I swear I spent 2 hours installing a sink just now and like all plumbing I've ever done it was a god awful mess, lots of trips to the hardware store, cutting and fitting . Come to think of it every time I've ever done a plumbing project in the house it was a royal nightmare . I dislike plumbing so maybe that's part of it.

I believe I would rather go to the dentist than take on another plumbing repair.

Charlie

I’m pretty handy but certain things, like plumbing, I leave to the pros. Light stuff like a seat or cartridge okay but sinks and toilets just not worth it.

in a word, yes

As you say , multiple trips to the store.....

not at all, u$e flexible pex and it$ expen$ive fitting$, but ea$y to u$e if you buy the whole kit with cutter$.
I have dozens of 1/2" copper fittings in every angle, couplers, plugs, caps, sweat it with MAP gas, quick and easy,
I've sweated in a few miles of pipe, couple squirters, but easily resolved

Yes, it sucks.

Just in the last month. Replaced a bad thermocouple in the hot water heater. That wasn't bad, really.

And had to replace corroded out drain pipes under a bathroom sink, which required breaking a little dry wall. That one generated a bunch "rust dust" flying in the air, of which I inhaled. Haven't gotten sick, so far (knock on wood).

If this trend continues, I might ask Mike Toon, if he needs a near 60-year old apprentice. I might as well get paid for all this work !

So I had to rehab the toilet because of leakage at the drain, i was at the big depot home improvement store, open 24 hours, at midnight buying a wax seal and other toilet parts. At the checkout, the checker wishes me "have a nice day".
I will guarantee you that noone buying a toilet wax seal for the sewer waste drain at midnight is having a 'nice' day!

I much prefer electrical work - the holes required are much smaller, and gravity does not matter.

-Pat

The answer to the question is YES, especially if it involves an older house. My last fun exercise was to replace the goose neck under a bathroom sink. The old one had rusted through and was also solidly rusted into the wall so that when it did come out it left a nice chunk of itself in the wall pipe, making it impossible to get the new pipe to fit tightly. I tried to knock it out with a chisel but didn't want to get too heavy handed for fear of breaking the pipe in the wall. After a couple of hours of colorful language I gave up and used lots and lots of pipe dope to seal it. It finally dried out and doesn't leak but it ain't pretty.

If there is anyone who has ever only made one trip to the store to fix anything around the house other than maybe tightening a screw or replacing a light bulb please speak up.

RRM

I don't mind supply. I can sweat copper with the best.

But, drain? If it's more than a sink trap no thank you.

We just finished our master bathroom remodel. The sinks and click-clack (push to close, push to open) sink drains are from Italy and look wonderful, but somebody needs to tell the Italians that 1.25" flanged tailpieces are very hard to find in the USA, while 1.5" parts are plentiful. The easiest solution was to buy some drain assemblies which came with 1.25" flanged tailpieces and throw everything but the tailpieces away.

Once of the best things to come along in a long time are the Sharkbite fittings. Yes, they are expensive, but they are so easy to use, and there is no need to worry about starting fires with a torch.

PEX piping is also a wonderful thing. It is not really new, but is now readily available. There are three types, and numerous joining methods, many requiring expensive tools. For production plumbing, PEX is very rapidly replacing copper. For smaller projects, PEX and Sharkbite fittings are a good solution.

Plumbing doesn't suck that much, it mostly drips or squirts.

I moved the laundry sink a few inches so the old supply pipes were too short. 3 stores, nobody selling replacement pipe with a bulge-type flange at one end and a compression fitting on the other. I paid 4 times more for the flexible hoses, every hardware store sells those.
Hope they last, but somehow, I expect they're designed to burst when nobody's home.

I love PEX pipe. The fittings are pricey and you need the crimp tool. But it is a joy to install, as long as you got room to maneuver the too long handles of the crimp tool.

After a while it becomes easier. I can change a water heater in less than a half hour. Do it 3 times over 25 years and you buy extras each time.

Had to shut off my water main. Turned plastic ball valve and and it split, 140PSI water everywhere. Run out and shut off at street. Ok, now to do it right. Draw diagram of fittings needed to change all from plastic to copper from entrance to regulator. Run to HomerD and pick up everything; as always a few extras. Half hour later new brass ball valve and everything works.

Draw up what you need, make a list and buy extras. You probably need it later.

Have not done sewer work on this house YET. Have kitchen sink and disposal that drain real slow. Drain cleaner barely keeps it flowing. So need to get snake. I may end up replacing drop to garage. If, so will end up with extras.

House is copper, easy to work with. Old galv and black iron is a bear to work with. Luckily the black iron gas line stuff I did was at the end.

I do miss the hardware store just 2 miles away. Made life easier until the big box stores drove them out.

I’d rather do plumbing than electricity. Plumbing you have to clean up water if you mess up, electricity burns your house down or electrocutes you.

PVC pipe is evil..........

For those who may have missed my earlier posts on the subject here are my three rules of plumbing:

1. There's no such thing as an simple plumbing job.
2. If you can measure the size you're looking for anywhere on a replacement part, you have the wrong size.
3. See rule #1.

John

It would be cheaper for me to hire a plumber than it would to replace the tools I'd end up chucking into the woods behind the house in anger..

A lot depends on what you are dealing with. I'm in the middle of running new supply and waste lines to one of my bathrooms. What was there on both sides was a patchwork mess, so I figured rather than try to repair it, I would just run fresh lines to avoid frustration and more problems down the road.

The main reason I do my own plumbing is because I want to keep my original century-old fixtures. Most commercial plumbers want to tear them out and put in cheap builder's grade crap because that's what they're familiar with.

It's so difficult with so many trips to the hardware store because you only do it once in a while. You can probably go out in your shop and repair most normal tube radio repairs without a single parts order. A real plumber or even a "hobbiest" plumber probably has a stock of parts ready to cover most of the normal problems that crop up. Plus they've done it hundreds of times before and know what mistakes to watch out for.

Plumbing is one of those things that always seems simple, and then something goes wrong...