Plumbing (For Pros By Pros)

This book is fantastic! I love the author's style, sense of humor, and obvious expertise. It's easy to read and full of great advice.If you're a home owner, prospective home buyer, or even a renter, you need this book. I'm accustomed to on demand water heaters so I never knew, for example, that tanked heaters have pieces that need replacing on a fairly regular basis in order to protect the tank. Additionally, call me stupid, but I never knew that you needed to remove the filter pieces at the bottom of the dishwasher to clean them. These are just a couple of the fantastic pieces of information that can benefit 'everyday people,' not just pros. We're planning to finally leave the renters' life behind and buy a home in the coming year and I know this book will be a fantastic resource.

Excellent book, very easy to read. Saved me literally thousands of dollars. I renovate an entire home and redid the plumbing work using Pex. This book covers every detail but still easy to read and provided plenty of pictures. I brought five plumbers for estimates and the cheapest was around three thousand and didn't even show up, everyone one else asked for much more. I bought this book so I can be prepared to check the work of any plumber but it sounded so easy where i started doing the work by myself and decided to finish it without hiring anyone. I did the main pipes starting all the way from the Meter, brand new showers, sinks, toilets, etc.For this book honestly wouldn't have asked for more, I am surprised some people gave the book bad review based on the title that it refereed to Pros or that it didnt cover specific plumbing maintenance, if the author will cover everything he knows he will need a book twice as big probably

Cauldwell is a licensed plumber and a licensed electrician. His plumbing book is excellent. Maybe I should have given it 5 stars. I like the one by Peter Hemp just a little better. This book and one of the Peter Hemp books is all you need to do a wealth of plumbing jobs.

One of the other reviewers complained about all the attention Rex pays in this book to installing well pumps and expansion tanks -- I loved that part of the book! Sure there could be sections later on in the book about things like garbage disposals or even some more diagrams on waste-line systems, but I think it's a very thorough book. I'm in no way a plumber, but I think it's safe to say that you can save BIG BUCKS by reading this book and plumbing your own stuff around the house. Oh, and I also appreciated the sections on PEX, as several other plumbing books I read say almost nothing about the stuff.

This is another down to earth Cauldwell book. It is full of tips on how to do superior work and it's up to date, PEX tubing, air admittance valves etc. I particularly like some of Rex's special tips such as his under the kitchen sink custom drain system. There is also practical advice on what tools are most useful including some specials that you can make yourself. The writing style is enjoyable, informal yet meaty. Reading it is like being mentored by a real world professional who has first hand practical experience to share. It's a bargain.

Based on comment feedback, I decided to take another look at this.Looking back, there's probably no way to cover all the detail I needed, in a book like this. So, I'm mellowing out my original review and adding more detail.I have the electrical (Wiring a house) book by the same author and it was awesome; there was a lot of good information in there. I was pretty much able to wire an entire house using that book and the code information from the local inspector. Passed all inspections. Everything was great.Because of that, or maybe even if I'd never used that, I was disappointed with this Plumbing book by the same author.Again, looking back, I know there are a lot of areas to cover in plumbing. So many different topics, and so many different types of pipe materials you need to work with. So, maybe my expectations were too high. My original 'not good' review was more about there not being enough detail for my liking, and frustration in having to do a lot more legwork than I wanted to find other information on a subject. And, since I didn't have internet at the site, plumbing work stopped whenever I got stuck.One major frustration was on the subject of installing the DWV system on a house. There was good information to introduce you to AAVs, but I didn't think there was enough information about a typical DWV install; particularly venting the system. Yes, AAV's are a modern option, but unfortunately, NOT yet widely accepted (They're not legal for a plumber to install in my state. So, not even possible to buy a whole house AAV locally.).I can't say I liked his custom drain system for a kitchen sink either. Yeah, the standard/typical solution for a strainer gasket is crap, and I agree strongly with him that there ought to be a better solution. His solution does look industrial strength and bullet proof, I trust it functions fabulously, but I'm not doing that. I know plumbing isn't always pretty, but I just didn't like the look of it. I can't see that as becoming a standard for a kitchen sink install; I don't think there's enough room under the typical sink, especially if there's a disposal in the mix. Maybe that's just defect with me.The good news, the whole house has been plumbed for a long time now, and everything works.This book did help some, but there were a lot of answers I didn't get here.

The author's experience in plumbing shows in this book. The book spends more time on repairs than some I've looked at. However it does cover new work.

Fantastic guide for both new and veteran home construction buffs who need to either fix or ensure they don't create a water or sewage problem. Succinctly informative with available materials and tools. Good photographic illustrations. Highly recommend.