5 Plumbing Maintenance Tips

Your home plumbing system is a valuable piece of your property's worth, and it helps provide most of the modern conveniences we sometimes can take for granted today.  To care for your home plumbing system, let us offer just five plumbing maintenance tips that can help you care for your home plumbing to keep it running well:

1. Make sure you know where all the shut-off valves are for the water line and for major appliances. If a problem should arise, such as a large leak or blockage, you don't want to deal with flooding damage. Be sure you know where all the valves are so that you can turn them off as soon as you notice a problem.
2. Keep items that clog drains out of the drains. Clogged drains are some of the most common plumbing problems homeowners face. Keep fibrous items out of garbage disposals and drains (things such as stringy vegetables or starchy potato peels) and spend a few dollars to buy a hair trap for showers and bathroom sinks.
3. Run water in under-used sinks occasionally. If you have a sink that is rarely used in your home, it is still wise to let some water run into it occasionally to wash out any small deposits that may have accumulated and started to decompose in the pipes.  You don't want that smell and you don't want to deal with a clogged pipe later.
4. Detach hoses from outdoor spigots in the winter. If a freezing chill comes through the region, you don't want to forget that the hose was attached and have it freeze, expand, and then burst when the temperatures rise again. As soon as the chill begins to set in come late Fall, just detach your outdoor hose.
5. Don't hang things from exposed pipes.  You don't want to loosen fasteners and damage the pipe. Pipes are not mean to do anything except allow transfer of the materials within them.

These are just a few quick plumbing maintenance tips to care for your home plumbing system.  If you have any questions about other ways to properly care for your home plumbing, give us a call!