A small leak in a water pipe can be stopped in an emergency as follows: Place a flat rubber or leather gasket over the leak and hammer a piece of sheet metal to fit over the gasket; secure both to the pipe with a clamp obtainable at hardware or 5-and-10-cent stores. A small leak under low pressure is sometimes stopped by shutting off the water and then embedding the pipe in richly mixed portland-cement mortar or concrete. Broken sewer pipe can be repaired in like manner, and a wrapping of wire netting embedded in the mortar or concrete increases its strength. However, it is better to relay the sewer and make all joints water-tight and root-proof as described in Farmers Bulletin 1227, Sewage and Sewerage of Farm Homes. A small hole in cast-iron pipe may be tapped for a screw plug.

Where a leaky screw joint cannot be tightened with a pipe wrench, the leak is sometimes stopped with a blunt, chisel or calking tool and hammer. Sometimes a crack or hole is cleaned out and then plugged and calked with lead, or a commercial iron cement mixed to the consistency of stiff putty. Sometimes a pipe band, a clamp with two bolts (similar to but stronger than the one shown in fig. 14), or a split sleeve is employed to hold a thin coating of iron cement or a gasket over a leak. If the leak is at a screw joint, the band is usually coated inside with one-eighth of an inch of iron cement and then slipped over the pipe. Keeping the bolt farthest from the coupling or fitting a little tighter than the other, both bolts, are tightened. During the tightening, the band should be driven with a hammer snugly against the coupling or fitting.

In addition to these methods and devices, there are several kinds of good, inexpensive, ready-made pipe and joint repairers obtainable of manufacturers and dealers.

A corroded and leaky spot in a steel tank or range boiler can be closed with an inexpensive repair bolt or plug obtainable from dealers. Figure 13 shows a home-made repairer consisting of a three-sixteenths by 3-inch toggle bolt costing 10 cents and a flat rubber gasket, brass washer, and nut. The link of the bolt, after being passed through the hole, takes an upright position, and screwing up the nut forces the gasket tightly against the outside of the boiler.

A small hole must be reamed or enlarged with a round file to a diameter of about five-eighths inch. The metal beneath the gasket should be firm and clean. A little candlewick packing may be wrapped around the bolt to prevent leakage along the bolt. Sometimes a hole is closed by driving in a tapered steel pin to turn the metal inward, forming a surface which can be tapped for an ordinary screw plug. A hole in the wall of a tank or pipe having considerable thickness can be easily and quickly closed by screwing in a tapered steel tap plug which cuts and threads its way through the wall. These plugs in different sizes are obtainable of dealers and a monkey wrench is the only tool required to insert them; it is unnecessary to shut off or drain the water from the tank or pipe.

A small leak at a seam or rivet can often be closed by merely rubbing a cold chisel along the beveled edge of the joint. Do not attempt to calk a seam unless the plates have considerable thickness and the rivets are closely spaced and are close to the calking edge, and then use extreme caution. Run a regular calking tool or blunt chisel along the beveled edge, tapping the tool very lightly with a light hammer to force the edge of the upper plate against and into the lower plate.