Ways in Which Homeowners Needlessly Ruin Their Plumbing
Even with the proper maintenance, your plumbing system and the various fixtures you have installed at your property will become worn over time and require repair or replacement; that’s only natural. However, the number of call outs made to New Canadian Drain and other Toronto based plumbing firms are greatly increased by some relatively silly mistakes that homeowners seem to make on a routine basis. In addition to providing long term, cost efficient solutions to these problems, as one of the leading firms in the Toronto plumbing industry, we see it as our duty to “point out” these mistakes and increase awareness amongst both residential and commercial property owners to ensure the same errors are not committed again. During this article we are going to highlight a few of these plumbing “no-no’s” to help you prevent unnecessary damage to your system.
Top Causes of Plumbing Problems that Could Be Easily Prevented
The following are all things that our plumbing experts witness each week when being called out to both residential and commercial properties across the Toronto area.
Failing to Remove and Store Your Garden Hose as Winter Approaches
Leaving your garden hose connected throughout the winter period is careless; not just because you won’t actually need to use it for a considerable period of time, but because by doing so can seriously damage the hose, and more importantly, your outdoor faucet. Water that is not drained will freeze and expand, potentially cracking these items. Remove your hose before temperatures start to drop, making sure to empty it and store it in a dry location, and cover the faucet over with insulation.
Using Drain Cleaning Products Carelessly
Rather than call out a plumbing professional when they discover a clogged drain at their property, many homeowners in Toronto will misguidedly believe that they can save themselves some money by purchasing a drain cleaner and tackling the issue themselves. However, you must be very careful when selecting a drain cleaner, as using the wrong type or excessive amounts of drain cleaner can seriously damage the pipes in your plumbing system or, at the very least, make the blockage even worse. Both scenarios drive up the cost when you are eventually forced to call in a professional plumber.
Making Modifications to a Wall Without Knowing What’s Behind It
Many of the plumbing pipes that form part of your home’s plumbing system are hidden out of view behind the walls in your property. They are not especially attractive to look at and they need to be well protected, so this makes sense. This does become a negative, however, when homeowners decide to do a little DIY and put some nails, screws, or actually decide to cut into a wall for whatever reason, and accidentally catch one or multiple plumbing pipes. The end result can be anything from a small leak to a badly damaged pipe with water gushing out and causing considerable water damage.
Tipping Oil and Grease Down the Kitchen Sink
After you finish with your frying pan, do you simply tip what’s left in the pan into the kitchen sink? Oil, grease and fat are some of the biggest causes of clogged kitchen drains, as once they have drained out the sink, they form a thick layer over the drainpipe that cools and solidifies, making the drainpipe narrower and narrower over time. At first you may simply notice that the sink isn’t able to drain as fast as it once could, but when the problem becomes more severe, relatively small food items could cause a serious blockage.
Putting ALL Your Waste in the Toilet
While toilets are intended for bodily waste, they aren’t designed to dispose of every other type of waste product in your home. Virtually everyone is aware of this, but many people do it anyway. Once you push the button or pull the handle and the toilet flushes, that waste doesn’t simply vanish; it has to navigate its way through your plumbing system (and the pipes aren’t always that wide) before making its way into the public sewage system. If you do use your toilet to dispose of many items that shouldn’t be put down the toilet, at some point in the future it’s likely that a blockage will form in one of the plumbing pipes, and it won’t be possible to remove any waste from your property when this happens.
New Canadian Drain & Plumbing is one of the most reliable and trusted plumbing firms operating in Toronto and provides cost effective solutions to a wide range of residential and commercial plumbing problems. To talk to a member of our team about any work that you need carrying out, call (416) 651-2990. Visit us on Google+