Cost Benefit Analysis of Doing Your Own Plumbing

We've been having plumbing problems for the last 3 weeks. Over the last few weeks I've learned a lot about plumbing, and everything appears to be good now.

We had an massive hole and crack along a rotted cast iron drain pipe from the upstairs bathroom. The rotted pipe was about 5.5 feet long, pics below.

Overall, I'm happy with my work, what I learned, and the confidence I gained to finish repairs and projects around the house.

The most important thing I learned: never buy an old house. There are so many half assed repairs in this house. It'll be funny someday when I'm no longer the one paying the price for them.

Below is a costs benefit analysis and a timeline of events. At the bottom of the page are the pictures I took along the way.

Costs

• Supplies- (including a few tools I now own) $302.20 
  
• Transportation- (6 trips for supplies) $25.00
• Time- 4 days work, ~30 hours
  
• No shower- 2-3 extra days without a shower
• Injury- corneal abrasion, $60 medical prescription (maybe reimbursed)
• A couple minor fight with the spouse
• Stress- from trial and error, mistakes with buying and or using the wrong tools. 

Benefits

• Saved ~$1500-2000
• Completed the job (need to wait a couple weeks to ensure no water is leaking from the new connections.
• Learned new skills
• Enjoyed working and learning

Analysis

I made between $400-500 a day working, and only had to go to the urgent care once. By far the most money I've made in my life for 4 days of work.

Timeline

• 10 Jan 2022- water leaking from the ceiling. I took toilet off, but couldn't figure it out. Cast iron flange was deteriorated.
  
• 11 Jan- paid plumber $300 to replace flange and appeared to solve the leak.
• 12 Jan - larger leak than before. Plumber returns, but doesn't find leak.
• 13 Jan- I open up part of the ceiling, see pic #1, but cannot reproduce the leak
• 14 Jan- I thought the leak was 18-36 inches from the toilet/flange, either on top of the cast iron pipe or on the stack vent below the floor level. see Pic #2
  
• 16 Jan- reproduced leak. Cut out more ceiling and found "leak." See pic #3
• 17 Jan- call several plumbers and schedule 4 appointments for quotes.
• 19 Jan- 1 quote and 1 estimate for 2 different interpretations of the job.
• $1300 estimate for less work than I ended up doing.
• $3500 quote for a lot more than I ended up doing.
• 21 Jan- decide to do it myself starting 24 Jan on after arrival of pipe cutting tool. Only going to take out the broken part of the pipe.
  
• 24 Jan- daughter sick, 2 day quarantine.
• 26 Jan- start removal of rotten pipe. Open up more ceiling, find crack is along the entire pipe. Bigger job than originally expected. Need more supplies. Pipe cutter is the wrong tool for the job. 1st of 4 cuts complete to remove the rotten pipe. Pic #4
  
• 27 Jan- buy reciprocating saw and finish 2nd cut. Remove ~3 feet of pipe, see Pic #5. Friend stops by and brings disc saw and oscillating saw. With friend, finish the last two cuts. Still need to remove pipe from hub at the wall, see Pic #6.
  
• 28 Jan- Progress on hub, removes all lead from the hub. Cast iron pipe still in hub, see pic #7. Breaks discs and drill. Return to store. Eye extremely sensitive to light and very red. Pick up daughter from daycare and call it an early day.
• 29 Jan- go to urgent care. spec of metal removed from my eye, see Pic #8 Eye has an abrasion. Finish removal of pipe from the hub. Insert new PVC pipe. Job compete! see Pic #9
  

Pics

 

Pic #1

Pic #1b- where water seemed to be leaking

Pic #3a- Open up more ceiling after find a flood of water

Pic #3b "The Leak"

Pic #4a- open up more ceiling to make cuts. Find more cracks.

Pic #4b

Pic #4c

Pic #5- main damaged part of the rotted pipe

Pic #6a

Pic #6b

Pic #7a

Pic #7b

Pic #8

Pic #9a

Pic #9b