Home Plumbing Maintenance Tips

There are a few things that we can be certain of: taxes, what goes up must come down, hangovers after going on a bender, God’s love, and that our home’s pipes will have problems if not properly maintained. Much like your car or air conditioning unit, your pipes also need looking after if you want to make sure that your house doesn’t turn into the next Great Flood.

More often than not, we don’t pay that much attention to our plumbing maintenance until a pipe has burst and is leaking everywhere, or our water bill has decided to take a trip to the moon. Not only can this cause actual long term issues for our plumbing system, but the costs associated with resolving common plumbing problems can compound and take our bank account for a spin.

Even though we can always count on plumbers, especially at Integrity Services and Plumbing, we shouldn’t be complacent with our plumbing maintenance. The fewer problems the plumbers have to deal with, the less you will need to pay and the more people the plumbers can help overall. With that in mind, here are some common plumbing maintenance tips from us:

Plumbing Maintenance Tip 1: Drains Aren’t Black Holes

Deep down inside us, we often view our drains and toilets (more on that later) as a get out of jail free card when it comes to waste disposal. If it fits in the hole, you’ve most likely at some point thrown something that didn’t belong down the sink or the shower. From food, to wrappers, to hair, and everything in between, we watched with relief as all these things went down that magical watery hole.

Shower drain pipes are only 2 inches wide, and sinks are even smaller at an average of 1.5 inches. Imagine all the nastiness that doesn’t get washed away just forming a horrible clump and clogging your drains. Just a few days’ worth of plastic and hair would be enough to give your bathroom or kitchen a flooding problem.

One easy fix is to just get a drain screen. Sure, the hair and trash will be there, but you need to throw those things away regularly instead of calling on a professional plumber to unearth what could pass as an eldritch creature from your drains every now and again. For clarity, the drain screen looks like a thimble that you place on the… drain (duh) of the sink or shower. It has holes to let water/liquids through but are not big enough to let solid material like food chunks, bones, the veggies that your kids didn’t want to eat, and other things pass through and accumulate in the pipes.

Plumbing Maintenance Tip 2: Toilets Are Also Not Black Holes

We all know that the toilet is where human waste goes. That’s a no-brainer. But this doesn’t mean that ALL our waste goes there. Just the waste that our guts and kidneys make. Maybe some special modern toilet paper at most. Everything else that doesn’t fall under the prior classifications are off the table and toilet seat. 

Unfortunately, most of our daily disposable hygiene and health products are also located very close to our toilets. These things also tend to stink when left in the trash, so the quickest way to solve the problem related to disposing of our healthcare products is that big magical throne that just eats everything up, eventually preventing it from working properly.

For example, baby wipes seem to be just slightly sturdier and nicer smelling pieces of tissue paper, but they are, in fact, incredibly durable and not prone to dissolving in water. The same goes for q-tips, condoms, tampons, pads, and not surprisingly, dental floss (remember the hair issue from the previous section). 

Plumbing Maintenance Tip 3: Just Because it Cleans, Doesn’t Mean it’s Good

We’ve been talking about clogged pipes, so your first thought to quickly unclog your drains was probably, “Hey, if the problem is that the clog isn't dissolving, I can just add a chemical strong enough to dissolve it.”  Before you go rushing off to the nearest hardware store, hear us out.

When you think about the word “chemicals,” your first thought might be what most Bond villains would use to turn 007 into a really bad milkshake. While this may seem like a quick and easy fix to de-clog your drains, your plumbing won’t be too happy with all the hazardous stuff that could potentially damage your pipes. These include sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, etc.

In addition to potentially damaging your pipes, these could also get mixed in with your drinking water, and if your plumbing can get wrecked by these chemicals, imagine what it could do to your body. Common issues that arise from ingesting sulfuric acid, for example, include chemical burns and necrosis (the stuff that is affected basically turns into dead tissue, which can then poison the rest of the body) and the latter might lead to sepsis if untreated. Whenever you want to clean your drains, be sure to use the proper chemical drain cleaners to make sure that you don’t end up with bigger and wetter problems.

The (Plumbing) Tip of the Iceberg

We’ve talked at length about how you can keep your plumbing in good shape daily. They’re not hard things to do, and they don’t cost a lot. Maybe just a little extra time and effort. But we’re sure you would agree that a few extra minutes to throw your napkins in the bin or to properly dispose of your hair clumps far outweigh the hassle and expenses of calling in a plumber for what could have been a minor issue.

Remember, small problems pile up and can lead to disasters. Although not everything can be controlled, and at some point a pipe will need unclogging or some faucets will start leaking, you can do your part to make your plumber’s job easier. 

When things do really go south, however, you can always get in touch with us at Integrity Services and Plumbing.