[TheForge] lead seal removal or the nightmare remodeling job has begun ;-)

[terry l. ridder]

hello;

well as we all know once a project is started there are bound to be
those little 'gotchas' just waiting to jump out and bite. well, the home
remodeling job has started and has all ready been bit. while tearing out
the one bathroom i discovered that the shower drain is lead sealed to
the 2inch copper drain pipe. the shower floor is concrete. cutting the
copper pipe is not a viable option. short of using the oxy-propane torch
anyone have suggestions on removing the lead seal so the concrete can be
lifted out. i did search the internet and found a couple sites that had
the same problem. using a weed burner in this room is also not a viable
option. i could shield the wall studs with kaowool blanket ( i have an
entire box of kaowool 8lb density blanket in the shop. ) if i absolutely
had to. rough guess is the lead seal is 4 to 5 inches tall and 0.5
inches thick. the mapp handheld torch did not even begin to heat the
lead, the copper drain pipe transfers the heat away to quickly.
using a brick/concrete chisel and a sledge hammer is also not a viable
option. a concrete saw is also not a viable option. 

ascii picture:

--------\__+----+__/----------
         | |    | |
concrete | |    | |  concrete
         | |    | |
         | |    | |
         | |    | |<-- lead seal between concrete and copper drain pipe.
---------+-+    +-+-----------
           |    |<-- copper drain pipe


btw: despite my strong protests, this project is being done while  we
attempt to live in the house. i did not build a yurt. :-(

-- 
Terry L. Ridder ><>