Let’s be honest: no one wants to have to call a plumber. Whether you’re worried about the cost or just think it would be faster to handle everything yourself, it’s no surprise that many homeowners still turn to DIY plumbing hacks when faced with a plumbing problem.
Unfortunately, those well-meaning attempts tend to backfire. We get reams of calls from homeowners who need our help after their own plumbing fixes fail, and most of them end up paying more than they would have if they’d called in the pros on day one. Today, we’ll go over four examples of DIY plumbing gone wrong and why each of them is so disastrous.
1. DIY Leak Fixes
Attempting to fix a leaky pipe with tape or glue isn’t just something people do in TV shows and movies. We couldn’t tell you how many clients have called us to get professional help after one of these DIY fixes went wrong – and whatever that number is, there’s probably twice as many who tried to do the same thing but don’t admit to it.
Pipes are made of plastic and metal for a reason. They have to withstand near-constant moisture and high pressure from the water flowing through them. Tape and glue are just not strong enough to seal a leak in those conditions. At best, the leak recurs. At worst, the pipe bursts.
A real plumber will seal the leak with proper couplings or even some spot welding. These fixes are much more durable and should be strong enough to put a permanent stop to the problem.
2. Persistent Shutoff Valve Drips
Most of the sinks and toilets in your home probably have a shutoff valve attached to them. These handy devices allow you to cut off a fixture’s water supply for repairs. They sit on the juncture between two different pieces of pipe, and this makes them extremely vulnerable to leaks.
Shutoff valves are simple enough that many people feel comfortable repairing faulty ones on their own. Sometimes, this is fine. Tightening the packing nut or replacing the stem using a kit from the hardware store might get the job done.
Other times, though, you’ll need to replace the whole valve. A layperson likely won’t know that until the leak has had a few more hours (or days!) to wreak havoc on their home. Even simpler repair jobs can go wrong if the nuts and fittings are just a little too loose. Investing in professional help from the jump cuts out the guesswork and ensures that you won’t have a worse problem to deal with later on.
3. Overuse of Drain Cleaner
Drain cleaner is a great tool, but its potent cleaning power is exactly what makes using too much of it so risky. It’s corrosive enough to melt PVC pipes or turn metal ones brittle and rusty. As you can imagine, this damage often causes leaks and may even ruin entire sections of your home’s plumbing.
How much is too much? There’s no way to know for sure until the damage is done. In general, it’s best to avoid using drain cleaner on the same drain more than once a month. If you find yourself using it more often than that, skip the cleaner and call your plumber instead.
4. Handling Repeated Pipe Blockages Yourself
Unblocking a toilet or drain is one of the simplest plumbing tasks out there. In fact, it’s so simple that you might think there’s no point in calling in a professional to handle it.
That may be true in homes where blockages are a once-in-blue-moon event. Those incidents are usually caused by a single specific event that can be prevented from happening again, like a kid stuffing toys into the bathtub drain or someone flushing a tampon down the toilet.
Repeated blockages are completely different. If you unblock your toilet or drain and end up facing the same problem again a few weeks later, there’s probably something going wrong deep inside your home’s plumbing. It could be anything from hair or soap scum build-up to tree roots that have broken through the walls of the pipes.
Some of our clients had their drains and toilets back up on them multiple times a month for years before they finally gave in and called us. They spent hours of their lives cleaning up after these disasters, and some spent hundreds of dollars repairing water damage too. Calling a plumber the second or third time it happened would have saved them a lot of grief!
Put Your Plumbing Problems to Bed for Good
Trying to tackle your own plumbing issues never ends well. Don’t put yourself through all that extra hassle – let the pros at Fowler Plumbing handle the job instead. Contact us today to book your in-home service call and get your pipes the expert attention they need.