how to cap a water pipe, plumbing 101

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Please tell me you all have World Cup soccer fever, too.

We’re kind of into it. Big game coming up tomorrow. Go team USA!!

Now, if we had a nickel for every time we did something wrong in the DIY arena we’d be rich. Very, very rich. And we’d live here. Because it’s for sale. And it has a moat.

You know those people who start out every project by doing a lot of research and checking and double checking their strategy and then proceeding with caution?

Yeah, I know those people, too. We are not them. We’re much more the “how hard can it be” DIY type. We’re the “we can figure it out as well go” people. Not in a cocky way, just in a “we’re capable adults, with an average set of skills and a decent amount of common sense” way. You’ll never know if you don’t try, right?!?

And … to fast forward many, many years … that strategy has served us well. We’ve tackled projects way beyond the scope of our skill set and have somehow made it all work. The projects Joel and I have tackled together through the years are all fun to look back on and reminisce about. Here we are circa 2001 in the family room of our first house in Indianapolis, IN. #lovedthoseoverallshorts

Even the ones that didn’t work out well. Like the time we learned about primer. Ay yay yay!

The other infamous “well that didn’t go as planned” project that makes us laugh now even though it may have made me cry back then is the first time we tried to cap some plumbing pipes. We had no idea how to cap a water pipe. But, in theory, we could easily walk through the steps.

1. Cut pipe.
2. Glue pipe.
3. Cap pipe.

Sim. Ple.

STOP RIGHT HERE! I am going to save you from learning this lesson the hard way like we did. NOT ALL PIPES ARE CREATED EQUAL.

So, demolition is happening around here.

And since we’re relocating a bathroom we need to relocate the plumbing. I’m pretty sure we’re having a professional do all of the new plumbing work, but we’re having a heck of a time getting a reputable one to give us the time of day. But, in preparation for demolition day we needed to shut the main water off to the house in order to remove the old toilet, sink and shower … which meant that we needed to cap those pipes once the day was done to be able to turn our water back on and do normal people things like … bathe.

I know I just proclaimed to stop! But this is where I tell you that this really is such a simple DIY it is pretty embarrassing how poorly we’ve executed (or failed to execute) this little project in the past. Here is the scene of the crime in a rental house we renovated in 2005 in a small town in Maryland.

Yes, we took out the old pipes to install PVC because we thought it would be easier than dealing with a torch and flux and all that mess. #anothernickelforus

Here’s what you need to be sure of …

Do you have PVC pipes or CPVC pipes?

That one little letter can cause Borderline Insanity Disorder. We were never officially diagnosed with this fake ailment, but I can assure you that we were on the brink of crazy when we tried to fix a CPVC pipe with PVC glue about 9 years ago. Glue, cap, wait, turn water on, cap bursts off pipe, tears, repeat … over, and over and over. It was very sad.

But here is the other big tip that can save you the headache …

Bring a piece of your pipe with you to the hardware store because they don’t know what kind of pipe you have without it.

They will be very helpful, and hand you parts like they have seen your plumbing and you will leave with a false sense of confidence. It’s not their fault.

Here’s what you’ll need, some affiliate links:

• hack saw
• caps the same size as your pipe, either PVC or CPVC
• primer – the same kind works for PVC and CPVC
• “cement” – the glue that will dry like cement if you buy the right kind, make sure you get the kind that will work with the pipes that you have

Another fun fact:  CPVC measurements refer to the diameter of exterior of the pipe, PVC measurements refer to the diameter of the interior of the pipe. So 1/2″ PVC looks much larger than the measurement indicates. #notconfusingatall

So, from here on out, it really is a simple process. We wanted to remove the pipes from the floor entirely so they didn’t interfere with any additional demolition progress so step one was to go into the crawl space send Joel into the crawl space with the supplies.

But he can’t complain, I rolled out the red carpet for him. 😉

He proceeded to cap off the water pipes for the old bathroom sink, shower and toilet and we just put rags in the drain pipes for now. And it turns out that one rogue pipe was PVC so I had to trek back to the store to buy the other cement which is in a gold container like this.

And then might I suggest one showers. Because, well …

And we don’t have lights in our crawl space so that fancy headlamp makes it easy to maneuver and work without having something extra to hold on to. It’s not just a fashion statement. 🙂

This is part of our complete master renovation, you can get caught up on how we got started, what our floor plan thoughts are and how demolition day went down. And don’t forget to enter to win a complete Deck Care Kit from Thompson’s WaterSeal!

I’d love to hear what DIY lessons you’ve learned the hard way? Ever make a mistake over and over because you didn’t take the time to figure out what you were doing wrong?

And now if you wouldn’t mind indulging me for a second, while looking back through old pictures to try to find the shots of that old bathroom I found this.

Melt my heart, that’s Marley’s first night at home with us when she was just 8 weeks old in Indianapolis. Notice the painter’s tape all around. 🙂

And then there’s Mico’s first night at home with us about a year later.

Ugh. They are so cute. Mico immediately made herself right at home.

Ok. That’s it. No more. Ok. Just one more. 🙂

Don’t be jealous of the 1970s sofa or the lion blanket. That blanket alone saved us loads on our heat bill during those Indy winters. 🙂