Plumbing Tips For the Novice DIY

When it comes to plumbing tips, there are some things you may be able to fix yourself but others that most definitely need the experts. Here are a few plumbing tips that just might help you to avoid catastrophe.

1. Keep your plumbing well-maintained. It’s likely to cost just a relatively few dollars each year for a professional to give your entire system a very fast check to try and spot any potential problems before they happen. Of course, that might be critically important for things like your boiler and flues.

2. Get to know your system. Standing around wondering how to shut the water supply off isn’t something you’ll want to be doing for the first time when you have a serious leak.

3. Research some basic DIY stuff – e.g. how to tighten a dripping faucet etc. It’s easy to do so through the internet and you’ll save yourself money over the alternative, which is calling out a plumber. You’ll need to keep a few basic tools around the house though.

4. Replace ancient pipework when you can afford to – unless it’s part of the character of an old house. Old pipework is an accident waiting to happen and might also contain materials that are unacceptable in modern health-conscious circles.

5. Don’t dabble in DIY with boilers. They’re sometimes complicated and safety can be a real issue if you start to practice your newly-acquired basic plumbing DIY skills on them.6. Know your limitations. Plumbing tips are great and you might learn a lot from them, but if you make a hash of a job that’s beyond you, you’ll end up spending a lot more to put it right than by paying a professional in the first place.

7. Only put things down pipes and drains that they were designed to carry. That is, unless you enjoy blockages and the unpleasantness and costs arising as a result.

8. Insulate your pipes during winter. Water’s an odd substance when it comes to expansion as its temperature falls, and the bottom line to that is fractured pipework when the thaw comes. You’ll be able to avoid such troubles by lagging (insulating) your pipes in unheated areas.

9. Think twice about burying pipes and outlets. It might make a property look appealing if such things are buried under concrete or hidden behind paneling, but if there’s a problem, your local plumber might need to end up demolishing half of your house to find the pipes.

10. Only use approved products for drain de-blocking. Some products are phenomenally strong and while they might burn away your blockage they might also take a healthy chunk of your pipes with them. Remember also that some products must not be used in domestic water systems.

11. Put traps and filters in strategic and easy-to-reach places. They can stop all sorts of stuff going down the drain and that might save you a fortune by avoiding deeper and harder to reach blockages.

Now, nice as your local plumber might well be, you’d probably prefer to avoid writing him or her big checks. Following some of the above plumbing tips just might help you avoid needing to do so!

Sarah Saadoun works for HMS Plumbing, a family-owned business in Manassas, Northern Virginia. If you need a plumbing tips, Herve and his dedicated employees at HMS are proud to be serving the plumbing needs of Northern Virginia residents and businesses. For reliable Fairfax plumbers HMS Plumbing is your first choice.

Writer and Online Marketing Manager in London.