I'm remodeling our bathrooms, Is it hard to change the hot water and cold valves? There the compression kind?
Question:I'm sort of a handyman. I just want to know if I should do myself or hire a plumber.
Answers:
Not that hard to do, if theres enough pipe sticking out just cut it off behind the old valve. If not, as you probably allready found out the old compression nuts have a different thread than the new ones and will not work. What you have to do is carfully cut the old compression ring without cutting the pipe then the old nuts can be removed.
The hard part is getting to them. We found it much easier to cut out the old copper lines and replace with pvc pipe. Easier to work with and no corrosion to worry about. If you know NOTHING about it you may want to at least talk to a plumber and get some advise. True Value and Ace stores generally have knowledgable people you can talk to or get a "How To" book.
It's not hard. It sounds like you have the gray poly pipe found in mobile homes. You need to cut it back some and get a shut off valve to put on so you can turn it off and on in the future. Home Depot and Lowe's both sell the fittings for these. You put a nut on the pipe then a special washer and a cone screw it on the valve. As you tighten it the washer goes into the cone locking it in place and the cone seats into the valve. then you can use regular plumbing supplies to hook up your faucets. Hope this helps.
Turn the main supply off. If you have enough pipe sticking out, cut it. If not, you may have to unscrew the compression nuts. To replace them w/ new compression shutoffs, clean the pipes up a little so there is no debris that will break the seal of the new compression ring. you put a nut, compression ring, and the valve on. Tighten really tight.
If there is nothing wrong with the old ones, I would keep them.
It is a doable job and one that I would not recommend paying plumber fees.
Make sure the main water valve is turned off.
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