Toilets

As the weather gets warmer, we have much to look forward to. Our lawns will be green again, flowers will be blooming, and the leaves on our trees will be lush and full, which not only provides shade but makes our yards look beautiful after a long winter. For homeowners, the spring means lots of things. It means it’s time to organize garages and clean rain gutters of leaves and debris and give the inside of the house a thorough dusting and cleaning. While you’re contemplating which flowers to plant in your yard this spring, don’t forget about your indoor plumbing, especially if your family has spent a great deal of time indoors this winter, heavily using sinks, showers, and tubs. Just like your rain gutters, air ducts and carpets, indoor plumbing systems and sump pumps need to be periodically maintained, otherwise, you can be in for a clogged drain or toilet, a

Every homeowner will deal with a clogged drain at some point, it’s inevitable. Sometimes people can’t always control what gets flushed down the toilet drain and on to the sewer line, or ground up in the garbage disposal that leads to a buildup which results in a blockage. If you have toddlers or house guests that don’t understand how plumbing systems work, you get this one. If you get a clogged drain in your shower, bathtub, bathroom or kitchen sink, your first line of defense should be a plunger. Simple clogs can usually be resolved with a plunger, such as too much toilet paper, or drain clogs that are caused by something other than mineral build up or fragile pipes. But if no amount of plunging will do the trick for that stubborn clog, you’re going to need something more powerful (or someone with the right tools, such as our

Plumbing is one of those modern-day conveniences that we rarely think about until we have a problem. But, as we all know nothing says pain in the neck more than a clogged toilet, loss of water pressure, or broken garbage disposal. Or worse, a burst sewer line that has sewage spilling into your home instead of the septic tank or sewer system! If you’re not the DIY type, you may not understand your home’s plumbing system all that well, but it’s really not that complicated. The trick is to gain a basic understanding of how everything works so you can maintain your system and prevent major problems before they start. Here’s a basic plumbing checklist to help you get started with maintaining your home plumbing. Review this inspection checklist and ask yourself whether any aspects of your plumbing system may be in need of attention, inspection, or repairs. 1. Do

Now that the air has gotten cooler and the leaves have turned brilliant shades of yellow, orange and red, it means that the holidays have officially arrived. What does the holiday season mean to you? Does it mean having a huge Thanksgiving dinner with a dozen or more guests enjoying the celebrations? Does it mean that your school-aged children are home for winter break, or that you’re having family from out of town visit? If you’re like a lot of homeowners, your plumbing fixtures are going to take a beating this holiday season, especially if you’re the type that loves to entertain for the holidays. How will your plumbing hold up? Plumbing-wise, here’s what you want to think about before the festivities begin: Is my garbage disposal in good shape, or is it working at all? Do I have a toilet that’s clogging too often? Are my shower, tub, and

Homeowners can agree that indoor plumbing is one of the best modern inventions of all time. Having water, let alone hot water, on demand, is something we’ve all come to expect in our daily lives. However, all plumbing systems may eventually develop clogs and plumbing problems, there’s no candy-coating that. We’ll give you tips on clearing stubborn clogs in kitchen sinks, toilets, bathtubs, and floor drains. Whether you’re battling a backup with baking soda and boiling water, using drain cleaners to stop the clogging or grabbing a plunger to try and clear the blockage, a clogged drain is never fun. These time-tested techniques can dislodge almost any clog and buildup. If the clog won’t clear after you’ve made a few attempts, you’ll have to admit unclogging defeat and turn the job over to a licensed professional plumber and drain cleaning specialist. Beware that if you exert too much force, it

Are you a homeowner who is bewildered by a toilet that seems to gurgle violently before all of its water drains out of the bowl? If this seems to happen whenever the washing machine discharges the wash water, or when the tub is drained, then we’ll bet that the problem is caused by a blockage in your plumbing vents. When it comes to DIY troubleshooting gurgling noises in your plumbing system, looking for blockages in your vent stack should be on your list of clogs to check. . Why is My Toilet Making a Gurgling Noise? . The small pipes that protrude from your roof are actually used to get rid of smell from your sewage. They also have another purpose: they are supposed to balance the air pressure in drain pipes to help sewage water flow easier. We can observe these principles at work when we put one end

Is there water on your floor near the base of your toilet? Do you notice water stains on the ceiling, or do you smell sewer gas? If so, these may be telltale signs of plumbing problems from a leaky toilet. Other signs include a small pool of water, with water leaking where the base of the toilet meets the floor, spongy flooring beneath the toilet, and finished flooring that is coming up. If you see water or water damage to the flooring below the toilet, you may have a toilet problem where you have a bad wax seal or gasket between the toilet horn (the place where the waste exits) and the drain line. Don’t wait any longer the toilet leaks continue! A small leak from a hairline crack or hole, it can get trapped beneath the toilet, eventually rotting out the floor surfaces, and sometimes the framing underneath. If

If you’re like most people, you’ve probably flushed an item or two down the toilet that wasn’t meant to be flushed. From cotton balls and paper towels to facial tissue, cat litter, household cleaners, and expired prescription medications, we have to remember that if it’s not toilet paper or human waste – it shouldn’t be flushed and can cause a clog and blockages somewhere down the line in your sewer system! Some items can even damage your septic tank or waste water system, beyond just simple backups or clogged toilets  As professional Kansas City plumbers, we can tell you that even the smallest items such as a Q-tip, or dental floss, or a paper towel can cause trouble. How come? If they don’t dissolve – which most substances don’t – a scrap of undissolved material can get caught on a nick, bend, or bump inside the pipe, triggering a growth

Sometimes having a toilet that won’t stop running is worse than having a toilet that won’t flush at all. When you discover that your toilet just keeps on flushing, it indicates that there is a problem inside your toilet tank, an issue with items such as the float ball, fill valve, overflow tube, flush valve, fill tube, or the infamous toilet flapper and flapper chain that’s attached to the toilet handle. There are only a few things inside the tank that could be causing the toilet to malfunction and stay running, and sometimes it can be an easy fix, and other times it may be more involved for the homeowner who is not as confident with toilet repair or replacing items to make the toilets work correctly, where calling a licensed plumber may be the best solution. However, for the DIY minded, a trip to the hardware store for a

If you fear there is a sewer drain clog, it’s best to investigate this possibility now before matters get worse. When you have a sewer drain clog, that water will be forced out through other parts of your plumbing, so you want to use it only sparingly to test for a clog. How can you tell whether or not you have a clogged sewer drain? The single biggest sign is a clogged or backed up toilet. You will almost never see a clog in the main sewer line that doesn’t affect the toilets. But if your tub is clogging up, this could also indicate a sewer line stoppage. If any of your fixtures are acting up, a clog in the main sewer line might be blamed for this too. Try the following and watch for weird responses: Flush: Does water back up into the tub? Run water from the bathroom