Hey all

[ChristopherJoseph]

Hi everyone,

My name is Chris, I'm from New Jersey. I'm new here, and quite a bit overwhelmed about my house. I've just recently sort of inherited the responsibilities of my grandfather's old house, and it's got a pretty long way to go before being presentable again. But hopefully I can find some help here. If anyone has any suggestions on where to begin posting beyond this thread, it would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to chatting with many of you!

-Chris

 

[Nestor_Kelebay]

I'd probably start by buying a soldering torch, a length of copper pipe and a bag full of copper fittings and learning how to solder.

That's cuz soldering is the most reliable way (in my view) of making plumbing pipe connections.

If you procrastenate on learning how to solder, you're just going to do a lot of work that you're going to regret having to do over once you do learn how to solder. That's cuz you just won't have enough confidence in it not leaking after you cover it up with drywall, primer and paint.

Why don't you start by writing a post in the plumbing forum explaining what you think the proper procedure for soldering two pipes together with a coupling is and what the purpose of each step is, and the experienced people in here will correct you if and when you're wrong. Then you'll both know the correct procedure and the correct reasons and you can start practicing how to do it correctly with the pipe and fittings.

For $100 worth of tools and copper, you can get enough experience on practice joints that you wouldn't have any hesitation to do it on the house plumbing.

Ideally what you might want to do is buy a short piece (10 feet, say) of 5/8 inch ID garden hose, a female garden hose adapter and a couple of screw style clamps. That way, after soldering capped off elbows and tees onto the end of your pipe, you could pressure test your solder joints using water pressure from the outdoor hydrant or the faucet on your laundry room sink, both of which will have spouts suitable for connecting a garden hose end to.