The handbookTools & Basics

The eleven tools that cover 90% of home plumbing

You do not need a van full of gear. You need this short list, a bucket, and the nerve to shut the water off.

12 minutesEasy

What you need

  • Bucket
  • Headlamp
  • Towels
  1. 1

    Channel-lock pliers, 10-inch

    The single most-used tool under a sink. Buy one good pair instead of three cheap ones.

  2. 2

    Adjustable wrench and a basin wrench

    The basin wrench looks strange and feels awkward, and it is the only thing that reaches faucet nuts behind a sink.

  3. 3

    Thread seal tape and pipe dope

    Tape for threaded metal joints, dope where the manufacturer calls for it. Both live in the kit.

  4. 4

    A real plunger and a hand snake

    A flange plunger for toilets, a cup plunger for sinks. A 25-foot hand snake handles most branch clogs.

  5. 5

    Headlamp, bucket, and old towels

    Unglamorous and decisive. Two free hands and a dry floor is the difference between a repair and a story.

Plumber's tip

Keep the whole kit in one bucket by the water heater. If it lives in the garage, you will not go get it at midnight.

Stop and call us if

You find yourself needing a torch, a press tool, or a pipe cutter for anything behind drywall.

Call Pando Plumbing
Know when to stop

Rather have it done right the first time?

If it's under a slab, on a gas line, or flooding right now, Pando Plumbing covers Salt Lake to Provo with 24/7 emergency service and no dispatch fees.