Over the weekend, I got Steve out of a big jam. He lives near Pittsburgh, and his wife decided it was time to tear out an outdated platform bathtub. She wanted a new sleek soaking tub shaped like an ...

I recently had a plumbing emergency in my own home. The main drain pipe under the basement floor got clogged with toilet paper. The culprit is a newer low-flush toilet in a basement bathroom. I’ve ...

Have you heard the old saying, “You don’t know what you don’t know”? It’s an axiom homeowners should always keep in mind when thinking about the mechanical and structural systems hidden behind the ...

The white pipe sticking up out of the roof is a plumbing vent. The rubber boot at the base of the plumbing vent is part of the flashing kit for this vent, and the boot has dried out and split. Here's ...

Q: My washing machine is in the basement in a room directly beneath the kitchen. When water drains from the washer, it’s going into a hole in the basement floor. The sump pump kicks on, but the water ...

Q. My city allows homeowners to install their own plumbing. But to get the permit, I need to supply them with a rough-in plumbing diagram. What is a plumbing diagram? Can I just do a bathroom plumbing ...

Copper and galvanized steel water pipes are so last century. PEX (cross-linked polyethylene) is the water pipe material of ...