Per ardua ad astra

After assessing the options I decided to finally get underway. A visit to the hardware store provided me with a rented angle grinder, some new plastic piping and a couple of couplers. Oh and some fashionable goggles so I could look all cool and WWI aviator while 'at it'.

In its usual unforgiving way the house of course had some surprises. The area I was working on turned out to be directly above the electrical outlet driving the overhead kitchen lights. The positioning continues to astonish me. It is just so remarkably inconvenient and thus meant I had no margin for error in terms of allowing water to escape as I worked.

Of course we only discovered this when I was about 2/3 of the way through when we found water dripping around the outlet (causing a pleasant clicking sound) onto the kitchen floor. I hadn't let much escape but regardless it was enough to give me another 1 step forward, 2 steps back moment. Having dried out thoroughly we seem to be in the clear tho - phew.

So - goggles on chocks away and all that - it was time to play Biggles

Cutting copper it turns out is easy - I'd highly recommend it. Quick and satisfying. Cast iron on the other hand was somewhat more challenging particularly coupled with an antisocial location. Eventually however I was through and able to access the decades of repulsiveness that lay inside. It was an odd feeling to be honest. The euphoria of getting that pipe off was rather quickly replaced with a queasy feeling as I got my hands dirty.

Finishing up was fairly straightforward - connecting pipes and using the rubber couplings to go from metal to plastic just requires a bit of jiggling to get everything aligned and leak free.

All told the casualties were minimal - hands have a few cuts, wallet is about $35 lighter but look at the simplified piping that's now behind the tub. Water now drains in a timely fashion and I can easily access everything in the event of a future blockage.
"Through adversity to the stars" - Priceless.