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When it comes to the plumbing in your home, the best-case scenario is that you have to think about it as infrequently as possible. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case, and in many cases, the reason the homeowner has to call for a plumbing service is the homeowner themselves.
That’s because the plumbing industry is filled with products that seem to be a good idea, but can actually cause serious damage to your pipes, gaskets, hoses and more. Unless you want to have your local plumbing service on speed dial, it’s a good idea to make sure that you aren’t guilty of these self-inflicted errors.
Adding Corrosive Cleaners
If you’ve got a clogged pipe in your bathroom, you might think that it’s a simple solution that you can do yourself. All you have to do is go to the store and pick up some Drano, right?
Wrong. Drano is actually a highly corrosive material that can do a lot of damage to your pipes. If you pour it down your sink drain, you can actually create a serious biohazard that can cause damage to your own health or the health of your plumbing system. If the cleaner doesn’t clear the clog, you’ve got a hazardous compound in your bathroom. Even if it clears it away, it can still cause damage by eating through the glue that holds your pipes together.
In short, it’s just not worth the risk. If a drain snake can’t dislodge the clog, it’s time to call a plumbing company before the damage gets worse.
Improper Grease Disposal
This shouldn’t need to be said, but sadly, it does: the sink and the toilet are not trash cans. One of the worst things that you can put down your sink or toilet is grease, because unlike some food particles, grease isn’t going to break down inside your pipes. Instead, it’s going to harden and stiffen, leading to harder clogs and an eventual replacement of your pipes.
Grease isn’t supposed to go down your pipes; it’s supposed to go into the wastebasket. Make sure that you’re getting rid of your grease the right way by tossing it in the trash and keeping it from wreaking havoc on your plumbing. If you don’t, you can look forward to calling a plumbing service to replace a stopped or slow-moving drain once the grease congeals.
Toilet Bowl Cleaners
Wait, how can this be a problem for your plumbing? After all, isn’t the little tablet you’re putting in your toilet bowl’s tank cleaning your toilet and preventing a mess? Well, it’s a little more complicated than that, because while the chemicals in the tablet can clean the toilet bowl, they can also seriously damage the washers and gaskets that keep your pipes where they should be.
If the toilet bowl is showing signs of stains, it’s best to use a toilet brush and focus on cleaning the toilet the hard way. It might be more time-consuming than simply dropping a tablet in the bowl and letting it diffuse over time, but the long-term results will be much better for your plumbing system. If you’ve got hard water in your McKinney, TX home, you’ll be much better off having your plumbing service install a water softener, which should prevent hard water stains and won’t cause damage to your pipes or gaskets.
Failing to Perform Maintenance
Just like for your car or your HVAC unit, you need to make sure that you’re taking care of your plumbing system, and that means replacing your hoses on a regular basis. Unfortunately, this is often a job for a plumbing service, because the hoses on your washing machine or your dishwasher often won’t show any signs of going until it’s too late.
However, calling in a professional can help you catch problems before they turn into catastrophes. Your hoses are only meant to last for around four or five years, so if you’re starting to get toward the end of their lifespan, it’s a good idea to have a plumbing service visit your home and have them give you their opinion. They can often spot signs early and help you figure out whether you need to make a replacement — well before you have to call someone for help with a burst hose and a large puddle in your kitchen or laundry room.
Trying to DIY Your Own Plumbing
We understand that money is tight, and most homeowners are looking for any way they can to cut back on expenses. However, doing your own plumbing work isn’t the spot for you to cut corners.
For one thing, chances are that you don’t have the knowledge or experience that a plumbing service does. Not only do you likely not have experience with making extensive plumbing repairs, but you probably don’t have much knowledge of your city or state’s building codes for plumbing work. If your work isn’t up to those specifications, you’ll end up paying much more in the long run, because you’ll have to spend more to bring your work up to code should you ever try to sell your home.
And that’s a best-case scenario. In the worst-case scenario, you might cause serious damage to your home while trying to make repairs, leading to an expensive repair bill that you’re on the hook for covering. If a professional plumbing service does that, it’s not a big deal; they have insurance that can cover them and the damage that they’ve done to your home. You don’t have that coverage, which means the cost of your plumbing repair has just skyrocketed — and you still don’t have the job done properly.
At bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of North East Dallas, our plumbing service is here to help prevent situations like this from occurring. When there’s a plumbing problem at your McKinney, TX home, contact our team to get the job done right the first time and undo any damage that might have happened!
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