Plumbing Repairs You Should Never DIY

It is always good to have at least some understanding of your home or building’s plumbing system. You can feel much safer in your home or building when you know how to fix a clogged drain or a leaking pipe under your sink. However, some people become too confident in their DIY plumbing skills that they sometimes decide to take on plumbing tasks that they can’t manage alone. Unfortunately, when plumbing is in question, you don’t know that you’re not up to the task until it is too late. For this reason, it’s essential to know when you should personally intervene and when you need to call a professional to help you out. Therefore, we are here to talk about the five plumbing repairs you should NEVER do yourself.

1. Unclogging A Sewage Line

We understand how much of a hassle a clogged sewage line can be. When your sewer line becomes blocked, it affects your whole plumbing system. To add to the issue, a blocked sewage line can lead to a chain reaction of other issues. However, it is always better to call a professional to help you with this than to try to fix it alone. A sewage backlog is as filthy as it sounds and may cause significant property damage. With that said, the main reason why you shouldn’t attempt to do anything by yourself here is that this issue poses a health hazard. But it’s also common that people rent sewer machines and get them stuck in the sewer line. What would have been a $130 service call is now a several thousand dollar repair (plus the sewer equipment).

2. Repairing Ruptured Pipelines

The issue with a broken pipe is that you never really know the extent of the damage until you locate the issue. The work necessary to fix a broken pipeline can range from a simple fitting replacement to a complete pipeline reinstallation.  The extent of damage is hard to determine and making repairs behind walls or underground makes the risk not worthwhile taking. An expert can securely remove old pipes before installing new ones and make sure to use the right material where it’s needed.

3. Changing The Water Heater

The best advice we can give you when it comes to doing a DIY plumbing job vs. calling a professional for help is that if electricity is involved, you need to call a professional. When you are working with something that requires up to 240 volts of electricity to work, it is necessary to have the training as well as experience before you attempt anything. However, even if electricity and water are a deadly combination, that is not the only reason you shouldn’t fix or change your water heater alone. Water heaters are a hefty appliance that is extremely hard to install alone, and a whole other host of issues come with that. Not all water heaters are electric but if you are dealing with electricity, you’re dealing with gas and that could be even more dangerous.

4. Avoid Doing Any Repairs Under Your Property

To fix any damage that has occurred underground, you need expensive equipment that most people don’t have lying around at home. Furthermore, underground pipes are designed so that only professional plumbers know how to operate them. Not only that, but to work on underground pipes, you need specific permits. Also, keep in mind that if your plumbing repair underground or under the building fails, you’ll have a nightmare of a time trying to access the pipe. And lastly, if you are digging to repair a line, there is a good chance that you may break another line when locating the broken one as there are a ton of utility lines that run under your building and underground.

5. Repair Of Gas Lines

The last of the five plumbing repairs you should never DIY is probably the most dangerous one. Repairing a gas line is like a mixture of a few of the repairs we have mentioned so far. A gas line leak is something that you need to fix right away because it can be deadly. However, if you try to fix it alone and are not experienced or trained, you may cause more harm than good. That is why it is critical to call a professional plumber as soon as possible. Even the smallest of gas leaks can be deadly or cause health issues. If you suspect a gas line leak in your home or building, you should immediately get out of the house and call professionals to take care of the problem for you.

BONUS:

Fixing Frozen Pipes Is One Of The Repairs You Should Never DIY

If you live in a cold climate, you’ve probably encountered this issue at least once. Pipes often freeze in winter, even if you try to insulate them and protect them from the cold. When this happens, most DIY-ers believe it’s a simple fix, but nothing can be further from the truth. You can figure out if you have a frozen pipe by testing the water pressure in your home. If your water pressure is low, it probably means that your pipes are frozen. The way you can go about fixing this issue is by defrosting the pipes. There are a few ways in which you can do this.

However, you should be aware of the fact that if you defrost your pipes during the winter, there is a chance that they will freeze over again. You may think that you can defrost them once again if that happens, but that is where the problem lies. The constant change in the temperature of the pipes can cause damage to them. It can even cause the pipes to burst. For this reason, you should just call a professional to help you out. Especially since, according to experts from consumeropinion.org, where you will be able to find help for your household, it has never been easier to do so than now.