Home Plumbing 101: Practice Before You Work

Q: DEAR TIM: I'm tackling home plumbing on my vacation because money is tight. The largest project is a bathroom I want to completely remodel. I want to change the location of fixtures. Dripping faucets and toilets that seem to flush on their own are also on my list. What tips can you share? My building department has given me the go-ahead so long as I install the piping to code. -- Kevin S., Bangor, Maine

A: DEAR KEVIN: I'm quite sure you can use lots of home-plumbing help. I've been a master plumber for years and can tell you that while much about plumbing is somewhat easy, you need a crisp understanding of the physics of water movement as well as some specialized tools to get professional results.

The first obstacle you'll have is understanding the plumbing code. You'll discover terms that you will need to learn to pass inspections. Be sure you talk to your inspector about how you will pass the rough-in inspection, as it will be difficult to put an air test on that bathroom while the rest of the house is in use.

If you get into trouble, you may have to hire a home plumber. They need work in these tough economic times, and you may be surprised to discover they are affordable. Perhaps you can have them do the most technical aspects; they will gladly let you set and connect the fixtures. You can usually get quotes for free, and these will be realistic if you open up the walls as much as possible so that they can see what needs to be moved where.

If you have not done much plumbing before, I recommend that you practice completing joints in both drainage and water lines before you start on the real pipes in your home. If you are using plastic PVC piping, try priming and gluing some joints together. The pipe will sometimes pop back out of the fitting socket after being glued. This means you need to hold the pipe in position, for five to 10 seconds, until the weld resists that force.

Definitely practice before soldering copper pipes. Be sure the pipe and the inside of the fitting are clean, with all rust removed. Apply a small amount of soldering flux and then heat with a torch. Wait about 15 seconds before applying the lead-free solder. Pull the torch away as you solder. The copper pipe and fitting should be hot enough on their own to melt the solder. Wipe excess solder from the joint and clean it with mineral spirits after it has cooled to remove any flux.

Your dripping faucets may be very easy to repair. If the faucets are less than 25 years old, they probably have washerless cartridges in them. You can replace a cartridge by taking off the faucet handle and removing the decorative bonnet that holds the cartridge in place. A pipe wrench will ruin the bonnet, so use a rubberized strap wrench to remove it. Some faucets have a hex-head shape under the handle that allows you to use an adjustable wrench.

The phantom flushing toilet may just need a new flapper valve in the tank. If water is slowly leaking past the existing valve, the tank will suddenly start to fill with water as the float drops down. Be sure you orient the new flapper valve so that its moving parts do not hit anything inside the tank. The instructions on the package are usually pretty good, so be sure to read them.

Tim Carter can be contacted via his Web site, www.askthebuilder.com/

printer_Submit_Question.shtml.