Knowing what you are doing is essential if you plan on undertaking any plumbing projects in your home. Except for a natural disaster, there are only a few problems which can cause more extensive damage than a plumbing issue. The good news is there are steps that every homeowner can take to stop plumbing nightmares from coming to life, and for fixing them before they get out of control.
Stay away from bleach tablets, blue tablets for the toilet and other toilet odor removers. While they may make your toilet smell pretty, they can erode the rubber parts in the toilet and cause it to stop working.
Don’t use any colored tablets that claim to be cleaners in your toilet. These products will reduce the smell, but they will also cause problems with the rubber gaskets. Over time, the damage will accumulate and could eventually stop the toilet from functioning at all.
Never reach into your garbage disposal with bare hands, even if there is a serious problem with it. Even an un-powered garbage disposal presents significant danger. Use the Internet to find a diagram of your device, or a troubleshooter.
The areas of floor around your toilets are particularly susceptible to water damage; here’s how you can check them. Straddle the toilet, so you can rock from one leg to another to determine whether there’s weakness in the floor. This will save you a lot of trouble and money if you find the issue before something horrible happens.
If your home has well water and you start seeing orange or pink stains, that is from iron in your water supply. This is something that needs to be taken care of by water softener, which you can buy at a store, or have a company come out to your house and take care of it for you.
Check to make sure that overflow holes are not clogged up. The overflow holes help prevent a sink from spilling. When blocked, they don’t work properly and the water can spill out onto the floor. As you routinely look for things needing attention, check to be sure that the overflow holes are clear and unblocked.
Keep the drains in your bathtub working properly by pouring a cup’s worth of baking soda and than a cup’s worth of vinegar directly down your drain every month. This will cause a chemical reaction to occur and you should plug the drain. Pause a few minutes, and then follow the mixture with boiling water. By taking these steps, you have a good chance of ridding your pipes of hair and soap scum.
Stay away from drain cleaners if possible. There are some harsh, corrosive chemicals found in these drain cleaners. That’s why they work so well to knock out clogs. Over time, they will corrode your pipes. If you find that your drain is clogged, think about hiring a plumber to do a estimate and tell you what the issue is.
Prevention is vital for avoiding costly repairs to your plumbing. Drain clogs are a common plumbing expense. Clogs in drains are often caused by buildups of hair. Avoid this by using a drain cover or screen that keeps hair and other particles from clogging your pipes. Most objects will not fall through the drain cover, and even hair usually won’t make it through.
Frozen pipes can cause a lot of damage and cost you money. Fortunately, it’s usually an avoidable problem. Start by insulating the outside pipes fully. And when the temperatures start dropping, you will want to drain your hoses and disconnect them, and then turn off all of the outside faucets. Doing this can help save a lot of plumbing repair bills.
Look for online reviews to check out and help choose potential plumbers. If your insurance company has just scheduled someone for you, checking out their website and customer feedback and reviews still gives the ability to be ready for them comfortably when they arrive.
It can be very helpful for you to know how to do plumbing fixes in your home. If you are unsure if you will be able to fix a specific plumbing problem, avoid permanent damage and call a plumber. The hints and tips you were given were meant to be easy to understand and easy to utilize. With any luck, you learned something of interest that will come in handy when you are repairing, maintaining or updating the plumbing in your own home.