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How do you feel about your home’s plumbing? Are you looking for ways to improve your plumbing in 2018? If so, these tips can help you make upgrades to get the plumbing you’ve always wanted. From pipe insulation to garbage disposal installation, we can help you improve your quality of life in the new year.
Pipe insulation helps shield your home’s pipes from cold air and also helps keep warm water in your pipes. Insulation can prevent your home’s plumbing from freezing this winter. Fortunately, pipe insulation is easy to install, and can easily be completed as a DIY project.
If you’re a homeowner who would like to install your own plumbing insulation, first measure the diameter of your pipes. You’ll then need to purchase insulated sleeves from your local home improvement center. You’ll use a utility knife to cut down each sleeve to the right length, and then peel off the adhesive backing inside the insulation. Wrap the insulation around the pipes until the insulation is stuck in place. If you don’t feel up to installing your own pipe insulation, seek help from a local plumber.
Surprisingly, old toilets can use as much as 6 gallons of water per flush, whereas low flow toilets typically use around 1.6 gallons per flush. Replacing an old, water-inefficient toilet with a new low flow toilet is a good way to save money and reduce water waste.
Homeowners who wish to replace their old toilets with a new low flow model can easily do so for about $175, plus the cost of installation. However, homeowners who don’t feel like they can swing the cost of a new toilet can instead fill a plastic container with pebbles, then place the container in the toilet tank. This displaces the water in the toilet and ensures that less water is used with each flush. This is a temporary solution that can help save water until you can install a low flow toilet.
A garbage disposal is a wonderful convenience that can make cleaning up easier and faster. If your home doesn’t have a garbage disposal, installation should be a simple task for a certified plumber. If you live on a property with a septic tank, be sure to buy a septic-tank safe disposal instead of a standard unit. Regular garbage disposals can cause clogs in septic tanks, requiring your septic tank to be pumped more frequently than would otherwise be necessary.
Older homes are known to have pipes made of galvanized steel, iron and even lead. These older pipes can be leaky, dysfunctional, difficult to repair or even toxic to humans. Repiping your home can improve your property value, while making plumbing repairs easier, and reducing chances of pesky pinhole leaks.
Repiping is an excellent home improvement project to pair with bathroom remodeling too, because repiping frequently requires the homeowner to put holes in the walls. If you’re thinking about remodeling your bathroom this coming year, talk to a plumber about having your pipes replaced.
Wondering what else you can do to improve your home’s plumbing functionality in 2018? Contact a plumber to get a professional inspection of your home’s plumbing. Your plumber can help you decide what still needs to be done to your plumbing to ensure it is working smoothly.
As your plumber in Pittsburgh PA, Terry’s Plumbing is your source for new pipes, low flow toilets, garbage disposal installation and other plumbing upgrades. To get started with your plumbing improvements, contact us today at 412-364-9114.
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