What to Address Frequent Plumbing Problems: A Practical Approach
What to Address Frequent Plumbing Problems: A Practical Approach
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What are the most common plumbing problems?
Clogs
Clogs are arguably the most common type of plumbing problem that homeowners run into. Drains clog all the time. Most of these clogs are pretty minor—you clear out a sink clog by running the disposal, or a toilet clog using the plunger.
But, many other clogs are much tougher to clear out. Some can even be a sign of a sewer line blockage—something that should never be taken lightly!
How to deal with clogs
This is how most homeowners approach a clog. They’ll try to clear it themselves and—should that approach fail—they’ll bring in a plumber.
After all, plumbers have access to specialized clog-clearing tools that most homeowners don’t have under their kitchen or bathroom sink. This includes a variety of snake tools, specialized plungers, augers, and more.
Should you use drain cleaning products?
When confronted with a clog, most homeowners are tempted to run out to the grocery store and grab a drain cleaning product. After all, this is typically cheaper than bringing in a plumber.
However, these drain cleaning chemicals don’t always work as well as they should. In many cases, they only partially clear the clog, which means you’re going to be dealing with a clog again very soon.
Plus, these harsh chemicals can be tough on your pipes. Repeated use can actually weaken and damage them.
Frozen Pipes
Throughout much of the United States—including here in Chicagoland—frozen pipes are a major problem in the winter.
All it takes is a particularly cold night and your heater going down for several hours (which are often related) for your home’s pipes to freeze. If your home has an electric furnace, a power outage could also lead to this problem.
What happens when pipes freeze?
For obvious reasons, pipes in exterior walls are at the greatest immediate risk. As the pipes freeze, the water inside of them expands.
If you’ve ever left a can of soda pop in the freezer overnight, you know what comes next: the expansion of water into ice puts immense pressure on the pipe.
Luckily, your home’s copper or PVC pipes are hardier than an aluminum can, but there’s only so much of this sustained pressure they can take. Your pipes are at risk of bursting at any time.
How should you thaw out frozen pipes?
Thawing these pipes out is trickier than you might think. Most homeowners instinctively reach for the hair dryer, but that can actually bring on a pipe burst, since rapidly heating the pipe’s surface may weaken it.
You’ll really want to bring in a plumber. We have specialized thawing tools designed to safely raise the temperature of the water inside of the pipe, defrosting it without damaging the pipe itself.
Leaks
Water leaks are a big deal—and a common problem. Whether they’re caused by frozen—and then burst—pipes, or just by aging pipes, water leaks can cause thousands of dollars in water damage to your home, relatively quickly.
For this reason, every leak—no matter how small it starts—needs to be treated like a major threat to your home.
Do you need leak detection?
Not all leaks start in convenient, easy-to-access places, either. Some leaks start behind walls, in ceilings, or underneath floors. Finding and accessing the leak actually might be the toughest part of the job.
This is where a professional plumber can really save you a lot of time, money, and headache. Using professional leak detection equipment—such as acoustic leak detectors—the plumber will pinpoint the location of the leak.
From there, they can make precision cuts into your drywall or slab to access and repair it.
Leaks and water damage
If you’ve got a leak, you’ve probably also got water damage and, potentially, mold growth. Once your plumber has fixed the leak, you’ll want to speak to a restoration and mold remediation specialist to make sure there’s no long-term, lingering damage to your home.
5 Typical Household Plumbing Issues and How You Can Fix Them
As a homeowner, you will certainly run into lots of various plumbing troubles that sometimes make a problem. Doing the repair work yourselves on these basic plumbing issues can save you heaps of money.
Slow Draining Sink
You can make use of a plumbing tool for angling out the particles. From there, you can use a store-bought drain cleaner to cleanse the lines.
Slow Tub Drain
Simply like the sink drain, hair, soap residue, dead skin cells, and other gunk swimming pool in the drain often. After making use of the claw, you can put drainpipe cleaner to revitalize the drain lines.
Low Tide Pressure
Is somebody from your house whining that there's low tide pressure from the sink? Check if this concern impacts both the warm as well as cold water lines. The issue is the aerator within the sink which might have a lot of sedimentation resulting in reduced water pressure if of course. This is really simple to take care of as you just need to take it out as well as scrub away the mineral deposits.
Running Toilet
You may have experienced a running toilet, which can be fairly annoying due to the fact that the storage tank will not fill out. At the same time, leaving it alone relates to wasting water and also increasing up your water costs. For starters, determine what's causing it to run. You may require to replace any of the following bathroom mechanisms:
Bathroom fill shutoff
Dripping flush shutoff
Bathroom flapper
Malfunctioning Garbage Disposal System
This frustrating problem is also high on the listing of common plumbing issues. Your device will come with a nifty key to unjam your maker. But if you lose it, you will require an Allen wrench to deal with the issue. You have to go under the sink and also try to find the area where you can insert the key. Utilize your wrench to transform the device to free the electric motor as soon as you identify it. Do not fail to remember to turn off the system and also cut the circuit breaker when working with your waste disposal unit system to stop horrible accidents.
You can constantly call in a plumber to obtain specialist assistance if all of these audio laborious for you. Looking for professional help means conserving time and effort. You may also end up saving money in the long run since you can feel confident that your simple plumbing problem will certainly not rise. Simply ensure you call a reputable firm with licenses and certifications because you will certainly be welcoming strangers in your home. Certainly, you need to see to it that you work with a person you can rely on.
As a house owner, you will experience lots of different plumbing troubles that sometimes make a problem. Some plumbing issues are more usual as well as can be quickly fixed. Doing the fixings yourselves on these easy plumbing issues can save you lots of cash. You can make use of a plumbing tool for angling out the particles. You may even end up saving money in the long run because you can relax assured that your basic plumbing trouble will not intensify.
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