Hello,
Do you know what a ball park estimate would be to have a professional tap my sink drain into my existing cast iron drain? I am too concerned to try it myself but I am hoping that it will not be too expensive. I'm guessing that a Y would have to be installed on the cast iron and the sink drain into that that Y. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

The easiest way to find that out is get 3 FREE estimates from 3 good local contractors, that are certified, licensed, and bonded.

Thank you. I have one scheduled for this week. I just wanted to have an idea of what to expect.

Prices vary from region to region, and even then can have a wide range depending on what a job entails when you get there. Also rural or urban can make a big difference as well as the size of the company and their experience. Maybe you need to add a vent, or trap, or need permits from the city, or who knows how involved it could get.

That's why getting at least 3 estimates is a good idea so you can have an idea of what to expect, before you settle on one. I have found though the busier companies that have a lot of work may be better than smaller ones that are looking for work.

A good idea would be check them out through your local Better Business Bureau before you even book them for estimates. Here is an interesting article to give you some background and insights what to expect, there are more if you google tapping into a main drain.

2017 Sewer Main Installation Costs | Price to Replace a Sewer Line

What's your project?

In my young and foolish days, I tapped into a DWV for a washing machine in the basement of a 3 story house. A plumber had quoted a high price based on having to create a way to support all that weight while cutting a section out. I spend hours wearing out a hole saw to make a 2" hole. Fortunately the cast iron was in excellent shape, despite being 70 years old. I then put a PVC saddle on the iron. Voila, cost almost nothing.

(Probably against the building code, however.)

Work on Cast Iron is always expensive. Plumber has to cut existing Cast Iron pipe using specialized cutter, insert "Y" and connect it with two shielded couplings. It is not something I would call handyman for as working with Cast Iron is dangerous and requires certain level of knowledge and experience. As far as prices go - prices vary depending on your location. As suggested above, I'd call couple of plumbers for estimate. Not sure whether they will come over for free estimate as this is a small job - but they can give you idea over the phone what is it going to run you

Hope that helps

Milo

Hi Danny.

Not only does the drain have to connect into the cast iron, bu8t that sink needs to be vented as well. Depending on your state, that can be cheap (install a mechanical vent that simply screws into the drain pipe), or it can be expensive as a vent needs to be run up inside a wall and connect into an exiting vent, or it can go out the roof by itself.

As mentioned, we simply cant guesstimate at this as there are too many variables.

Mark