Everyone who owns a home knows how common plumbing problems can be. It’s most common to have plumbing problems in your bathroom or kitchen. Eventually, nearly every homeowner has to face one type of plumbing issue or another. The following advice will help, when that homeowner is you.
If your pipes are so noisy that they sound like squeaking or hammering, you can easily solve this problem. You must anchor any type of exposed pipe. It may be necessary to hire a professional to address noisy pipes that are located in less accessible places in your home.
You plumbing experiences will go much smoother if you know your tools, and have the knowledge of how to use each one. So be sure to read through all your manuals as well as research as much as you can on the internet where you can gain information to help you with your projects. Prior to attempting any repairs, be certain to plan ahead in order to avoid expensive errors.
While various toilet tablets and odor removers may be tempting, it’s best not to use them in your toilet. While these tablets may be an easy way to clean your toilet and hide odors, they also contain chemicals that can break down the rubber fixtures in your toilet. Long-term use of these products can slow or even stop the functioning of your toilet.
Use a drain strainer to prevent small particles from sliding down your drain and causing clogs. The strainer in the kitchen sink should be cleaned each time you have large particles trapped in it. You should clean out the strainer in your bathtub often.
Don’t put fat, grease and other oils into the drain. They might be in liquid form, but after they cool off, they will solidify and make a clog in your drain pipe. This is primarily true if you are someone who has a garbage disposal; the fats will make the blades go slower and less freely. Dispose of your oils in a coffee can or other suitable container instead of your sink.
Garbage Disposal
To increase the useful life of your garbage disposal, clean it out regularly. Keep your garbage disposal fresh and running by using dish soap, cherry pits and lemon rinds regularly.
Ensure overflow holes have not been clogged. Overflow holes are one of those things which you forget about until you need them. The overflow holes should be cleaned out regularly; do this when you are making your regular checks for other issues that necessitate fixing.
Always clean the lint from your dryer. This will help your dryer to work better and may also prevent fires. Make sure that you inspect the lint trap for any holes or tears that might mean lint is going to your pipes, which might lead to clogs and other problems to deal with.
Do not expect to clean grout out of a line by yourself. You can try to break up the grout and send it further down. This is more successful in plastic plumbing as compared to metal pipes. This usually requires professional people to come in to help you get rid of this problem.
Don’t run the water when the garbage disposal is used. It is assumed that food will go down more smoothly if the water is running, though in reality that does nothing good. It can even cause what you put down the disposal to stick, causing damage to the unit.
If your toilet has sewage back-up, then there is a block somewhere along the branch line that connects the sewage and main lines. If you can’t manage this blockage, a plumber can put a snake through to clear it out.
Valves that are rarely used tend to fuse together. You have to turn them often to avoid sticking, and keep penetrating them with oil.
The Department of Consumer Affairs is a great place to check if you need a plumbing contractor. There you can check on their license to see if it is valid, and also if there is any consumer complaints against the contractor. They need to have a valid license, or they should not do any work in homes.
Remember that there is a lot more to plumbing than simply knowing that water runs downhill. For example, it’s very common for plumbers to repair water lines.
A number of people have plumbing nightmares, because they think plumbing problems could destroy their house. If you know one thing, you can easily avoid this. You can save your home from any water damage by learning where your water register is, and how to quickly shut it off.
Drain Cleaners
Carefully choose drain cleaners. Some drain cleaners have strong chemicals that can damage the pipes. Be certain to choose a brand that claims to be gentle on pipes. Certain compounds obliterate the microorganisms that plumbing pipes need to work right, and others are even dangerous to people.
The worst thing to do is being unprepared when plumbing problems arise. Anyone that owns a home should also know a little bit about plumbing. When the time comes for you to deal with a plumbing problem, hopefully, the advice from this article will see you through it.