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 property owner, you will certainly encounter various plumbing issues that occasionally make an annoyance. Some plumbing issues are much more typical and can be conveniently dealt with. Doing the repair work yourselves on these simple plumbing problems can conserve you tons of money. Take a look at 5 of one of the most typical ones listed below:
Slow Draining Sink
This is the most common complaint of home owners, with the sink gathering a great deal of hair, oil, debris, and also other gunk over time. However, the only means to obtain a smooth streaming drainpipe once again is to get rid of the debris. You can make use of a plumbing tool for fishing out the debris. From there, you can utilize a store-bought drain cleaner to cleanse the lines.
Slow-moving Tub Drain
Simply like the sink drain, hair, soap residue, dead skin cells, and also various other cruds swimming pool in the drain frequently. After using the claw, you can pour drainpipe cleaner to rejuvenate the drain lines.
Low Tide Pressure
Is somebody from your house whining that there's low water pressure from the sink? First, inspect if this issue affects both the cold and hot water lines. If yes, after that the problem is the aerator within the sink which might have a great deal of sedimentation leading to low tide stress. This is extremely easy to fix as you simply require to take it out as well as scrub away the natural resource.
Running Toilet
You may have experienced a running toilet, which can be fairly annoying since the storage tank won't load up. At the exact same time, leaving it alone corresponds to losing water and surging up your water bills.
Toilet fill valve
Dripping flush shutoff
Commode flapper
Malfunctioning Garbage Disposal System
This irritating issue is also high on the listing of common plumbing concerns. If you lose it, you will require an Allen wrench to fix the trouble. You have to go under the sink as well as look for the place where you can put the key.
If all of these audio tedious for you, you can constantly hire a plumber to get specialist assistance. Looking for specialist assistance indicates conserving effort and time. Because you can relax ensured that your basic plumbing trouble will not escalate, you might also end up saving money in the lengthy run. Because you will certainly be inviting strangers in your house, just make sure you call a trusted business with qualifications as well as licenses. Naturally, you have to make sure that you collaborate with a person you can rely on.
As a house owner, you will encounter lots of different plumbing issues that periodically make a problem. Some plumbing problems are extra usual and can be conveniently fixed. Doing the fixings yourselves on these straightforward plumbing troubles can conserve you heaps of cash. You can use a plumbing device for angling out the debris. You might also finish up saving money in the lengthy run because you can rest ensured that your easy plumbing trouble will not intensify.
Hopefully you enjoyed our section about Common Household Plumbing Issues. Thanks so much for taking time to read through our article. Sharing is nice. Helping people is fun. We appreciate reading our article about Fixing Typical Household Plumbing Problems.
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