For many moms who run their households like a tight ship, they ensure that every part of the home is in good working order. Although it’s quite natural to know what you need to do in many areas of housekeeping, attending to your home’s plumbing maintenance may not come as naturally.
A smoothly-flowing water supply is critical to running your home efficiently. The key is to prevent small plumbing problems from becoming big ones. Here are practical plumbing tips that you can easily carry out:
Cheap Plumbing Fix Tips
Contact a reliable local plumbing company immediately if you have major concerns.
The first thing you’ll notice about your home is the big plumbing problems, such as major leaks or burst water pipes. Don’t delay in looking around your area for reputable plumbing service companies. Check reviews online and ask your neighbors for recommendations. Keep the contact numbers of local plumbing companies accessible.
If, for instance, you live in the greater Raleigh-Durham area, make sure that you have contact details for the best plumbing company in Raleigh on speed dial. This is the only way for you to ensure that all plumbing issues are handled as fast as possible.
Getting professional help from the best local plumbers will save you a lot of money in the long run, instead of hiring small-time plumbers with no guarantee of good performance.
Conduct routine inspections of your plumbing.
Always be mindful of your pipes and drains. Most leaks that plague old homes start out very small. Major damage may be avoided if these leaks are addressed very early. Keep looking for wet walls in dry areas, recurring puddles in wash areas, and other indicators of leaks. You may even train your older children to spot signs of leaks or broken water pipes and to report these to you immediately.
Big jobs that deal with clogged drains usually involve major drain pipe replacements. Minor clogs can be dealt with early on before these become a huge headache. Be observant about how effective your drains are and how quickly the water goes down every time you flush the toilet or use the sink. When you notice a delay in water evacuation, you may start using off-the-counter chemical solutions, which can break down deposited gunk on the drain.
Learn how to trace leaks and other problems first.
When you suspect that your plumbing may have an issue, study how you can find and trace the leaks first, this is a very important skill for you to acquire as a homemaker, and it would make the job of the plumber much easier when you do hire one. This would also make you more confident in evaluating your plumber’s job, as you’re likely involved in locating and verifying the problem in the first place.
Ensure that areas under your sink are clear.
It’s tempting to hoard stuff under the sink, considering the available space available. Don’t treat this area as a storage cabinet. Always make sure that the area under your sinks are clear so that you can easily detect leaks. Moreover, if repair is needed for your sink, it would be much more accessible and easier to fix if the area is uncluttered.
Check what you throw in the sinks and drains.
The main culprits for clogged drains are cooking grease and other “flushable” paper products. Avoid pouring cooking oil and heavy grease down the drain for kitchen sinks. Initially, you may not see any problem with doing so. After a few years, however, the grease and oil will accumulate and solidify into deposits as hard as rocks. You won’t be able to remove these deposits with just hot water or chemicals. The only solution at this stage would be to replace the drain.
For toilet products, beware of claims that wipes and other sanitary products are flushable. Refrain from throwing dental floss, sanitary pads, diapers, or baby wipes down the toilet. These materials don’t break down quickly, like toilet paper. Such products will give you headaches much later when they get lodged in the trap and collect waste.
Place your isolation valves and spigot valves in accessible areas.
When a house is constructed, the contractors sometimes don’t consider ease of maintenance for homeowners. With this idea in mind, go around your house and see if you can efficiently shut off the water supply to specific areas that need repair. This is so that when you do plumbing repairs, you don’t have to turn off the water supply for the entire house.
The ideal scenario would be to have valves that can isolate each bathroom and kitchen and that these valves are easily accessible to you or your plumber.
Keep spare gaskets handy.
Mechanical faucets utilize rubber gaskets to seal the water when these are closed efficiently. Like any other mechanical device, these gaskets and o-rings wear out in due time and would need replacement after a few years of use. Keep stock of the correct gaskets for your faucets so that you can replace these yourself when leaks occur.
Also, make sure that the models of your faucets are still up-to-date. It would be difficult to buy spare parts for old phased-out faucets and shower heads.
Conclusion
Mandatory to all households, keep basic tools on hand for simple repair tasks. Keep plumbing tools in your home toolboxes, such as the pipe wrench, pliers, and screwdrivers. Also, stock up on consumable supplies such as sealants and pipe thread seal tape. When you or your spouse can fix small issues in the house (wikiHow), it will greatly reduce your plumbing maintenance costs. In case of bigger problems, you at least have the option to repair leaks before the professionals arrive temporarily.