There’s a blatant truth about DIY projects, especially when we consider the ones inspired from Youtube tutorials. They carry equal potential for triumph and disaster.
If the DIY project was just another craft project, you can just leave the unsatisfactory creation aside and move on with life. But if you’ve got your hands on a complex repair or installation, and the project goes awry, you have to deal with the situation. When it comes to plumbing DIY blunders, you could be facing burst pipes, leaking fixtures and inevitably expensive repairs. Never mind the expense, if you do face a DIY failure when handling the plumbing call for the nearest plumbing service for immediate help. For instance, if you belong to Indiana you can hire plumbers in Indianapolis or from any nearby city.
It’s always better to learn from the experience of others, rather than facing the consequences of your own inexperience. Here are some common plumbing mistakes that ambitious DIYers often make (and you could easily avoid).
1. Inappropriate tools and materials
Often the friendly vloggers can tempt amateur home improvement enthusiasts to use a hack instead of the proper tool. But in reality, it’s not possible to conduct even basic plumbing repairs without the right tools.
There are hardly any reliable substitutes (or hacks) for tools like the plumber’s wrench, pliers, the drain snake and the basin wrench. Similarly, you just can’t replace the putty and the thread tape with any other materials.
If you’re fond of tackling plumbing repairs, you should invest in some of the basic plumbing tools.
2. Lack of planning
You can’t just watch a video tutorial teaching how to replace the faucet washer, and disassemble the faucet the very next minute.
No matter how big or small, plumbing jobs require careful planning.
You need to take measurements before going ahead with any renovation. You also need to understand how things fit before taking them apart. Being too haste may take your efforts to waste.
3. Over-tightening connections
If you’ve ever really made the mistake of over-tightening a plumbing connection, you’d agree that calling it a “mistake” is a gross understatement. It’s a big blunder.
You need to make the connections secure and not tight. Applying too much force and turning the connections too much can actually cause break washers and cause leaks.
4. Obsessive compulsive cleaning
Some people are obsessed with hygiene and get fixated on cleaning the bathroom often. But as you’re aware, too much of any good thing is a bad thing. If you hold out the drain cleaner at the sight of standing water, you’re doing more harm than good. The chemicals in these cleaning products are highly abrasive and can damage the pipeline. It’s always advisable to use less harsh cleaning methods like the plunger or home-made drain cleaners.
5. Taking up unpermitted work
You probably assumed that anything you can do at your home is all legal and permitted. For instance, you might’ve thought you could replace the water heater at a whim. But there are certain plumbing jobs (like water heater replacement) that require an express government permit mainly for safety reasons. Make sure you have the requisite permits before taking up such plumbing projects.
6. Mismatched pipes
Amateurs are often ignorant of the fact that house plumbing can involve a variety of pipes made of different materials based on their utility. Your home’s plumbing can have PVC pipes, copper pipes, galvanized pipes etc. As a strict rule, you should never join one type or pipe to another. If you make that mistake you’ll have to bear with leaks and expensive repairs in the future.
7. Not turning off the main supply
Every plumbing repair should begin by turning off the main water supply. Many enthusiastic attempts at plumbing have resulted in water jets all over the place simply because the main water supply wasn’t shut off. After shutting off the water at the source you should also let the water in the pipes drain out completely. This can be done by letting the faucets run for a while.
