Metal tags are solid, but personally I hate the idea of adding more metal or plastic waste if I can help it. I've been using paint markers directly on the pipes lately—seems to hold up pretty well, even under the sink. Haven't had a 2 AM disaster yet...keyword being "yet."
"Haven't had a 2 AM disaster yet...keyword being 'yet.'"
Haha, I feel you on that one. I've been marking pipes with paint pens for years now, and honestly, it's held up surprisingly well. Had a client once who insisted on metal tags everywhere—looked professional, sure, but man, the noise they made rattling around every time someone bumped into them drove me nuts. Plus, like you said, the waste factor always bugged me.
One tip though: snap a quick photo of your markings and keep them in a folder on your phone or cloud storage. Saved my bacon more than once when paint faded or got smudged by accident. But hey, sounds like you're already ahead of the game if you've avoided those middle-of-the-night plumbing adventures so far. Fingers crossed your luck holds out!
Haha, totally relate to the metal tags rattling around—had a tenant once who thought the pipes were haunted because of that noise.
Solid advice, wish I'd thought of that sooner... would've saved me some head-scratching moments for sure."snap a quick photo of your markings"
Wish I'd seen this thread earlier... just spent my weekend playing detective with the pipes in my basement. Previous owner labeled everything with cryptic abbreviations like "KT-H" and "BTH-C." Took me ages to figure out KT was kitchen tap, but what's BTH-C? Bathroom cold? Bathtub hot-cold combo? Still not 100% sure.
Snapping pics is a good idea, but honestly, clearer labeling from the start would save us newbies a ton of confusion. And yeah, those metal tags rattling around are creepy at night—thought I had mice or something at first. Glad I'm not the only one who got spooked by plumbing noises...
BTH-C probably means bathroom cold water line. Ran into similar labels myself and wasted money replacing the wrong valve. Now I always double-check before touching anything—plumbing mistakes add up fast...
