6 Home Plumbing Mistakes People Make On A Regular Basis
A thousand things could go wrong inside your home at any second. Some of them are much worse than others and plumbing problems usually fit into this category. I want to look at some of the ways people cause damage to their plumbing because it will help you to avoid doing the same thing.
Ripping fixtures off the wall
If you grab hold of the shower head and start swinging around it will obviously come flying off the wall. Everyone knows this yet they still hang shampoo racks from their shower head. I know they don’t look too heavy, but shower heads weren’t designed to have things hanging off them. If you have multiple bottles of shampoo and conditioner sitting on the rack those kilograms all add up. You could also put weight on the rack by leaning on it which would cause the shower head to come off.
Joining dissimilar metals
I don’t know if you were any good at chemistry when you were at school, but some different metals don’t go well together. They won’t explode or anything crazy like that, but over time one will eat away at the other until something goes wrong. When you’re connecting two different metals together when carrying out small plumbing jobs around the home you must make sure you use a proper connector that will eliminate any future problems.
Flushing things down toilets
There should only be a few things that get flushed down toilets and I don’t think we need to go into them in much detail. In a perfect world you wouldn’t need to flush anything else down the toilet. You can’t just blame the kids even though they do enjoy flushing multiple their toys away. There is also a chance you will drop something into the toilet bowl by accident, so when that happens you can use something to pick it out instead of flushing it away.
Dumping things down drains
It’s easy to flush liquid down the drain because once it’s away you can forget about it, but sometimes those liquids will come back to bite you hard. Hot grease will disappear when you stick it down the drain and then it will turn solid again which could cause a blockage. People also flush things like paint down their drains when they’re carrying out some jobs at home. It’s easier to dispose of something properly because in the long-run you will always lose if you take shortcuts.
Tightening things too much
The next time you’re making breakfast you should keep tightening the lid on the jam jar to see what happens. You’ll quickly realize the lid won’t miraculously get any tighter. When you carry out small plumbing jobs that involve tightening things you should remember a tiny bit further than hand tight is usually enough. Anything more and the threads will start wearing away and a leak won’t be too far away.
Taking things apart
Taking things apart is fun and putting them back together again is even better, but only if you remember how to do it. A certain percentage of the population obviously never played with many jigsaw puzzles when they were younger because they don’t know how to put anything back together again. This isn’t great when it’s something important, so if you don’t understand something you should leave it alone.
Just be careful
Hiring a plumber is not cheap, but sometimes it’s something that has to be done. It does feel much harder to hand over the money when they’re only there to fix your mistake, so if you don’t want to call anyone out you should learn to be really careful. Most of this stuff is just common sense anyway.
Nancy Baker, the author this article, is part of the team with, Baybrook Remodelers Inc., leaders in bathroom remodeling in CT. She takes keen interest in designing and enjoys visiting art exhibitions and workshops. You can get in touch with Nancy on Twitter @Nancy_Baker_.
