Handling Common Plumbing Issues: Expert Advice
Handling Common Plumbing Issues: Expert Advice
Blog Article
MOST COMMON PLUMBING PROBLEMS IN OLDER HOMES
Galvanized Pipes
The galvanic process means coating an iron pipe with molten zinc to prevent the iron from corroding. The zinc lasts a while, but not forever. As the zinc erodes, the exposed iron begins to rust. This can cause pipes to fail, but the warning signal is easy to spot: Your water will become discolored from the rust in it.
The answer is to have galvanized pipes professionally replaced by modern alternatives, such as copper or PEX (Cross-Linked Polyethylene). A well-trained plumber and assistant can perform this work in relatively short time, ensuring a constant water pressure, no odd taste or color to your water and no leaks.
Pipe Bellies
As your Phoenix home rises and falls in its surrounding soil, the pipes leading into your home will rise and fall, too. When they buckle or bow, they form a pipe belly, a low spot that defies gravity’s pull on sewage. While this settling occurs slowly, you will eventually notice poor drainage, slow-flushing toilets and, ultimately, a clogged sewer line.
Similar to pipe bellies are pipe channeling, where hard water carves its own channel in the bottom of a sewer pipe, rendering it very weak.
Polybutylene Pipe
Once thought of as a great water pipe product, polybutylene pipe (PB) was used from the late ’70s into the early ’90s because of its low cost and easy installation. It breaks down with exposure to water and water’s dissolved solids, so it is not acceptable anymore. As time goes on, homeowners experience more and more polybutylene pipe problems.
If you have an entire house piped in PB, you need the services of an experienced local plumber to replace every run, every elbow and tee, and every connection to fixtures throughout your house. Otherwise a leak could destroy furniture, furnishings, flooring and more.
Sewer Lines
Sewers and sewer lines are definitely at the top of a lot of people’s old house plumbing problems. Sewer lines take your home’s gray and black water from drains to the sewer main, where it travels on to a municipal treatment plant. Sewer lines are always wet, so they attract tree roots. Cast iron pipes are particularly susceptible to cracking and intrusion by tree roots, which can completely clog a line.
Professional plumbers can send a camera into your home’s sewer pipe to diagnose channeling and bellies, and they can find and fix tree roots that clog your pipe. This is a much more affordable option than the disgusting and expensive issues created by a sewer backing up.
Drains
Fifty years of draining water, soap scum, sewage and shampoo can take a toll on your older Phoenix home’s drains. Clogs develop in pipes in all drains, but toilet, kitchen, and bathroom sink drains are particularly prone to clogs.
Toilets are infamous targets for children, fascinated by the disappearing act. While you may never know a small action figure or toy car went down the toilet, you will know a backed-up toilet when it strikes. A small item could start a very slow-building clog.
Kitchen sink drains also tend to accept things that should not go down the drain, like kitchen fats, bits of food that should go through a sink strainer and even bone. You can do your part, of course, by keeping waste out of the kitchen sink or having a garbage disposal installed, but in an older home you will not know what others have stuffed down there before you.
Original Fixtures
While some original fixtures are notably sturdier and of better quality than their corresponding modern fixtures, many older ones simply wear out with time. Washers and valves degrade and cause leaks. Stems and handles break. If your home still has its original spigots, faucets, handles and valves, you may not notice the tiny leaks that lead to higher water bills and unpleasant smells.
A worry spot in any home is the shut-off valve for a toilet. This little-used valve attaches where the rigid pipe exits the wall, down below the tank, and a flexible metal and plastic tube connects the water supply to the tank. That shut-off valve can get stuck in its typical, open position, so any attempt to close it may actually cause it to leak. A trained plumber can replace not only the flexible tube to the toilet tank, but the antiquated or stuck shut-off valve. This means you never have to worry about turning off the water to the toilet should a bowl clog cause your toilet to back up.
https://www.acehomeaz.com/blog/common-plumbing-problems-older-homes/
5 Typical Household Plumbing Issues and How You Can Fix Them
As a homeowner, you will run into several plumbing issues that sometimes make an annoyance. Some plumbing issues are extra typical as well as can be quickly fixed. Doing the fixings yourselves on these simple plumbing problems can save you tons of money. Have a look at 5 of the most usual ones listed below:
Slow Draining Sink
This is one of the most typical issue of house owners, with the sink collecting a great deal of hair, oil, debris, as well as other substance over time. Regrettably, the only method to get a smooth moving drain once more is to remove the debris. Initially, you can use a plumbing device for fishing out the debris. From there, you can use a store-bought drain cleaner to cleanse the lines.
Slow-moving Tub Drain
Simply like the sink drain, hair, soap scum, dead skin cells, and various other gunk pool in the drain usually. After utilizing the claw, you can put drain cleaner to revitalize the drain lines.
Low Tide Pressure
Is someone from your home grumbling that there's low water pressure from the sink? If indeed, after that the problem is the aerator within the sink which may have a great deal of sedimentation resulting in reduced water stress.
Running Toilet
You may have experienced a running bathroom, which can be fairly bothersome due to the fact that the storage tank won't fill. At the same time, leaving it alone corresponds to wasting water and spiking up your water bills. For beginners, figure out what's causing it to run. You might require to change any one of the adhering to toilet systems:
Toilet fill shutoff
Dripping flush shutoff
Toilet flapper
Malfunctioning Garbage Disposal System
This aggravating problem is also high up on the checklist of usual plumbing issues. Your unit will certainly feature a cool secret to unjam your device. If you shed it, you will certainly need an Allen wrench to fix the problem. You need to go under the sink and also look for the place where you can put the key. As soon as you detect it, utilize your wrench to turn the equipment to free the motor. When functioning on your rubbish disposal system to avoid horrible mishaps, don't fail to remember to turn off the system as well as cut the circuit breaker.
If every one of these sound tiresome for you, you can constantly employ a plumber to get expert support. Seeking expert assistance indicates saving effort and time. You might also wind up conserving cash in the future since you can feel confident that your straightforward plumbing problem will certainly not rise. Since you will certainly be inviting strangers in your home, just make certain you call a credible business with accreditations and licenses. Naturally, you need to ensure that you work with somebody you can trust.
As a home owner, you will encounter many various plumbing problems that periodically make an annoyance. Some plumbing issues are more common as well as can be easily taken care of. Doing the repair services yourselves on these simple plumbing issues can conserve you bunches of money. You can make use of a plumbing device for fishing out the particles. You may also finish up conserving cash in the long run because you can relax ensured that your easy plumbing trouble will certainly not intensify.
We are very taken with Do It Yourself Plumbing Solutions and I hope you enjoyed reading my blog entry. Those who enjoyed our blog posting please do not forget to pass it around. Many thanks for your time. Come back soon.
Certified experts available. Report this page