My house is just over 30 years old, plumbed w/ copper, and we've got really hard water. It's leading to corrosion showing up in quite a few places, and when I remove valves and fittings I'm finding over a 1/8" thick mineral deposits building up at the lip of two fittings... My mom is in a 45 year old condo development in the same town and we've had to deal with several spontaneous pin-hole leaks that appear to just be the copper eroding away.
All this is to say, I have a lot of regular -- but often small -- plumbing projects that need to be done like replacing all the stop valves in the house, replacing the outdoor spigots, replacing inline gate valves w/ ball valves, etc... I'd also like to add a water filter setup because the town water mains are rubbish and we are ending up with brown bathtub water on a monthly basis (it's a town wide issue based on social media).
I've been avoiding several plumbing projects because for a variety of reasons...
The math on this would seem to indicate that 10-15 uses would break-even vs. rentals, and $2500-3000 is definitely not going to cover the cost for plumber visits based on the quotes I've received for small work I've needed.
Is it insane to consider spending $2500-3000 on a set of professional pro press tools in order to enable myself to do these weekend projects w/o having to go get the rental equipment, make sure I finish in the day, etc?
All this is to say, I have a lot of regular -- but often small -- plumbing projects that need to be done like replacing all the stop valves in the house, replacing the outdoor spigots, replacing inline gate valves w/ ball valves, etc... I'd also like to add a water filter setup because the town water mains are rubbish and we are ending up with brown bathtub water on a monthly basis (it's a town wide issue based on social media).
I've been avoiding several plumbing projects because for a variety of reasons...
- I'm cheap -- or at least, I can't justify spending $400-1000 a few times per year for a plumber to replace a valve or three when I know it will be on-going
- I'm not a practiced hand when it comes to soldering -- I know the chance of me piecing together a 6-7 joint assembly without having a poor joint is low
- I refuse to use push-fit connections except in an emergency
- I don't want to start converting to PEX or anything other than copper
The math on this would seem to indicate that 10-15 uses would break-even vs. rentals, and $2500-3000 is definitely not going to cover the cost for plumber visits based on the quotes I've received for small work I've needed.
Is it insane to consider spending $2500-3000 on a set of professional pro press tools in order to enable myself to do these weekend projects w/o having to go get the rental equipment, make sure I finish in the day, etc?
