10 Beginner MISTAKES To Avoid When Doing Your Own PLUMBING! | GOT2LEARN

This YouTuber knows his shit and this is all great advice. My friend bought a house that was updated/remodeled by a licensed contractor that installed new kitchen cabinets. Soon after moving in they started seeing water seeping through the wall. Said contractor screwed the cabinets right into either the water supply or the drain pipe (I forgot which) from the upstairs bathroom. Owner cost to get it fixed. Those steel protection plates are literally worth their weight in gold and then some in that case!

I wouldn’t want to change a disposal, pop-up, or basket after a plumber that has used silicone. I’ve been licensed since 1993, and was plumbing 6 years before I got my license, so maybe I’m ancient. I have never had a problem with plumbers putty, I highly recommend it, it’s even gotten better over the years.

As a Master Plumber with 35 years of experience I will say I've never used silicone on a basket strainer, pop up or faucet and never will. Plumbers putty is the correct thing to use in these applications unless a foam or rubber gasket comes with whatever part you're installing from the manufacturer. Even then plumbers putty always works better when properly applied and is easily cleaned off years later when taking things apart. I do paint the basket strainers, pop up flanges etc with a little grey Herculese pipe dope or Rectorseal and then apply the Putty. This is the way the "Old Timers" taught me as a kid and it has worked for me for decades literally. Other than this one small issue I agree with the video and people that are new to working on plumbing will find them useful.

When joining pvc or abs with cement, always give the joint at least 1/4 turn after inserting the pipe in the fitting. (Plan for this and insert 1/4turn out of final orientation) This alters the way the glue molecular chains orient from in line with the pipe to around the pipe, making the strands act as rings and reducing the chance of a leak. Then hold the joint 30 seconds. Check your pipe cement's cure time. I noted the 24 hr cure time to a supervisor, but he decided to pressurize the pipe after just 1 hour and blew out the last joint completed. Inspection showed over half the joints completed that workday had shifted to have inadequate overlap, so we had to spend 2 days cutting out and repairing the pipes.

Regarding turning off the breakers to a water heater you said "to always make sure you close the breakers"........ the circuit breaker is a switch, you must OPEN the switch to stop current flow and turn the power off.👍

Hey I'm a master plumber with 15 years in the trade. I normally agree with most of your points but I would say you're completely wrong about plumbers putty and silicone. Plumbers putty is the only thing that should be used in things like basket strainers, tub drains and shower drains. If used correctly plumbers putty will work for decades with no leaks. I've seen silicone leak before and it's almost impossible to remove from tubs and sinks to repair the drain. Silicone has its place and uses but not for sealing drains. I do enjoy your videos though! Plumb on!

Got2Learn DUDE! I just happened to find your channel today. I am almost 70 years old, I still work, and have been doing property maintenance all my life. I am not a licensed plumber, but have done a great deal of soldering copper over the years. After watching a few of your videos, I learned soooo much. I took two pages of notes. My jobs have always been very clean looking and leak free, but there were always details and questions bugging me. Your videos solved all these little problems (proper heat application, proper heat location, vertical joints, soldering valves, tinning solder, low temp solder, water soluble flux, etc.). Thank you so much for making my life easier and more informed. I subscribed.

I’ve used silicone on bathroom sink drains and had leaks. Went back to plumbers putty and zero issues. Great video.

Silicone needs to set before wet conditions, directions usually want 24 hrs. Mistake number 11, run water in a sink after the p trap is removed.

Turn Plastic pipe 1/4 turn for best connection, don’t just push straight

Thank you for letting me know about the transitional cement. I did not know about this cement nor am I a plumber. Your videos are very informative and I do appreciate them

Years and years ago on the show This Old House tv show a plumber, not Richard but another said as a joke, ABS pipe abbreviation stands for All Black Stuff. I've always remembered that when I see it and it puts a smile on my face.

I have done many commercial tenant improvements & one of the biggest fails is the plumber tucking a water line inside a metal stud. Absolute no-no. A millwork installer ran screws into the studs as spec'd on the drawing package. After sitting all weekend the channel at the bottom of the wall carried water into 3 adjacent suites. The flooring, trim, sheetrock & other details needed replaced. WHOOPS!

my fave thing about the strengths of your channel is you always go over these issues again and again.

I have looked all over the internet, asked friends (as well as hardware clerks) for the past year and no one could tell me what those brass or copper inserts on compression fittings were for. I give up... find this video in my feed and now I finally know. Thank you. I'm going to check out some more of your videos and probably subscribe.

I have seen a couple of your videos now, and you are a lot more informative and real than most on YouTube. So many of the "handyman tips", including ones for cars, that show up in this forum are simply bogus. Well done.

good stuff... i've already made most of these mistakes unfortnately. One plumber had put pipe dope all over the gas flare fittings to stove. Followed by 2 weeks of "gas smell". Finally dove into project and removed all pipe dope from flares after finding 2 leaky connections. No more leaks post cleanup.... No longer rely on plumbers and reserech each project...

It also helps when you glue a fitting on to pvc to give it a 1/4 turn, it also makes a better joint.

I’m still glad I saw the tip about wrapping the ‘teflon’ tape around a pencil ✏️ then applying it to a thread in a very tight space!

Solid, useful advice backed by concise and logical explanations. Rarely do I bump into videos this clean and valuable. Liked and subscribed as a result. Thanks for posting. (P.S. Here in the UK plenty of 'professional' plumbers make these mistakes as well. I'm a DIYer, which means I'm slow but very careful, very precise and very methodical. 🙂) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿