Plumbing Tips from the Atlanta Plumber

Saving money can be as easy as doing some things around your house yourself instead of calling a pricey professional.  Now I’ve made my living as an Atlanta plumber but you don’t have to pay someone like me for every problem that comes up in your home. If you are a novice at home repairs buy a home repair book and educate yourself. The plumbing tips listed below are good places to start.

If your garbage disposal needs cleaning pour in some ice cubes. Then pour in hot water to wash it down, add a lemon for a nice fresh fragrance. Never pour cooking oil or fats down your disposal.

In your laundry room, check the hoses on your washing machine. If your machine has rubber hoses consider replacing them with stainless steel braded washing machine hoses to prevent future emergencies.

If your water heater is 15 years or older, it is a time to consider replacing it with a more energy efficient model. It may be working fine, but it’s only a matter of a short time until something goes wrong and then you are forced to deal with it at an inconvenient time. Fix a potential problem at your convenience.

Go through your house and check all drain pipes (under kitchen and bathroom sinks ) for leaks. This allows you to catch a small problem before it becomes a big problem. It also prevents damage to under sink cabinets.

A plunger is a great inexpensive plumbing tool. To effectively use a plunger to unstop a drain, remove the popup drain from the stopped up sink, then stop up the drain with a damp rag. Put some petroleum jelly on the bottom tip of the plunger. Then run some water in the sink, remove the rag and plunge several times. If this fails, you may have to remove trap under the sink.

If you notice standing water in your yard you may have a leaky pipe. That is a breeding ground for insects and pests so you should call a plumber.

If you encounter a problem too big to handle, contact a professional service.