Solving Typical Plumbing Challenges: Best Practices
Solving Typical Plumbing Challenges: Best Practices
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/
How to Fix Common Household Plumbing Issues
Some plumbing concerns are a lot more typical and can be easily repaired. Doing the repair services yourselves on these easy plumbing troubles can conserve you lots of money. As a home owner, you will certainly encounter many different plumbing problems that sometimes make a problem. Have a look at 5 of the most usual ones below:
Low Water Pressure
Is someone from your household grumbling that there's low water pressure from the sink? If yes, then the problem is the aerator within the sink which may have a whole lot of sedimentation resulting in reduced water stress.
Running Toilet
You may have experienced a running bathroom, which can be quite irritating since the container will not fill up. At the same time, leaving it alone relates to throwing away water and also increasing up your water bills.
Commode fill valve
Dripping flush valve
Commode flapper
Malfunctioning Garbage Disposal System
This frustrating issue is additionally high on the checklist of common plumbing issues. Your system will certainly feature an awesome key to unjam your device. If you shed it, you will require an Allen wrench to deal with the trouble. You need to go under the sink and search for the area where you can put the secret. Utilize your wrench to turn the equipment to free the electric motor once you identify it. When working on your rubbish disposal system to avoid unpleasant mishaps, don't forget to turn off the system and cut the circuit breaker.
Slow Draining Sink
This is one of the most usual problem of home owners, with the sink accumulating a great deal of hair, oil, particles, and also various other gunk in time. Unfortunately, the only way to obtain a smooth streaming drain once again is to clear the particles. You can make use of a plumbing device for fishing out the debris. From there, you can use a store-bought drainpipe cleaner to clean the lines.
Slow-moving Tub Drain
This is another pesky nuisance since the tub is one of the most secondhand fixtures in your shower room. Much like the sink drain, hair, soap scum, dead skin cells, and other substances swimming pool in the drainpipe often. You have to pop open the drainpipe cover as well as utilize a tub claw to get rid of the particles. Do this ASAP before the drainpipe congests totally. After making use of the claw, you can put drainpipe cleaner to freshen the drain lines.
You might also finish up saving cash in the lengthy run due to the fact that you can rest ensured that your easy plumbing problem will not intensify. Simply make sure you call a credible business with licenses and qualifications because you will certainly be inviting unfamiliar people in your house.
Some plumbing issues are a lot more typical and can be easily repaired. Doing the fixings yourselves on these basic plumbing issues can save you tons of money. As a home owner, you will experience lots of different plumbing problems that sometimes make a nuisance. You can make use of a plumbing device for angling out the particles. You may also finish up saving money in the long run since you can rest assured that your easy plumbing problem will certainly not intensify.
As a keen person who reads about DIY Plumbing Fixes, I imagined sharing that piece was worth the trouble. Are you aware of anybody else who is very much interested in the topic? Take a moment to share it. I cherish reading our article about Fixing Typical Household Plumbing Problems.
Drain blockage? Seek our expertise. Report this page