Bringing a plumber to your home to fix major problems is a smart thing to do. But there are many relatively easy plumbing fixes you can do yourself, potentially saving your budget a good amount of money.
Many people are nervous about doing plumbing maintenance or repairs themselves, and with good reason: some DIYers do make the problem larger than it was in the beginning, thus requiring that they pay a plumber to fix not only what was troublesome in the beginning, but to also fix the bigger mess caused by the homeowner’s efforts!
The first step in sharpening your plumbing fixing skills is to begin. Some people are skittish when it comes to doing something as simple as replacing the washer in a drippy faucet! But by starting small and giving it a go, homeowners can gain confidence in their skills.
So where and how can you sharpen your DIY plumbing skills? Take a look below for three ways to do so.
- Start on the Internet.
Just Google “DiY plumbing tips” or “DIY plumbing repair” and up will pop 9.5 million pages of results. If you want to narrow it down a bit, just Google “Fix leaky toilet,” for example, and up will come just 190,000 pages of results. It’s on the Internet that you can read blog posts and watch videos that explain how to do the simplest of plumbing repair tasks as well as the tough ones such as how to “replace water heater.” (We strongly recommend you call a Dallas plumber to do the water heater work for you.)
- Visit your local big-box handyman store and take advantage of its free home improvement workshops.
These companies have do-it-yourself workshops on all manner of homeowner “honey do” tasks. From laying flooring, relatively easy plumbing maintenance and repair tasks, even drywall instruction, these stores provide hands-on workshops regularly.
The problem with these workshops is that a plumbing workshop may not be held around a time you actually need or want to learn about plumbing, so you may have to be patient.
- Check out classes at your local community college.
Plumbing skills classes also may not be available at your junior college when you want to take them but, unlike classes at your local big-box retailer, you more than likely can look at the college’s course catalog and plan ahead.
If your local public college doesn’t offer classes, look to a local trade or technical school. You also could check with your local high school’s adult or night school class offerings: such school often hold these types of classes for adult learners.
Expand your DIY plumbing skills and you could save yourself a few hundred dollars a year – or even more – in plumbing repair bills.
Still, be careful and know your limits. Even the best DIY homeowner plumbers will meet their match eventually. When this happens, call upon the experts at Plumbing Dynamics. Call us at 214-929-3431.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
