What's this? Home improvement question
 

I am finally getting to refinishing my basement (at least partially refinishing) and I am clearing out the basement getting ready to fix the walls and the floor. I have these 2 pipes coming out the wall and I have no idea what they are for. Any ideas?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1375065737.jpg

My water lines, gas lines, sewer lines and electrical lines are nowhere near this. On the other side of this wall is an enclosed porch with a concrete floor, so I don't think anything runs through them. The house was built in 1915ish if that is applicable. My guess is at some point there was a sink here and these are simply the legs that supported it. There is an old vacant pipe in the bottom of the wall that a while ago had a pipe coming up. It was just below the black spot left the the pipe on the left. Oh, the pipe on the floor is the return for my steam heat...this will be staying.

I am planning on cutting the pipes unless I hear otherwise. Thanks for the help.

Those elbows do look like supports. I'm going with sink supports. Please do not cut them based solely on my 2 cents. That will only turn out badly for you...

Tap on them. If they have water in them they will sound different than if they are hollow. Tap on a water pipe that you know is in operation to get a base line. If they sound empty BFH time and recycle them.

I wouldn't bash them with a hammer. Cut them off with a hack saw or whatever power tool you may have.

Please provide a better, close-up photo of the pipes and their entrance points into the wall and floor.

Likley just supports but how bad would it be to cut into a gas pipe?

I would spend much time trying to trace back these pipes prior to cutting if it were me. I've done rehabs on older homes and you just never know what something was used for before. Especially when there is NO living memory to go back and question. I had a time tracing back some graphite lighting pipes years ago in one house. Very strange system.

Cool, thanks for the feedback. I'll take some closer shots and try some tapping. I'll take a hacksaw to them only once I feel very confident I won't be blowing up the house.

I don't believe they are gas lines as they don't seem thick enough, but let me investigate some more.

Thanks!

What is that down on the floor at the base of the wall?

A valve?

If there is any chance that they could be gas lines why not get the gas co. to come out and take a look? Put the monkey on their back.

As stated above, looks like old sink mounts for a wall mounted sink.

It would have had piping extended from the elbows holding up a cast iron sink with a couple more pieces as front legs.

Very common.

I agree.

Those are pressure relief valves to control the off-gassing of the corpses that are behind the wall.

If they are sink props, wouldn't they move on the floor rather than penetrate it? I think I'd chisel lightly around one at the base and see how far it goes down.

I have no familiarity with steam heat but since there appears to be a valve on the steam line directly below the pipes and there appears to be no plumbing/drain lines for a sink, could those be supports for a radiator or some other component of the steam heat system?

He says it's a return line, so it won't heat much.

Okay, that makes sense. He did say there was a vacant pipe coming from the wall, just to the left of the left side pipe. Could that have been the feed pipe to the now missing radiator? Again, just posing questions as a sink support doesn't seem to fit the area as there is no water/waste plumbing mentioned or seen.

I'm not so sure those are pipes to hold up an old sink. They don't look like they extend more than three or four inches out of the wall. Really not far enough to hold a sink up.

I thought that too, however, I believe that it was a sink like this, pretty porcelain front supports. I removed something like this from another part of the cellar. The only concern I have would be that I cannot find any drain. Why a sink with no drain? I'll see if I can find something hidden. I believe this used to be a summer house at one point a long time ago, so perhaps it was to fill only? Or perhaps the drain ran along the floor?
http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/d/l225...4dDhG62VEg.jpg

Here is a close up of the top part. I'll do more digging but I think we have our answer. It doesn't look at all like a standard pipe (where the inside is used to transport something.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1375120305.jpg

[QUOTE=NeedSpace;7573867]
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1375065737.jpg

I thought it looked like an old sink area near where laundry used to be done.

Now, the burn marks on the wall have me intrigued, have you been practicing your jet-pack takeoffs in the basement again ?

[QUOTE=ckelly78z;7575410] Yes, I have one of those bretling jet suits...more of a hobby than anything else. ;)

Actually, those are paint marks from something, can't remember what. on the ground outside the photo are paint marks when I painted my deck lid on my p-car.

I did a closer inspection, the pipe was solid, I suspected filled with concrete...So I took my grinder and boom, 100 years later they are off the wall.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1375149888.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1375149895.jpg

Now I have too get the paint off the wall. The masonry has effervessed causing the paint to bubble in many places. I'll do some scraping but my plan is to use a pressure washer. I'll let you know how it goes.

What's with the shadow of the black cat on fire?