Do-It-Yourself Plumbing

Some people have a good grasp of plumbing, especially when they grew up with a father or a grandfather who was pretty handy around the house. If you were the kid who wore your Dad’s tool belt as he repaired a clogged garbage disposal or a leaky faucet, you may have a good understanding of how indoor plumbing works. On the other hand, perhaps you grew up in apartments. Whenever your single mom had a problem with the plumbing, the apartment manager would dispatch a handyman or a professional plumber to fix the issue. Or, perhaps your parents were very busy people with demanding careers. Your father was traveling all the time and your mom was always at the office, so you were cared for by your grandmother or a babysitter. In other words, your father didn’t have time to do work around the house so he called a professional

In many situations, renters and homeowners have different mentalities when it comes to home maintenance. When something breaks down or stops working, usually the first thing a renter does is put in a call to their landlord. Renters may not think twice about what they put down the garbage disposal or the toilet because they automatically think their landlord will foot the bill when a problem arises. Homeowners, on the other hand, know that if anything were to go wrong, they have no one to rely on but themselves. So, homeowners do their best to take care of their property so they can minimize all home-related costs. From their roof to their HVAC system, to their carpeting, and their indoor plumbing system, most homeowners are actively looking for ways to take care of their property and reduce repair and replacement costs. Are You a Landlord? Real estate can be a

Most of our posts are written for homeowners who actually live in their homes, but this post is geared towards homeowners who rent or lease out one or more homes. It’s valuable for renters too! When you’re a homeowner who is living in your home, you’re fairly cost-conscious. You know that if there’s a leak in the roof, you have to call a roofer and take care of it. You have to make sure that the lawn looks good year-round so the neighbors don’t complain, and you have to replace the garbage disposal or dishwasher when they outlive their lifespan and breakdown for good. There’s no landlord or property manager to call when something needs to be maintained or repaired – it’s all on you. With the cost of repairs always in the back of your mind, you’re mindful about your property (inside and out), and you do whatever you

If you will be entertaining over the holidays the last thing you want is for a plumbing disaster to strike, and we all know that emergencies always happen at the worst times – like when we have a house full of guests! Whether the issue is a toy car clogging the toilet, turkey grease solidifying in the kitchen drain, silverware jamming the garbage disposal, or a broken water heater on Christmas Eve, plumbers are the superheroes over the holidays, that’s for sure! Many households see an increase in activity between November 23rd and January 1st, which places additional stress on the water heater, dishwasher, showers, bathtubs, toilets, kitchen sink drain, garbage disposal, and even the washing machine, which means household plumbing is put the ultimate test. While you can put in an emergency call to a plumber over the holidays, you’d prefer not to have to place a call on

The last thing you need during the mad holiday rush is to have something go wrong with your plumbing, right? Unfortunately, if you don’t prepare your plumbing for the winter, you could end up paying a big price, and you don’t need any added expenses during a time that your budget is already stretched to the limit. There’s no such thing as a “good time” for a plumbing emergency. Emergencies often occur when our minds are on something else, like preparing for out-of-town guests over Thanksgiving and Christmas. While you’re stocking the fridge for your annual holiday dinner or the linen closet with new sheets and towels for your in-laws, don’t forget that the colder weather means more than holiday travel, it means temperature shifts that can cause your plumbing to fail at the worst of times – when you have a house full of guests! Here are some of

In this beautiful midwest climate, the leaves turn deep shades of orange, red, and brown, the weather is noticeably cooler and pumpkins seem to be adorning the doorsteps of homes all around town. When we feel the cooling temperatures and see the fall colors, as Kansas City licensed plumbers, it gets us thinking about frozen pipes and what homeowners can do to prevent them from freezing. When the first cold snap hits the cold weather and freezing temperatures are here for the season! If you don’t have one already, you should pick up a temporary patch kit from a local home center to seal off any burst pipes as you wait for a plumber to make a permanent repair. You should also know where the water shutoff valve is located in case a pipe does freeze and break. The real key is prevention to stop the potential for massive water

A plumbing emergency or worse, a plumbing disaster, is every homeowner’s nightmare. An overflowing toilet, a flooded basement, a leaking hot water heater, or a leaky pipe that causes significant water damage in your flooring and ceilings are all bad news. Issues with hot water and cold water sides of your faucet, fresh water line issues, drainage system issues, sewer gas odors, or problems with your vent system. Back ups in your sewer line, broken water meters, or plumbing issues or blockages with your drain system – such problems can cause thousands of dollars’ worth of damage and destroy expensive flooring and furnishings. If you are in the dark about plumbing or know little about it, learning a few beginners basic plumbing tips and how plumbing works can go a long way in preventing plumbing and water system emergencies before they begin, and the need to call a professional plumber

Most people take one, if not two showers a day, and there’s a few things they expect when they take a shower or bath: hot water, clean towels and a tub drain that doesn’t suffer from a blockage.   When it comes to addressing a slow-draining bathtub drain, there are many commercial and home remedies homeowners can try to free up a clogged drain, all of them aimed at removing the blockage causing the clog.    Some may use baking soda and boiling water, or a cup of white vinegar, to drain cleaner and chemical drain cleaners to remove the buildup of gunk and soap scum, to a drain snake or even needle nose pliers to get clumps of hair out of the bathtub drain stopper and cure the standing water in their shower drain – with the last resort of course being to call a professional plumber to come

When you become a homeowner, you are no longer in the role of a “renter.” As a renter, you may have been quick to call the landlord and report a kitchen sink clog or a broken garbage disposal, but something happens when you sign on the dotted line on that first mortgage. Once you’re a homeowner, you may be more inclined to see if a plunger will take care of that kitchen sink clog, or you may dig a little deeper (with your hands) when the garbage disposal isn’t working – that is if you’re the DIY, roll up your sleeves type of guy or gal homeowner. Some of us on the other hand, prefer to call in the pros when we have a maintenance issue or see warning signs of a plumbing emergency with our home. We just like the peace of mind knowing that everything will be done

Most of can agree that it’s really nice to have a working garbage disposal. It makes it so much easier to clean up after cooking a big meal and it makes loading the dishwasher or washing dishes a painless process. While we may view garbage disposals as “modern conveniences,” they’re actually much more than that: They help take care of the planet. Not only are they cheap to run – they don’t use much water – they reduce the food waste that is sent to our nation’s landfills, which produces methane gas. When you run the disposal unit at home, you’re helping the environment. Why? Because, as you grind up food in the disposal, the ground-up food scraps are liquefied so they are much easier to treat down at the local water plant. The recycled food scraps, compliments of your garbage disposal, are recycled into fertilizer and clean water. As