We had been married for a couple of years, when my wife and I decided we needed a place of our own.

Our 'new' house, a three bedroom ranch with a full basement, was a big step up from the tri-level that we had been sharing with our long-time friends.

I guess we had been there for about a year, or so, when a shut-off valve in the basement decided to start leaking.

Since I had grown up helping my dad with a variety of household projects, including plumbing, I decided to tackle the job myself.

It was Friday night, so I began making a list of the parts that I would need. I figured I would get up Saturday morning and get this minor annoyance taken care of in time for lunch.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that all of the plumbing in that area of the house looked like a big jumbled up plate of spaghetti. This would never do. "Might as well clean up the whole mess, while I'm at it!", I thought. So, I made some notes and a "map" so that I would know "what went where", when it was time to put it all back together again.

Saturday was a beautiful summer morning. As I drove to Central Hardware, the birds were singing and the sun was shining. Even the store clerks seemed to be extra pleasant this morning. It was a regular "zippidy-doo-dah-day". In no time at all, I had what I needed and headed back to the "ranch".

With all of my tools and plumbing supplies nearby, I was ready to start. First, I had to find the shut-off valve. It wouldn't do to have a hundred pounds of water pressure blasting me in the face. With that out of the way, I was finally ready to start the actual repairs.

I had a small pipe cutter, which I clamped onto the old copper pipe, ahead of my repair area. The idea is to rotate the cutter around the pipe, while continually tightening it, so as to make a clean, even cut. (Boy, was I glad I had the foresight to turn off the water supply line!)

It's a funny thing about water pressure. Even when you remember to shut off the "shut-off valve", there is still a LOT of pressure (and water) in the lines.

Luckily, I remembered to have a two-gallon bucket nearby, to catch the gallon or so of water, that I wasn't already wearing, as it blasted out of the pipe. Somehow, my simple project was getting out of hand.

Even though I was soaked from the waist up, I forged ahead, managing to remove all of the pipe that I was going to replace. By now, it was lunch time, and I opted for a much-needed break. This was beginning to take a little longer than I thought it would, but I should still be able to finish up by early afternoon.

After lunch, I began measuring, cutting and dry-fitting all of the pieces of copper pipe. I wanted to be sure everything would go together smoothly, before I actually began the soldering process.

Being careful to properly clean the inside and outside of each fitting, I began soldering. (Before you start soldering, it is always a good idea to make sure there is no water standing in the pipes.)

If there IS water standing in the pipes, well, it can be darn near impossible to get the pipes hot enough to melt butter, let alone solder.

Another interesting bit of information about this whole soldering business, is that it is something of a "linear" process. If you have, for instance, carefully soldered together several pieces, only to eventually find, for example, water in the pipes, you might have to take everything apart again to remove all of the water.

By now, it was about three in the afternoon, and I had finally managed to remove all of the water and get all of the pieces soldered together again.

Confident that I had attained my goal, I called to my wife so that she could share in my moment of triumph. It only remained to turn on the shut-off valve.

Have you ever seen those fountain style sprinklers for your lawn? This was a lot like that. I think just about every connection was spraying a stream or two of water. Talk about a sinking feeling. After all of those hours of effort and planning, I was once again all wet. At least my wife didn't laugh. (I think the poor woman was terrified that we might never have water again.)

Actually, I was glad that just about every joint leaked, instead of just one or two, as it helped me to discover what I had done wrong. I eventually figured out that I had used the wrong kind of solder for my plumbing work.

Finally, at around eleven p.m., with the right kind of solder, I managed to finish what I had started... this time without any leaks.

The point of this story is simply this. You can plan just about every detail of a project, but if you are using the wrong tools or methods, you are bound to fail.

There is an old bit of wisdom that says, "Measure twice, cut once". When you take that extra bit of time to double-check your plan and make sure that you have the right tools and ALL of the information, you will have a much greater likelihood of success.

Ralph Moore is the editor of the FREE Eagle Flyer Newsletter, which offers "How To Technology and Tips That Can Multiply Your Business Online". To subscribe to the Eagle Flyer and receive a FREE report, visit: Eagle Flyer