on the top of the Ajax/Comet, just to help keep it from going air-borne. (I think the powder can also go airborne even when you open a cabinet door.) This fine powdered product has some solid bleach in its granules, so we still do have a form of bleach under the sink. But the big old bleach bottle is history. It's amazing how much bleach bottles leak out pungent odors. Vinegar doesn't do that. It was a leap of faith to go all-drawer under the sink. Nobody ever confirmed that having not one single cabinet was a fine way to go. Many people opined that my proposed compact plumbing was impossible or not up to code. (Not true). Millions of people can confirm that the first bend in a drain can be and often is a "Tight" bend. (e.g. under a bathtub, under a WC, it's a tight bend), and Master plumbers can explain why a tight bend is OK as the first bend under a drain. As luck would have it, Franke, Elkay, Dornbracht, Blanco and others all sell a remote pop-up button that you turn to open / close the strainer in the drain. It's a cable that moves a lever. One thing they don't advertise is that your kitchen sink drain pipe ends up going sideways instead of straight down. THAT was the big advantage I had been looking for and found in this Ready Made Product that saved time since I did not need to Reinvent a Tight Bend in 1.5" diameter pipe. Result achieved: under the sink drain, my drawer floor is intact; it was not cut out to leave a notch for the drain pipe, because the drain pipe is horizontal and goes backwards to the wall. The P trap is in the empty space behind the drawer, close to the wall. I notched out the drawer's back panel, not the drawer floor. -- My drawer support structure is Really Airy. I have cabinet sides holding drawer glides. And Not One More Panel Than That. Drawers need no cabinet floor under them. We figured we could safely forego the cabinet floor as long as cabinet sides remained parallel and square (not parallelogram-y). This is another subject that could take time to describe, on another day. Our lowest drawer we can open with a foot since there is no wood panel under it. Having no cabinet floor gives you an airy open space. When you remove all the drawers (an easy operation) you can work in that space with room to spare. ((P.S. I also removed the cabinet back panel; i can see the wall and the plumbing very easily.)) -- Combining several thought processes we were able to get the final result that achieved our goals, satisfied our desires, (and made us proud). One was the radical rethinking of product inventory; we got out of the chemical storage business and got into the nano mechanical stocking business: we buy and try out scotch brite type and mIcrofiber cleaning cloths and pads now, and find them all good. Secondly, we got the drain pipe horizontally aligned and notched the drawer back not bottom. A third thought was that drawers need side panels for the glides but not the other parts of a typical six sided cube that they sell at the "cube" store.

I love our divided sink - it has two bowls with a 70/30 split and it's great! (We had a 50/50 split in our old kitchen and even in a 36" sink base the bowls weren't very useful - too small for larger dishes and too big for smaller tasks - a 70/30 is much better!) Overall Dimensions: 35-1/8" x 20-7/8" (in a 36" sink base) Interior of Large Bowl: 21-3/8" x 18-3/4" x 9" Interior of Small Bowl: 10-1/2" x 15-7/8" x 7" The large bowl is big enough for all my pots & pans (including handles) as well as my largest cookie sheet and roasting pans. It even fits my Vent-A-Hood fan (I wash it by hand). As to refrigerator shelves & bins all but the full-width deli drawer and shelf over it fit in the large bowl. Oh, and it holds a lot of dirty dishes from baking marathons! The smaller side is great for soaking small things but is still big enough to fit my 8 quart stock pot for filling as well as my largest colander for draining pasta. If I want to fill it to soak something it uses less water than our old 50/50 split sink did. If there are dishes in the large bowl, you can still prep in the small bowl. Single- vs Double-bowl sink is a matter of preference. If you only have one sink in your kitchen and have at least a 33" sink cabinet (although, I do think 36" is better), then I would seriously consider a double-bowl sink. If you have two sinks and/or not enough space for a wider sink base, then a single-bowl may be a better option. I know some people will say to just use a dishpan in a large single for the small soaking jobs. However, to do so means dumping the dirty water on top of clean things or just getting in the way. It would also mean trying to find somewhere to store the dishpan when not in use. Here's my sink: Large Bowl at Work: Small Bowl at Work: Here are a couple of threads that discuss single vs double: Thread: Single Bowl Sink - Will I Be Sorry? Thread: Sell me on a one bowl sink (or not)... Regarding the "D" shape...One of the biggest advantages of a "D" shaped sink is that they are often deeper front-to-back than rectangular sinks. They can be deeper b/c faucets, etc. can be mounted on the "curve" so they are not completely behind the sink. This means you don't need as much room behind the sink to fit the faucet. This is especially important if you have a raised window w/trim and/or a sill behind the sink. (Trim and sills reduce the usable space in front of them and behind a sink.) Mounting a faucet on a curve also places the faucet closer to you so there's less leaning forward to reach it. It's exaggerated a little, but you should be able to see what I mean. In reality the "D" sink is probably only 2 or 3 inches deeper, but with a smaller sink, those inches can be important!