DIY Plumbing Do's And Don'ts For The Christmas Break

With the Christmas / New Year break just around the corner a lot of home DIY weekend warriors are preparing to tackle jobs that they have been putting off all year. What most of these people are not aware of is that under Queensland state law what you legally can do yourself in regards to plumbing is very limiting.

These rules are put in place to protect the home owner from potential damage to their home, as well as knock on effects to public plumbing systems such as storm water runoff systems and sewers. This means that no matter how many YouTube videos you watch or how to guides you read, if you make a mistake it can be more than just the cost of repairs you will be up for, you could be facing a fine.

The good news is there are still some DIY plumbing jobs you can do around the house, these include:

• Cleaning and maintaining ground-level grates to traps on sanitary drains.
• Replacing caps to ground-level openings on sanitary drains.
• Maintaining either above or below ground irrigation systems to dispose of effluent waste from an onsite sewerage facility.
• Installing or maintaining an irrigation or lawn watering system provided it is down stream of an isolation valve, backflow prevention device or tap.
• Changing Shower Heads.
• Replacing a drop valve wash, float valve or suction cup rubber in a toilet cistern.
• Replacing a jumper valve or washer in a tap.

Anything more than this and you will be In breach of the law and face potential fines and are likely to cause a large amount of damage to your home and home plumbing if you complete the job incorrectly.

If you need any more advanced plumbing work done, such as unblocking blocked drains or hot water systems, always call a licensed plumber, and if you don't feel 100% confident that you can handle one of the above jobs on your own, or know what to do if something goes wrong, its best left to the professionals.