All too often, Toronto homeowners wind
up losing money on expensive, thorough home plumbing repairs due to
completely avoidable circumstances; primarily, how they treat their
drains and handle maintenance. This is the easiest way homeowners can
burden themselves with unnecessary repair expenses… and is completely
avoidable should they learn the right drain cleaning and inspection
behaviors to exercise.
Don’t wind up like these poor folks.
Treat your home plumbing right, and it will do good by you in return;
avoid making the following mistakes whenever possible.
Toronto Home Plumbing: Treating Your Disposal Like a Trash Bin
The most common way we see homeowners
here in Toronto destroy their home plumbing (and wind up costing
themselves huge sums in the long run) is by throwing general waste down
their sink’s disposal. While referred to as “garbage disposals,” these plumbing instruments are meant for biodegradable, easily processed food products only.
What this doesn’t include is:
- Most notably, food grease and excess fat
- Plastic products, such as wrappers
- Animal cartilage and bone fragments
- Overly fibrous, stringy foods (such as corn husks and celery)
- Similarly, overly starchy foods, such as vegetable peels and skins
Many Toronto plumbing disasters
are the end result of garbage disposal abuse. When homeowners cram
impassable foods through their disposals, they only set themselves up
for expensive, professional repairs down the line. These oils and other
products build up within the drain pipes under disposals, and can result
in real damage and performance issues should they linger on ignored.
Toronto Home Plumbing: Using the Wrong Techniques to “Fix” Your Drains
Almost as bad as abusing your garbage
disposal is using the wrong techniques, tools and cleaners in attempts
to repair or clean your drains. Very often, we find Toronto homeowners
get in far over their heads with DIY repairs, and wind up dealing more
damage to their home plumbing and costing themselves greater in
professional repairs later on.
If you’re going to try a DIY sink, faucet or drain pipe repair, make sure you know what you’re doing, understand how your plumbing works and have the right tools on-hand. These tools include:
- Basin wrenches
- Metal files
- Pipe wrenches
- The appropriate fittings and pipe sections (must meet the right measurements!)
- Hacksaws, for cutting out pipe sections, Hex-shaped wrenches
- Plumber’s snakes
Plumber’s snakes, in particular, are
incredibly handy, professional tools that you can pick up at your local
home improvement store; these are the same tools that the pros use in
their drain cleaning jobs to dislodge and clear out clogs.
To properly use a plumber’s snake, all
you have to do is push the snake mechanism through your drains, turning
clockwise as your progress. Eventually, you might feel some resistance,
or hear some metal-on-metal scratching as your push the tool through
your drain; this is just the snake passing a curve in your drain pipes.
Continue until you come across the clog
or obstruction, and keep turning clockwise until the tool “hooks” onto
the clogged debris. Eventually, the tool will puncture through the
clogged debris and come out on the other side. Now, all you have to do
to clear the clog is pull the snake straight out of the drain pipe
slowly and carefully, taking the clogged debris with it. It’s the
standard application of a professional plumbing tool… one you can buy at
your local home improvement store and use to clear your drains in
minutes.
If you find yourself in over
your head with DIY repairs, don’t hesitate to call a Toronto
professional plumbing service right away. Abstaining from doing
so will only worsen the situation, and possibly cost you more in
repairs and renovations down the line. If you don’t feel prepared to
fully handle a DIY repair, don’t try it. Contact a professional to make sure the job gets done right.
To avoid the need for repairs together,
we at Mister Plumber recommend you have your home plumbing inspected
professionally once a year, and that you self-inspect your drains once
per month. Know what Toronto plumbing warning signs to look out
for, and act fast if you notice changes in your plumbing performance or
leaking anywhere in your plumbing system.
Toronto Home Plumbing: Careless Use of Chemical Cleaners
A final poor plumbing technique we see all too often in Toronto plumbing
systems is the overuse of chemical drain cleaners. Not only can these
cleaners harm and corrode your drain pipes, but they can also post
severe health risks to you and your family. The pressure and foaming
additives that make these cleaners break down clogged materials can also
eat away at your drain pipes, and result in costly, unnecessary
plumbing repairs.
Instead, there are actually some
home-remedies you can try, which have been proven to clear out moderate
clogging and grime. For instance, soda product, vinegar and hot water
cleanses. These cleansing methods use natural reactions and acids to
break down clogged materials in your drain, in a much safer technique
than by using the harmful additives in chemical cleaning products.
If you are still looking for trusted
plumber, Mister Plumber in Toronto, Etobicoke, Scarborough, North York
specializing sewer repair, upgrade waterline, water service upgrade,
drain cleaning, backwater valve installation, lead pipe replacement,
re-piping and emergency plumbing, Mister Plumber uses the latest
technology to effectively troubleshoot and quickly repair any plumbing
problem and offers a fast response and free estimates.
More Info: www.misterplumber.ca
Reliable and Trustworthy Plumbing services.
Call a fully-licensed, bonded and insured Toronto plumber at 416 939 1530
