soldering prices

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lperrin

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Hello,

I am finishing a basement bathroom. I have done all of the dry fitting for my copper piping. I'm debating whether or not I should finish the job and do the soldering myself or if I should hire that work out to a professional plumber. Does anyone have any idea of what a plumber would charge on a per joint basis to solder my dry fitted work?

Thanks in advance.
 

Gary Swart

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It will depend on your local rates, but it certainly is a DIY job even if you've never done it. A little practice and you can save a bunch of money.
 

Dunbar Plumbing

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First time I've heard of doing it that way.

Go ahead and try to do it yourself. Hopefully you fluxed the joints already and they are properly sanded and clean.

If you keep the water out of the lines, you should be able to handle the task.

Practice first by wasting about 20 fittings and some copper pipe off a workbench.
 

Jimbo

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You would be hard pressed to find someone to come in at this stage of the job. Tell us how you prepped the joints, and do as was suggested.....take some pipe scraps and fittings and practice. Let's talk about the prep, and if good to go, you can probably pull this off.
 

Dunbar Plumbing

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I had a guy today that called wanting me to pull permits for "work already done".

Apparently he got popped by the inspectors running water lines in the basement and the code requires a permit on anything over 6 feet.

Well, the guy got the brakes slammed on him and even though he kept saying over and over that the "work is already done", I told him he'd be lucky to find any plumber to pull permits on that work knowing they never touched it or put it together. Who knows if it was done right or not.

The guy got ticked when I told him I wasn't interested.
 

Gary Swart

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My first answer assumed when you said you had dry fit the pipes you meant you had cut the pipes and laid out the fittings. You should not flux everything before starting to solder. Each pipe end and the inside of each fitting should be cleaned and fluxed immediately before assembly and soldering. I agree with the previous answers about the difficulty of getting a plumber to come in now. Fortunately, sweating copper joints is not a terribly difficult skill to learn. Making "pretty" joints does take some practice, but they don't have to be pretty to be good, solid joints.
 

Cass

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IF you can find some one to do it it wouldn't be on a per joint price. They would just quote you a price for the whole job.
I agree with the others. Get some fittings and copper pieces and practice and then do it your self.
 

lperrin

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Thanks everyone

Thank you all for the replies. I have not fluxed any of the joints yet. Just made my cuts and cleaned the joints. I'll do some practicing and give it a try!
 

Sparty007

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I just learned how to sweat copper pipes last night at my father's house (changed out a saddle valve that he had running to his humidifier).

It isn't really that hard, just take your time and be careful.

:D
 

Randyj

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I hate to be impolite...but if you called me to come solder the pipes after you cut them then I'd charge the same price as if I had done the whole job. I would feel that I'll probably have to re-cut lots of stuff, take on all the liability and give you a warranty of some kind, as well as worry about all the permitting and legal issues and I've still got to make the trip any way.
 
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