New Year, New Pipes

The New Year is coming! If you haven’t made your resolutions yet, the staff at Terry’s Plumbing can give suggestions for keeping your plumbing in good shape for 2017. The following tips will help you maintain the pipes and plumbing-related appliances in your home. Ultimately, this advice can help you increase your home’s property value and keep your home in good condition.

Prevent Clogs

Preventing clogs in your pipes is easy! Using all natural household products you can keep your pipes clean and can prevent plumbing backups. To start, pour vinegar down the drains and leave the vinegar to sit for about ten or fifteen minutes. Once this has been done, flush out the vinegar with hot water. We recommend doing this one or twice per month, or more frequently for slow moving drains.

Save Water

Reduce your home’s carbon footprint and save yourself money by installing low flow fixtures. You can also save money by changing some of your water usage habits, such as:

Turn off the faucet when washing your hands and brushing your teeth.
Put a bucket under the faucet and shower when waiting for the water to heat up. Use the water in the bucket for plants.
Water your lawn in the early morning or late at night.
Run the dishwasher only when it’s full.
Reduce your typical shower time by two minutes.
Take fewer showers.
Flush only when the toilet contains solid waste.

Familiarize Yourself With Your System

Do you know where your water shutoff valve is? How about the water supply valves for all of your plumbing fixtures and appliances? These are things that you should know. If you don’t, start looking for the shut off valves in and around your home. This way you’ll be able to turn off the water in the event of a leak or a burst pipe.

Use Best Practices for the Toilet

Many people flush things down the toilet that simply shouldn’t be there. Kitty litter, feminine products, adult and baby wipes and food are all the kind of items that people flush without thinking. Flushing anything down the toilet that isn’t human waste can lead to clogs and sewer backups. We recommend stopping all of these practices immediately. Discuss these new habits with your family members to ensure that they too will stop flushing anything down the toilet that shouldn’t be there.

Start Performing Annual Pipe Inspections

Mark your calendar to perform a semi-annual or quarterly pipe inspection. Look under sinks, behind access panels, in your basement, under your water heater and in your crawl space. Look for moisture on the pipes as well as corrosion on the pipes themselves. If you find a leak, talk to your plumber.

Know When it’s Time to Replace Your Plumbing

Plumbing doesn’t last forever. Copper, galvanized steel and cast iron pipes last many decades but after about 70 or 80 years, the pipes will start to deteriorate. Repiping is key to protecting your home from water damage. You can tell that your home needs to be repiped when leaks become a frequent problem. In addition, your home should also be repiped if it contains lead pipes. Lead pipes can leach lead into the water, causing damage to children and adults. If you’re not sure whether your home has lead pipes, follow this tutorial for finding the lead pipes in your home.

Contact Terry’s Plumbing for Repiping Services

Get your plumbing off to the right start in 2017! Contact Terry’s Plumbing to fix your leaks and repipe your home. To find out more, contact us today at (412) 364-9114.