Do-It-Yourself Plumbing Project/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Basic Trope: An amateur tries to fix a plumbing problem best left to the professionals.
  • Played Straight: Bob attempts to fix a leaky pipe.
  • Exaggerated: Bob ends up changing the leak to a torrent and flooding the basement, much to the ire of Alice.
  • Inverted: Bob calls the plumber to fix the leak.
  • Justified:
    • The leak appears to be a minor problem that doesn't justify calling a plumber and spending all that money to fix.
    • In Bob's mind, calling a plumber would be a blow to his ego; a real man should be able to fix a leaky pipe, right?
    • Alice and Bob can't afford the plumber's fee.
    • Alice and Bob live in an apartment, so it's the landlord or building supervisor's job to see to the repairs. However, he or she has been slow about it (despite being asked to get it fixed three times), so Bob decides to take matters into his own hands.
  • Subverted:
    • Bob appears to have fixed the leak.
    • Bob decides the problem is too big and calls the plumber.
  • Double Subverted:
    • But a much worse problem has cropped up during this project.
    • After attempting to fix it himself and failing miserably, making the problem much worse than it originally was.
  • Deconstructed:
  • Reconstructed:
  • Parodied: Bob's project results in a major Epic Fail or DIY Disaster.
  • Lampshaded: "Maybe we should call a plumber..."
  • Averted:
    • Alice and Bob call a plumber before things get out of hand.
    • The plumbing is working just fine.
  • Enforced: Rule of Funny
  • Invoked: A pipe starts leaking, and Bob notices it.
  • Defied: After looking more closely, Bob decides that his sub-par plumbing knowledge will just screw things up worse and calls John's Plumbing.
  • Discussed: "Ah, plumbing problems! I don't know what's funnier: the fact that the problem is so minor to start with, or the antics involved in fixing it!"
  • Conversed: "This would be a lot easier if Bob would just listen to his wife and call the damned plumber!"
  • Played For Laughs: Almost always is.
  • Played For Drama: The flood gushes out of their basement and floods the whole town, killing people and leaving others homeless.
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