Customer Reviews

Basic Plumbing With Illustrations Revised Edition

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Now in a completely revised and updated edition, Howard Massey's Basic Plumbing With Illustrations is the definitive "how to" manual for installing code-approved plumbing in residential and light commercial buildings. Systematically laid out in twenty-three chapters, Basic Plumbing With Illustrations covers all of the fundamentals of the plumbing trade including planning and sizing, installation, maintenance, common layout, materials, and code requirements. Invaluable and practical information is provided on inspections, floor plans and plot plans, drawing and reading isometrics, code definitions, and materials. Profusely illustrated with hundreds of charts, tables, installation diagrams, and rough-in measures, Basic Plumbing With Illustrations is enhanced further with a glossary of plumbing terms, plumbing abbreviations, extensive study questions at the end of each chapter, and a section with all the correct answers. This is the ideal text for students and apprentices, as well as practicing professionals in the field.

This book shows you everything about plumbing, including septic systems, solar water heaters, and hooking up swimming pools and spas--not to mention the basic and industrial plumbing fixures and techniques. This book is extremely interesting.

Basic Plumbing with Illustrations is a handy reference book for designers, engineers, and draftsmen. There are a lot of illustrated examples showing best practices when laying out residential and light commercial plumbing that minimize extra fittings, are UPC compliant, and work for stacked and flat systems.
Also handy are rough-in dimensions for common fixtures, drain, waste and vent sizing charts, and cold and hot water supply sizing info. that includes a neat explanation of solar hot water heating methods.
this reference goes hand in hand with another Massey authored Publication entitled "Planning, Drain, Waste, and Vent Systems".

Basic Plumbing with illustrations is not just another how to book.
The Author, Howard C. Massey is a Master plumber,in so being he is amply
qualified to explain in great detail how a plumbing system in buildings work.

This is the text book of choice for the college apprenticeship plumbing course
at Lane Community College in Eugene,Oregon.
You may not be a plumber after reading this book, but you will know why things are done the way
the author describes them to be done. This book explains the correct way to do a job and in most
cases meets local and national building codes. Always check with local authorities and codes before
starting a plumbing project.

This is the second time I ordered this book. The first (from another supplier) was never received since my local PO gave the book to someone else! This time the book arrived promptly and in better condition than described. Very good seller.
The book itself is quite dated (cost less than $2.00) and since it deals with timeless basics, it has been very helpful. Due to the infancy of PVC plumbing when this book was first published, the author's dislike for it is evident in what he DOESN'T say. (Must have been a Union Plumber in his earlier years!)

I had no knowledge of plumbing. I wanted to learn. Going to school was not easy because of family situations. So I bought this book to get some insight into plumbing. I find it useful.

This book was originally published in 1980 and revised in 1994. It has been reprinted a number of times. I bought it in 1998. Detailed questions at the end of each chapter are obviously intended for a classroom audience, but they are worthwhile for the homeowner or do-it-yourselfer who genuinely wants to understand how plumbing works.

If you just want step by step instructions on how to connect a new garbage disposal/toilet/faucet to existing plumbing in a fairly new house, you'd be better off with a different book. But if you really want to know how your plumbing works and thereafter, be able to figure out how to fix anything that goes wrong with your old home's plumbing, than this is exactly what you need.

One of the things I've figured out over the last 50 years is that there is a lot more to the skilled building trades than just the physical/mechanical work of putting things together, and while this book does explain, generally, how many sorts of plumbing fittings connect up, the real value is that it explains WHY.

If you would like a theoretical understanding of how a plumbing system is designed so that you can talk intelligently with your plumber, or with a building inspector, you should read this book. You will learn WHY you have a vent system, what happens if it is not properly set up, and therefore what to avoid when you decide to cram a new bathroom into a too small space.

If you own an older home and are planning to remodel it yourself or keep it in good repair, this is an excellent guide to the things you are likely to find.

If you are planning to replace your old plumbing, or install your own in a new house, this book will give you a clear and thorough understanding of what is required to build a safe system that will not need constant maintenance and repair.

This is one of the few books you will find still in print that explains how to join cast iron pipe with oakum and lead, and while it is doubtful that anyone reading this review will ever want, or even need to do so, it is useful to know how it was done when you find it in your own cellar and need to take it apart.

After working through this book you will know how to properly size DWV pipe and how to lay out a trunk and branch supply system.

Be aware that it was published before PVC, CPVC and PEX piping were in common use, so, to the extent that it explains how to measure, cut, fit, and assemble piping, it emphasizes cast iron, galvanized iron, and copper, but the layout procedures for roughing in fixtures remain accurate.

Following the procedures in this book, I completely re-plumbed my first house 14 years ago using rigid copper and cast iron. I had the satisfaction of being complemented by the local plumbing inspector who said that I had done job comparable to the best of the professionals in the area. I am now planning to replumb a second house and while I will do this one with PEX and PVC, I continue to use this for reference.

I'm rating it four stars only because it does not address the layout of home run systems and barely mentions the use of plastic piping of any kind. Ten years ago I would have given it 5.

This book seems oriented to a technical school plumbing course, with chapter questions (and answers at the back of the book.)

I've just compared this book with "Black & Decker The Complete Guide to Plumbing" and I would recommend the B&D book. It is much easier to follow for the average person, with nice color photos of everything. This book IS better for some technical things such as designing pipe sizing for entire systems.

One odd thing I noticed in this book: it claims that galvanized steel pipe is the most common gas piping material. That is contrary to everything I have heard. Black steel pipe is not even mentioned, but many communities require it.