Fixing a Kitchen Sink's Plumbing: Our DIY Home Repair Project

Fixing a pipe leak under the kitchen sink might not seem difficult, but to home repair novices, it can be a challenge-especially in an older house.

The problem began when we lacked the finances to keep up with both regular maintenance and costly taxes in our former New Jersey home, which had been built in the 1950s.

After noticing some water leaking onto the kitchen floor, my husband and I soon realized that the pipes beneath the sink were leaking. Additionally, the water and anything else we dumped down the drain was causing further water damage in the basement.

Knowing it would be expensive to hire a plumber to fix the problem, my husband hoped to find a temporary solution to the sink issue. He owned the tools to complete the job, but didn't know how to fix the sink. He shut off the water and took apart the pipes beneath the sink.

Adventure at Lowe's

We put the malfunctioning pipe pieces in a plastic bag and took them to Lowe's. There, an associate pointed out the corrosion in the pipes that had likely led to our leak. It didn't seem like it would be much of a challenge to replace the pipes, and he suggested replacing them with plastic parts, which were less expensive.

When we searched for the plastic pipe parts, we fortunately compared them to the old metal pipe pieces we'd brought in. My husband noticed that the standard plastic pipe sizes did not fit the metal pipe sizes. Additionally, new metal pipe sizes didn't match either.

The employee was confused, but offered to cut the pipes to fit. We agreed and purchased the pipes, but realized that everything didn't fit once the new fitting was on. My husband went back and exchanged it for the right fitting.

Cost of Project

Overall, the cost of the project was minimal. It would have cost about $120 had we hired a plumber. While it did take a few hours due to our lack of experience with plumbing and the return trip to the store, the project cost our time more than our money.

We spent less than $15 on pipe and already owned the necessary tools.

Fortunately, we saved the receipt. This was important since we had to make an exchange for a part that cost the same price.

We decided to tackle this project because we were selling the house. Had we wanted to stay there, we would have hired a professional. For small or short-term plumbing problems, I've found that the DIY approach is definitely the least expensive and most effective.