The Scottish Plumber

03/17/2026

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

02/12/2026

“Start with the drain lines. Many of these homes still rely on cast iron or, worse, clay sewer pipes.

Cast iron corrodes from the inside out, quietly narrowing the pipe until one day gravity gives up and sewage decides your basement floor looks like a perfectly reasonable place to visit.

Clay tile, meanwhile, has an existential crisis every time a tree is planted nearby. Roots don’t see sewer lines as obstacles; they see them as opportunities.

A hairline crack becomes a welcome mat, and soon your plumbing is sharing space with a maple’s entire extended family.”

https://www.scottishplumber.com/the-challenges-of-owning-an-older-chicago-home/L

Chicago’s older homes don’t whisper their age. They announce it—in creaks, in radiators that hiss like annoyed cats, in basements that smell faintly of history and damp concrete. And nowhere is that age more assertive than in the plumbing. In Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Old Town, Logan Square—ne...