Plumbing a House: For Pros by Pros

In Plumbing A House, Peter Hemp provides thorough and accurate information with very useful details and insights. I recommend this book to anyone who is doing any plumbing, having any plumbing performed for them, or who just owns a house and wants to have some idea of what provides the water and gas and what takes it away. The book is especially useful to read before performing an inspection of the plumbing in an old house, before major repairs, or before you build a new house. A "For Pros By Pros" companion volume, "Wiring A House", by Rex Cauldwell, also gets my 5-star rating, for similar reasons. Solid information is provided for tools; materials; pipe sizing; joinery; drain, waste, and venting; water distribution; fuel gas distribution, and for venting gas water heaters and furnaces. Remodeling is also considered, but an area that could benefit from a little enhancement is the renovation of fuel-gas distribution systems. Much important information is there, but there are a lot of insights an experienced plumber could provide that are missing. I have the version printed in 1998, and another shortcoming I found is that there is one new technology that is not covered deeply, and the book needs an update to add this. The information presented is amazingly complete and helpful without having a book 3 or 4 inches thick. I should say that I have enough experience -- and tools -- to give plumbers and electricians a lot of gray hair when they work for me, but not enough to pass any professional test. If any of them read this, I want them to know how much I appreciate true professionals! The information I found to be missing concerns PEX (Polyethylene Cross-Link tubing) and a manifold for water distribution. Only brief mentions of PE tubing is made. PEX, especially combined with a manifold distribution system, resolves a number of plumbing issues with many benefits. Many new houses are now plumbed with PEX and manifold systems, and owners seem blissfully unaware of the benefits--the way plumbing should be. My house (46 years-old, and we are the fifth owners) recently had its galvanized steel pipe system fail due to years of electrolysis. There were a number of complicating factors that contributed to its early end: improper grounding of the electrical system, improper installation of a water softener, improper repairs, and a failure of previous homeowners to recognize that something was wrong and do something about it. (If you have faucets falling apart, don't just assume that it was a cheap faucet!) This book helped me figure out what was wrong, why, and what I might do about it. I had to do my own cost and benefit analysis, of course. And the book didn't tell me about the solution I picked. The entire water distribution system in my house has now been replaced with a Vanguard Piping Systems, Inc. ManaBloc(tm) manifold system with PEX tubing. The manifold is in the garage next to the hot water heater, and a tube runs from the manifold to each fixture for cold and hot water. The tubes are color-coded. The manifold has a valve for each tube. Each tube has only two connection points: 1) at the manifold and 2) at the fixture. Flow volume is determined by tube size, pressure is evenly divided, and temperature remains constant. Four people performed the entire replacement project in 12 hours. All water was off for less than 30 minutes, and each bathroom was re-plumbed separately. The sheetrock repairs took a bit longer, but they were small compared to other options using rigid pipe. What a book like "Plumbing A House" could add are the rules for routing the tubes and for installing the manifold that will prevent further hassles down the road. It is my experience that plumbers (and especially their helpers) want to get their current job done, and don't want to have to come back to fix a problem for free, but don't care a whit if what they do causes the carpenter, electrician, HVAC technician, or some other guy a nightmare or two. "Plumbing A House" can give you the information to help the plumber have a bit more consideration--and to give him a few more gray hairs while you are at it.

There is "book larn'in" and then there's "know how" and thoroughly reading this book will get you as close as you can get to the latter without actually going out and spending a few months on the job with a master plumber. In fact, I would say that is the dominant "feel" of this book - that the reader is tagging along as Peter masterfully plys his trade, all the while explaining with great care the hows and whys of what he is doing. This book is unlike other plumbing books in that it doesn't try to balance the pros and cons of all the plumbing products available out there. Peter tells you which ones he likes, which ones he doesn't, and the reasons why, based on his experience. It is his explanations of his reasons that enlighten the reader and help him in making his own purchasing decisions. One word of warning - there may be easier books to read than this one, especially for the novice. I often found myself having to read passages two or three times to figure out exactly what he was getting at. In fact I know I have read most of the book at least twice, but the effort was always worth it when I finally figured out what he meant. And I can honestly say reading it was never dull or repetitious - there is something to be gleaned from each paragraph. I guess the book is getting a little old, as one reviewer noted, but most of the products he talks about are still widely used in my part of the country. I even agree with him on the advantages (primarily accoustics) of cast iron drain pipe in certain applications. This book, along with its companion "Installing and Repairing Plumbing Fixtures" are a must read for anyone who wants to know what's what in the plumbing trade.

I got some experience at fixing my own plumbing before purchasing this book. I intend to build my own home in near future, barring any unforeseen unfortunate event or events. This book will definitely enable me to install most of the plumbing myself, if I can muster the energy. The illustrations are exactly what you want in a book like this: very detailed, easy to figure out, and they give exactly the information you want and need from illustrations of this sort, with no silly B.S. This book is painless and highly useful education.

I can think of a half a dozen "how to" books that are outstanding and this is one. The author did a spectacular job of providing useful and clear information. This is a rare gem. Wonderful illustrations, both mechanical drawings and photos. Valuable tips and tricks. Well written and reliable information. Wish I had it back when it was published. I have read most of the more recent plumbing books, most of which are about minor repairs such as fixing a toilet float, and this is far superior if you want to know how to plumb a house.

This is an awesome resource. I would consider it a bible for plumbing. Very informative, easy to understand. I purchased it specifically to learn how to rough our plumbing in a new house, as well as determine plumbing needs for the new house. I've done simple plumbing jobs in that past, but now feel confident in my ability to do the job. Peter Hemp also provides insight in the tools you will need and gives his recommendations on which ones to obtain. He also gives insight into the variety of materials that plumbing is available in, what situations to utilize that material, etc. He gives formulas and methodologies you can use to determine pipe size to meet your water sources psi and how to match the DWV (drain, waste, vent) plumbing your house will require. I also have a new healthy respect for plumbers.

Easy to understand. Has helped me more than once. to do a plumbing repair.

Husband had a copy years ago and can't find it now that we have moved out of state. He was very upset. Apparently it's the best book about plumbing with details that aren't available on the interenet. Bought it for him for Christmas and he was very happy.

Information is dated, shows in a lot of the pictures and references (or lack thereof) to tools especially. The book still provides good information that in my opinion you don't NEED to be a PRO to understand. I think the name is actually a misnomer as the book actually provides some fairly basic information and gives good advice for all. There may be newer books available but I picked this one up because of the price.

Really great book. Pros: 1. Very detail on drain waste vent. Explain each function of the drain fitting and when to use them. Indicate which size of drain/waste/vent to use. 2. Explain about copper pipes for water supply. 3. This book is definitely gear toward professional. Really like that a lot. 4. Venting hot water tank. This is amazing, this is the only plumbing book that teaches how to do water tank vent. It is important to know how to do this, as you might need to replace a larger or smaller than the current hot water tank and readjust the vent is require. Cons: 1. No PEX system. 2. Really outdated, cast iron? PolyB? Kelly fitting? No longer use these materials. Needs to buy other plumbing books to supplement this book. 3. The book is in black and white. 4. The tools explained to use are outdated. 5. Need more photos. Very little in comparison to Black and decker plumbing or Stanley complete plumbing. 6. Only shows about rough in plumbing. I bought the author other book “installing & repairing plumbing fixtures”. Highly recommend this book as well. Overall: This book is really good for someone wanting to learn how to plumb your own house. For example; renovating the basement. Really like a detail explanation about copper piping as most books focus a lot on pex but not so much on copper. This book is not sufficient enough to tackle basement plumbing job without having other supplement books.