Installing Water Shut Offs Without Power Tools or Soldering!

Valerie Burge
by Valerie Burge
3 Materials
$30
30 Minutes
Easy

I had been wanting to update the sink and faucet in my ensuite since we moved in. The biggest hurdle was that there was no water shut off valves for the sink. And working with water has always made me pretty nervous.


I like to start any project by asking myself “What’s the worst thing that can happen if I fail?” In this case, we would have no water in the entire house until I got if fixed, that’s what! A pretty big deal to say the least.


But after 5 years of being a scaredy-cat, I decided enough was enough - I was tackling this!

Messy plumbing job

The first step was to measure my copper pipe depth – it was ½”. Then I went out and picked up 1/2" compression valves and got all my supplies together.

Supplies

I turned off the main water to the house, which was located in the basement. I then decided where to cut. Because my pipes had some pretty messy soldering, I found a spot on each (hot and cold) that had no soldering runs. The packaging on the value fittings tells you exactly how much pipe you need to attach the fitting. So I marked off my spots and got ready for the scary part, cutting the pipes!

I used a mini pipe cutter to do this. They are so easy to use! 

You line the blade of the cutter up with your cut mark, tighten the little dial, and twist the cutter around the pipe. After every couple of twists, you need to tighten the dial again.  

Then keep going until the pipe separates. That happened much quicker than I expected – only 3 or 4 minutes. Once they were cut I cleaned the ends of the pipe with sandpaper to make sure there was no dirt or burrs on the pipe. Then I slid the push fitting over the pipe and pressed it down until it snapped into place. I then turned the valve to the off position and ran downstairs to turn the water back on. And…it worked!!! No leaks!  

Shiny new shut off valves!

Then I simply added flex hoses to the other end of the fittings for my faucet, turned the valves to the on position and voila! 

Attached flex hoses

This project took less than 30 minutes, used very few supplies, and was far easier than I had ever dreamed possible!!! I’m so happy I finally got up the nerve to do this. And I hope anyone out there who is in need of water shut offs will be inspired to get er done. 

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4 of 14 comments
  • Sandi Landi Sandi Landi on Mar 08, 2020

    Love the walk through on this we paid someone to do it but realized it wasn’t that difficult they have shark bites you can put on when you cut the pipes if you need to wait to reconnect the lines while doing other remodeling like we did you cut put shark bite on then remove and continue

    • Valerie Burge Valerie Burge on Mar 08, 2020

      Thanks Sandi! And yes, the compression fittings I used are the same as shark bites. I think shark bites is a brand name, not sure. I had asked my handyman to come install shut offs and he's the one who suggested I could do this myself! I'm so glad he did. :)

  • Tony R Tony R on Jan 21, 2021

    Excellent job. Excellent presentation. Nicely done

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