Dealing with Common Plumbing Challenges: A Complete Guide
Dealing with Common Plumbing Challenges: A Complete Guide
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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 also How You Can Fix Them
As a home owner, you will run into lots of various plumbing problems that sometimes make a hassle. Doing the repairs yourselves on these easy plumbing troubles can conserve you heaps of cash.
Slow Draining Sink
This is the most typical grievance of homeowners, with the sink collecting a lot of hair, grease, particles, and various other gunk with time. The only way to get a smooth flowing drain once again is to get rid of the particles. Initially, you can use a plumbing device for angling out the debris. From there, you can utilize a store-bought drainpipe cleaner to clean the lines.
Slow-moving Tub Drain
This is another pesky nuisance given that the tub is one of one of the most used components in your shower room. Just like the sink drainpipe, hair, soap scum, dead skin cells, as well as various other gunk pool in the drainpipe typically. You need to stand out open the drain cover and also utilize a tub claw to remove the debris. Do this ASAP prior to the drain clogs up completely. After utilizing the claw, you can pour drainpipe cleaner to revitalize the drain lines.
Low Tide Pressure
Is somebody from your household complaining that there's low tide pressure from the sink? Inspect if this issue affects both the cold as well as hot water lines. If of course, then the trouble is the aerator within the sink which may have a great deal of sedimentation leading to low water pressure. This is really simple to deal with as you just need to take it out as well as scrub away the mineral deposits.
Running Toilet
You may have experienced a running commode, which can be quite annoying due to the fact that the storage tank will not fill. At the same time, leaving it alone relates to wasting water and also spiking up your water expenses. For beginners, find out what's creating it to run. You may require to change any of the adhering to bathroom devices:
Commode fill shutoff
Dripping flush valve
Bathroom flapper
Malfunctioning Garbage Disposal System
This bothersome problem is additionally high on the listing of common plumbing issues. If you shed it, you will certainly require an Allen wrench to deal with the problem. You have to go under the sink and look for the place where you can put the secret.
You can constantly call in a plumber to obtain specialist help if all of these sound laborious for you. Seeking professional help implies saving effort and time. Since you can rest guaranteed that your basic plumbing issue will not escalate, you might even end up saving money in the long run. Because you will be welcoming strangers in your residence, simply make sure you call a respectable firm with licenses as well as certifications. Naturally, you need to make sure that you deal with a person you can rely on.
As a house owner, you will certainly encounter numerous various plumbing problems that sometimes make a nuisance. Some plumbing problems are a lot more usual as well as can be conveniently dealt with. Doing the repair services yourselves on these simple plumbing problems can conserve you bunches of money. You can use a plumbing tool for angling out the debris. You may also finish up conserving cash in the long run since you can rest guaranteed that your easy plumbing issue will certainly not rise.
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