The Five Biggest Mistakes People Make with DIY Plumbing

If the problem in your plumbing seems like something you think you should be able to handle on your own, you might be tempted to go the DIY route instead of entrusting it to someone else who is way more qualified.  However, if you choose DIY plumbing, you need to proceed with caution because even a small mistake can lead to a big problem with even bigger consequences. Considering the effects of prolonged exposure to excessive amounts of moisture in a building, such consequences can be both expensive and time-consuming.  While we don’t recommend doing your own plumbing and always suggest you defer to a professional, we know that some of you will persist by yourselves, so this article will help give you some caution and direction before you proceed.

Here are 5 of the most common DIY plumbing mistakes

Water Flow

The first step in most plumbing jobs should be shutting off the flow of water to the part of the home with the problem. Otherwise, removing a fixture or fixing a pipe can result in an unexpected burst of water, which will mean a complicated and time-consuming cleanup afterwards. Generally speaking, the shut-off valve for a particular fixture can be found on the wall beneath the fixture, though some examples are known to be found in other locations. If you are unable to turn the shut-off valve on your own, you can use a plumber’s wrench for the extra leverage that you need. Alternatively, if even that approach does not work, you can shut off the flow of water to your entire home.

Be careful with drain cleaners

Drain cleaners are a useful way to unclog a clogged pipe, but using them too much can cause serious and lasting damage to the pipes. As a result, if your pipes are clogging on a frequent basis, you might want to consider using something else such as either a hand auger or a drain snake rented from your local home improvement store.

Renovating

Even small renovations of existing plumbing can violate local building codes, which is a serious problem because such violations can cause complications if you either sell your home or update your insurance. Even worse, since local building codes are meant to protect the building’s occupants, you could be creating a serious plumbing problem for yourself in the future without knowing it. As a result, if you are going to renovate, you should always make sure that you have the right permits.

Know the right parts

Using the wrong parts for your plumbing can lead to unexpected problems for people who are unaware of how they react. For example, if you are going to join a segment of copper pipe with a segment of galvanized steel pipe, you are going to need something called a dielectric union to keep your piping from being corroded by how they react with each other. Otherwise, you can expect leaks to start much sooner that you expect, which means a further expenditure in time and effort as well as further spending for new parts.

Know your limits

Make sure that you never take on a plumbing job that is more than what you can handle. Always check online tutorials to see what you need to do for your plumbing job. If it seems like something beyond your capabilities, you should stop instead of continuing on anyways. Similarly, if it seems like you are missing some tools, you might want to visit your local home improvement store.

How Can You Prevent These Plumbing Mistakes?

If you are not confident in your plumbing skills, you have the option of outsourcing your plumbing job to a skilled and reliable plumber. As always, if you are planning to choose a contractor, you should make sure that you speak to a number of potential candidates so as to find the combination of price and provided services that is right for your exact needs and circumstances. Furthermore, you should make sure to check up on what their past clients have to say about their results since that will provide you with better insight in their true capabilities than their marketing. You need to exercise care and caution in this regard because while everyone can claim to have plumbing skills, not everyone can provide you with the outstanding results with your plumbing job that you deserve.

Further Considerations

Of course, it is important to note that outsourcing a plumbing job comes with its fair share of potential pitfalls. As a result, you might still be interested in doing your plumbing job on your own, particularly if it is supposed to be something relatively simple and straightforward. In the end, what matters most is that you maintain the sense of care and caution that you need to not make preventable mistakes, whether you choose to do your plumbing on your own or outsource your plumbing to a skilled and reliable plumber.