Book Review - The Home Plumbing Handbook

This is a book review of The Plumbing Handbook written by Charles McConnell. The book was quite helpful and easy to follow with simple instructions and pictures to follow along. Very beginner friendly for rookie plumbers or if you are doing plumbing job at home. Below is an excerpt from the book, chapter 8 which talks about weather too replace or repair a faucet: “To replace or repair is a perplexing question let’s consider replacing first. Is that old dripping faucet getting on your nerves? Have you wanted to replace it with a bright, shining new kitchen or bathroom faucet and then wondered if you could do it? I can tell you the answer. Yes, you can do it. Take Saturday morning off and visit your home improvement store. browse through the faucet section of the plumbing department. You will have lots to choose from, from the new pull-out spray head to the Antique style of the 1920s. When you have made your selection, I’ll help you find your way through the problems of removing the old faucet and installing the new one. Removing the old faucet is the hardest part of the job. Just knowing how to go about it will make the job much easier. We’ll go about it one step at a time. There are so many Brands and styles of faucets available to choose from that I am only going to show you to brands that have many styles available in their lines. If, as they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, this is surely proven in any faucet Department. The first step in either repair or replacement is to turn off the hot and cold water supply to the faucet. The control valves, figure 8 - 1 (compression stops), will be under the sink countertop. If these valves do not control the water, refer to chapter 3. Kitchen sink faucets are either top or bottom mounted as seen in figure 8-2. Top mounted faucets sit on top of the sink. Bottom mounted faucets are inserted through the mounting holes in the sink and secured to the sink by lockouts on the sink top. The hardest part or removing and installing sink faucets is getting into the cabinet space to do the work. Almost everyone has a garbage disposer. That means a waste pipe connection from the disposer to the sink trap connection and the piping from the sink trap to the waste connection in the wall. Then there is electric wiring to the disposer and the drain connection from the dishwasher to the disposer to work around. And almost certainly a cold water connection with piping to an ice maker in the refridgerator. You have to work aroud all the obstacles to remove an old faucet and install a new one. This is not an easy job, but I will try to make it painless as possible. You can do it. For a top mounted faucet, when you are sure that both hot and cold water to the faucet are shit off, remove the handles and the escutcheons. Turn the spout locknut counterclockwise and remove it. Take the spout out and remove the spout escutcheon. Turn the locknut under the escutcheon counterclockwise, and remove it; the faucet will now drop out.” To read our other reviews, click here