Did you know that you can use the same antifreeze that you use in your car to help prevent your home...

1. Plumbing Tips, Tricks, And Techniques To Keep Your
Pipeline Clean
Did you know that you can use the same antifreeze that you use in your car to help prevent your
home plumbing from freezing? To find out how and why, as well as other great tips for how to
maintain your home plumbing, read the following article right away.
Act quickly if your pipes freeze! Shut off the water and open the faucet, enabling it to drain when it
thaws. Starting with the faucet, and working your way to the iced-up area, aim a propane torch or
hairdryer at the pipe - this will quickly defrost it. You could also wrap the pipe in a heating pad or
aim a heat lamp at it, but this will take quite some time. A last resort is to wrap the pipe in rags and
pour boiling water over it.
To help you find a good plumber, you should get recommendations from people whom you trust.
Asking a friend or a neighbor is usually more trustworthy than picking a random plumber out of the
phone book. You need a competent plumber, otherwise you could be in for a much bigger problem
down the road.
Check how well your toilets are flushing. If the handle needs to be played with in order to keep the
water from running constantly, or if it needs to be held down several times in order to flush, you may
need to switch out some of the parts in your tank. This is not expensive, and it could help reduce
your monthly water bill. It could also mean that you avoid the embarrassment of the flushing system
breaking when you have visitors!
Avoid the bursting of pipes due to the change in the temperature. You need to allow the flow of heat
to reach under the sinks and into the pipes, you have to keep the cabinet doors of the bathrooms and
kitchens open. It is important to keep water running at both hot and cold faucets along with vanities
that are in close proximity to exterior walls.
If water backs up from one sink to another, it is because the lines are connected. The part of the
branch line for one device might be higher than another, but most likely there is also a blockage in
the branch line connecting the two devices as well. This blockage must be cleaned.
There are many ways to unclog a drain. You can try plunging it at first. If that doesn't work try using
a chemical agent from the store. Before you go and spend money at the store though, if you have
baking soda and some vinegar handy, you can mix those together and pour them in the drain and try
to plunge that but if all else fails they have stronger remedies at your local hardware store.
Using your toilet as a garbage disposal is sure to cause problems! For example, don't flush sanitary
pads or diapers down your toilet. These items can clog the pipes. Use the least amount of toilet
paper that you can; use just as much as necessary to properly clean yourself.
If water is backing up into multiple fixtures all over the house, it is no longer going to be effective
for you to use chemicals or a small hand snake. This is evidence of a blockage in the main line, and
you must contact a professional to take care of this problem for you.
Avoid pouring grease or oil down your kitchen sink drain. Grease and oil can build up in your pipes
and cause a backup. Instead, wait for the grease or oil to cool and solidify and either throw it away
or see if there's a place to recycle it near your home.

2. One of the things that you can do to maximize the security of your home is to seal all of the cracks in
your outdoor faucets. Even a tiny crack can intensify as the season progresses and lead to serious
problems down the road. Reduce drips and leaks for optimal protection.
If you have an underground leak in your pipes, it is possible to detect the leak before digging.
Today's leak detection equipment is very sophisticated and modern, allowing technicians to detect
and pinpoint exactly where leaks are before they go about trying to fix them with professional grade
equipment for you.
Check to make sure that the walls behind the tiles in your bathroom are not soft. Push into the tiles
to confirm that the foundation is firm and robust. If the area is delicate and brittle, there is a good
chance that water has created damage behind the tiles over time.
People are often hesitant to begin home plumbing jobs because they feel they could end up making
the situation much worse. You can easily avoid that by knowing one simple thing. To save your house
from water damage, you must know how to locate and shut off the water register quickly.
If you think you understand what is wrong with your toilet, but aren't sure, you should first do some
more research on the internet. Most plumbing problems are fairly standard, and you should be able
to read about the problem in great detail on several amateur plumber forums to make sure you
understand the problem.
If you have a water pressure or fill problem throughout the whole house, do not panic. It could be
the simplest of solutions. Sometimes the city flushes their systems, breaking up debris and sending it
to homes. This requires cleaning drains effectively and strainers in order to resolve the problem.
Having to wiggle the toilet handle or hold it down to get your toilet to fully flush indicates that the
tank parts need to be replaced. Kits that include
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/water-heaters/buying-guide.htm all of the parts needed can be
purchased in any hardware or home improvement store to easily do the repair yourself.

3. If you absolutely need to contact a plumber, be
careful with the professional that you pick. Like
mechanics, plumbers are experts in their particular
field, and they may try to convince you to do a job
or service that is completely unnecessary given
your problem. Try to find one who has gotten good
reviews, especially when it comes to honesty.
The best thing you can do if you smell a foul odor
coming from your toilet is to call a plumber. There
is a good chance that you may have a sewer backup.
Not only can this cause pipe damage, but inhaling
the smells from sewer backups is harmful to your
help.
So, now do you see why plumbing is such an
exciting endeavor? Creating your own skills,
learning to take care of your system, and being able
to water heater repair thermostat fix it yourself to
save money is very exciting. The tips above should
have created a good foundation for you to build upon and do your own plumbing jobs easily.