4 Excellent Plumbing Tips to Make Your Life Easier
Plumbing is something that every homeowner should know about in order to save the home from going messy. There can be situations when there are no professionals available and you have to deal with the problem on an emergency basis. To tackle such situations, you should know some basic things. Here are some of them.
1. Replacing Parts Inside Your Toilet or Faucet
Taking pipes apart from under your sink or shower can cause messy situations if some mistake occurs if done by you and not by a professional like the Littleton Plumber. However, there is a less chance of damage when you try to replace your faucet’s cartridge or toilet’s flapper.
A common cause of leaks between the toilet tank and bowl is worn flappers. And they are not very expensive. Also, they come with easy-to-follow instructions for replacements.
Most of today’s faucets can be repaired by substituting the whole interior with a new cartridge. It only needs you to remove a screw or two. Thus, if you hear the sink dripping or toilet running frequently, get replacement parts and repair it.
2. Get Rid of Clogs without Using Chemicals
When your drain is not clearing or clearing slowly, don’t get expensive chemical drain cleaners. Instead, get a drain snake and manually unclog the drain. Just insert it in the drain and pull it back with the clog culprit hopefully attached to it. Other alternative is to try using a dry/wet shop vacuum and suck out the clog.
3. Shower Head Issues
If you’ve got a dripping shower head, thread tape is one of the simplest ways to fix it. There are high chances that the threads aren’t linking tightly. Just unscrew the shower head, wrap new tape in a clockwise direction and re-connect to stop the drip.
In case of a clogged shower head, soak it in a solution of vinegar and warm water for around an hour. With a small brush, loosen any mineral deposits that could be the cause of blockage.
4. Use Thread Tape instead of Thread Sealing Compounds
Thread sealing compounds, known commonly as “pipe dope” can drip. For most home projects that involve pipe threads, thread tape will work fine or even better. Buy a multipurpose tape which is typically white. Thicker tape is typically pink for water or yellow for gas.
Thicker options are easy to work with. Wrap the tape counterclockwise around the threads. If you can’t get the roll into a tight space, wrap a few turns of tape around a cheap pen and apply from it. Wrapping three times around the pipe will give the best results.
Follow these tips and you can tackle with minor plumbing issues on your own and can make your life easier.
