As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, about an hour or so after I put it up I got a call back from the plumber. They came out in the afternoon, and the three guys had a look at what I had done so far, and what wasn’t working. Right on the truck they had the right part to fit where the one I had bought didn’t quite make it, and installed that with this tar-like sealant around the outside and inside. Small piece of 2″ PVC into that, reducer down to 1-1/2″, then compression fit adapter for the trap. All told, $140 later (which worked out to around $10/min for how little time it took them) I had the right parts and the job done properly without having to get my hands dirty again. If anything, I’ve learned two lessons from this: 1) Don’t mess with the cast iron piping if I can avoid it, and 2) If the job requires messing with the cast iron piping, call Lou Gottel Plumbing instead of dealing with it myself 😛