I replaced my [1] busted water heater over the weekend. That’s got to be one of the easiest home improvement projects around. From start to finish, it was about two hours, and that includes the trips to Lowe’s and the time it took for the new heater to fill up. And the whole thing cost me about a quarter of what the jackals at Blackmon Mooring wanted for the job. Here’s how it went:

Shut the water off.

Shut the power off.

Drained the old heater and moved it off to the side.

Marshalled my forces.

Removed the old leaky hoses.

Moved the new heater into place.

Teflon-taped the hot and cold water connections.

Connected the hot and cold water hoses.

Connected a drain line to the pressure-relief valve.

Turned the water back on and waited for the heater to fill up.

Turned the power back on.

Voila! Plenty of hot water for cleaning up my filthy hovel.

Piece of cake.