Main Water Line Repair with Sharkbite

Main water line repair with Sharkbite from the Home Depot can be done by almost anyone. If you are a homeowner, then you know plumbers are expensive. Recently my husband and I had a leak under our home and panicked at the thought of another expensive plumbing repair.

My husband can do basic plumbing work but when it comes to working with copper pipes or Pex he has no tools or experience. Looking under the house we could see the water leaking from the crack in the main water line coming into our home. The main water line happened to be on top of the ground in our crawl space and was a blue plastic line with a fitting which connected to the copper line which supplies our house with city water.

To repair the main water line, which is copper, is not really a homeowner DIY repair. Soldering copper pipes requires skill, safety precautions, and knowledge. This is why plumbers can charge a hefty price. So what do you when you have a leak in your copper pipe? or main water line?

Sharkbite sold at Home Depot.

This is the most amazing plumbing gizmo ever! Sharkbite lets you work with copper, Pex, and PVC even if you have never done plumbing before. You will need the appropriate pipe cutter for the job if you have either copper or plastic line and then the right size Sharkbite fittings. The fitting we needed was under $20 and the actual repair took less than an hour. If we would have had to hire a plumber, we could have most likely paid upwards of $200-500 for this repair.

There are Youtube videos showing you how to use the Sharkbites but there are 2 important tips that you must do:

• the line/pipe (whether it be copper or plastic) must be cut straight and enough line for the Sharkbite to slide on; and
• clean the line using steel wool and soften the newly cut end with the steel wool so it is not too sharp for the Sharkbite fitting to slide on. (There is an O ring which seals the 2 connections together)

How did we find out about this awesome thing? We asked a contractor if he knew a reputable plumber and he said “you don’t need a plumber, it is a simple cheap repair. Go to Home Depot and buy Sharkbite and fix it yourself”. He also told us that we could easily turn off the water at the main valve at the street too and save ourselves a ‘couple hundred bucks’.

My husband had already been thinking about using Sharkbites in our newly renovated master bathroom but he did not know (or think about) turning off the water at the street and fixing the leak under the house himself. Boy were we relieved because we did not have the funds for another expensive repair.

This is a home repair that you can do yourself. If you mess up putting the Sharkbite fitting on, there is a release tool that comes with many of the fittings or you can purchase it separately for under $2. You can do this. Patience and Youtube are all you need.

Thanks for stopping by and this blog post was not written with any compensation. This is a recommendation based on my (husband’s) use of the Sharkbite. Watch for the post soon on another project using Sharkbite in our master bathroom.

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2016 copyrighted material C Renee Fuller @The Garden Frog Boutique