Remodel Plumbing

This has to be the first 5 star review I've ever done. It covers the things that every other plumbing book doesn't cover; except text books for use in trade colleges. This is not a book for changing a faucet or unclogging a drain (there are plenty of other books that cover those topics). This is for the guy who's ripping out a tub or shower, adding a toilet, tapping into a supply line or a DWV line, or redoing all the plumbing. I'm a big fan of This Old House and many times, the plumbers gloss over things or move too quickly. This is the book to look up to see what they did: not everything they do, but much of it. The tool guide is great too - especially the part about right angle drills.

I am not a professional plumber and am in the midst of a forced renovation. I have read other plumbing books but none addressed retrofit plumbing as this one does. The way he described procedures, such as installing new shut-off valves gave me the confidence to at least undertake such a project. I am better able to see the whole picture of how a repair fits into or affects the overall system. His coverage of Pex pipe made it possible for me to consider replacing the feed to a second storey bathtub; the current copper climbs the wall at a 5 to 10 degree angle making it impossible to correctly fit the faucets to the wall.

I really like this book - Rex covers a lot of topics that other books on plumbing totally skip over - he gives a lot of the explanation and "whys" behind the practices. Very practical - if you buy one plumbing book, this should be it.

We recently remodeled a bathroom, and this book saved us time and frustration. When our first attempts at sweating copper pipes failed, we looked to this book and found very thorough instructions on each step of the process. The information on different types of solder and flux with a wider working temperature range was especially valuable. As a result, our next attempt with the copper connections was successful. The section on installing a pedestal sink was very clear and helpful, as was the information on choosing a toilet. The book also helped us diagnose and solve a problem with water hammer. I am sure that we will use this book as a resource for our next plumbing challenge.

Since I am doing a lot of remodeling, I have a lot of books, and the ones in this series are frequently the most helpful. This book give a lot of really good, specific help with plumbing, where other how-to books don't answer the detail questions you have in the middle of a project. Like how far does the toilet need to be from the wall?