Pro Handyman Blog

Small plumbing leaks can be tough to diagnose. Leaks most often occur at points of connection. Sometimes a pipe is cracked, which is hard to notice, but more often the leak is occurring where a pipe meets a fitting. Depending on the type of piping being used, you may have a threaded connection or a soldered connection. For pipes and fittings that are threaded, a common mistake is not using pipe tape or pipe dope.

Tape fills in the tiny gaps that are left when the threads of two mating objects screw together. The spaces are tiny, but water will find a way through. So by filling these small spaces, you will stop any slow drips or leaks.

For water lines, use white Teflon tape. This tape is on a roll and you wrap the tape in the same direction as you would twist on the fitting. If you wrap the tape the opposite way, it will bunch up. Hold the end of the tape on the fitting and start wrapping it around the threads. Overlap the beginning piece tightly and you will notice it will start gripping onto the threads. I usually wrap the threads three times and then pinch the threads with my fingers in the same direction as the fitting will screw on to the threads.

The same goes for fittings using natural gas. Use yellow gas tape for gas lines. It is thicker than the white Teflon tape and seals out leaks at the threads.