Complete Guide to Home Plumbing (Black and Decker Home Improvement Library)

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by: Black and Decker

Topics include: water before beginning work, universal washer kit, branch drain line, gate diverter, heatproof grease

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"Each day in the United States, roughly 500 billion gallons of water are withdrawn from surface and underground water supply sources for use in homes."

This complete volume shows beginning, amateur and advanced to-it-yourselfers everything they need to know about home plumbing. It includes complete how-to information on basic skills, major renovation, and the installation of all-new plumbing systems - the only consumer book to cover the subject matter this comprehensively. DIY plumbing offers the best cost-savings of any home improvement project. Homeowners who perform their own plumbing repairs and installation using this book can easily save hundreds or even thousands of dollars on major projects. As a major revision of America's best-selling plumbing book, this edition has been updated to comply with the most recent code changes; and has added material on servicing well pumps, installing water filters, fixing water softeners, and installing drip irrigation. Here's why you owe it to yourself to buy this book: ** Suitable for do-it-yourselfers of all levels - beginning to advanced - with more than 650 color photos that make all directions easy to understand. ** It's updated from the previous edition to meet the requirements of the latest Uniform Plumbing Code and to show the latest styles from major manufacturers of sinks, faucets, and plumbing materials. ** Includes complete sections on replacing an outdated plumbing system entirely.

Reviews:

I very rarely spend hard earned money on "how-to" books since they very rarely offer the kind of insight a do-it-yourselfer is looking for. This book is the best exception to that rule that I have found. The book covers all facets of plumbing. Included in the book are high level overviews, extensive discussions of plumbing materials, and step by step instructions for planning, installing, and repairing plumming systems. Whether you are a current home owner looking for assistance in home plumbing repairs, or designing the plumbing system for new construction, this book contains everything you need to get the job done. In addition to the thoroughness of the information contained in the book, there are outstanding graphics and photographs depicting topic at hand. This book would be a bargain at five times the cost.

Great resource for doing it yourself- and doing it right! I'm the kind of homeowner who isn't afraid of attempting various repairs- with the proper guidance and directions (I do have some background in electronics repair, but that's a distant relative to home repairs, IMO.) This book provides both for me through excellent organization, clear instructions highlighted by excellent overall and step-by-step photos (for instance, photos of three alternative "naked" shower plumbing setups as typically installed in American homes, sans drywall and covering, as well as step-by-step photos of how to perform component maintenance or replacement). Included are lists of the tools needed to do the job (ever had to stop mid-job because you didn't have the exact tool to continue?), a well-written index and even handy conversion (metric - Imperial) tables, as well as what in my opinion is the only useless bit of this book, a sketchy resource list of professional associations. I think this book still merits five stars; it is good for scoping and planning, and then to follow as you are doing. Finally- a well-illustrated and clearly written book for the rest of us, not assuming we know it all nor talking down to us! Kudos- and thanks!- to Black and Decker.

Saved $199 the first day! I used to be scared of touching any of the plumbing in my home until I got this book. The instructions and illustrations are great. The reference section in the beginning of the book covers all of "pipe basics" necessary for the average DIYer. On to my $199. At my previous home I paid a plumber $200 to replace the "guts" of one of my toilets. As he was leaving he informed me that it is a bad toilet and I should just replace it the next time. I asked him how much he would charge to replace it and he told me $300. My response was, "why the hell didn't you tell me that to begin with". This is when I decided to learn as much about plumbing as possible. I moved into my new home and one of my toilets needed the valve and flapper replaced. Using this book, I determined it was a simple repair and went to Lowe's and purchased an American Standard "toilet rebuild" kit which was on closeout for $1. So my net savings on day one of owning this book is $199. My next two projects are a faucet replacement and a pvc pipe repair! What a great book!

Good but .... I found the layout and informational content to be very informative and well organized. The only problem I have with this book is that it hasn't seemed to cover aspects of the projects I have undertaken. The o-ring on my shower spout was torn when the plumber removed the spout. I could have just bought a new spout but I wanted to fix it. The book didn't have information on how to do that. Spouts for bathtub/showers should be pretty common and replacing on o-ring - I'd think - would also be a fairly common issue. I also wanted to know what kind of grade I needed to put on the main waste drain that leads to the sewer and there didn't seem to be any information on what grade it should have or general techniques on acheiving that grade.

The Black and Decker line of repair and home improvement books are clearly one, if not, thee best I have ever seen. Their illustrations and attention to detail are far better than the other name brand books. I am actually very surprised to the amount of work they must have gone through to get some of the shots they show. I have both the plumbing and wiring book and find/found them very useful for even the biggest of jobs. My only complaint with this particular book was the lack of detail on sizing and layout of supply and waste pipes for new installations. They have some good tables and cover some issues with code, but there are many fine details involving UPC and IRC standards, as well as many tricks and do's and don'ts in the trade that I would like to see covered. In other words, you'll need more data if you plan on getting a permit and passing inspection. Perhaps a well drawn out 2-story plan, noting why each pipe was placed and sized as such, for optimal service, would make this book outstanding. In either case, it's still one of the best book out there. Check out the "Code Check" flip references by Taunton Press for the fine details to compliment this book. Hope this helps.

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