Understand These Plumbing Basics

An understanding of plumbing basics will help when you're tackling your plumbing problems. Knowing why things work the way they do, the proper parts to use and why, what tools the pros use, and what you are looking at when you are seeing it for the first time will make your DIY plumbing projects go much more smoothly.

But how do you get the knowledge about plumbing that it takes a professional plumber years to learn?

After being a plumbing contractor here in Portland, Oregon for almost 30 years, I do know what works and what doesn't.

My practical hands-on experience with plumbing problems means that I can probably save you lots of time and money with your do it yourself plumbing repairs when I share what I know with you on these pages.


Much of the information found here goes beyond the basics. Anyone should be able to use a drain snake by following the instructions. I can give you plumbing tips and shortcuts that can save you a few trips to the hardware store, help you do the job better, and finish sooner. Here are the things that I've learned and use on the job myself, things that should make fixing plumbing much easier for you.

The purpose of our Plumbing-Geek website is to make you well-informed. My goal is to help you to uphold the standards of safety and sanitation,  often forgotten and misunderstood by the layman, while helping you work through to a satisfactory conclusion. I know the information here will be helpful and invite you to suggest pages you would like to see. Plumbing-geek.com is a work in progress, I will be adding more articles as I think of things you need to know. Visit from time to time and check the progress. I hope in time it will be like taking a plumbing 101 class, but more casual.