When Do I Need a Plumber?

Jay McCaslin, Licensed Lead Plumber

Picture this: You're in your car headed out of town on vacation. Suddenly the world's worst icon pops up on the dash and it's the dreaded check engine light. Now your wonderful getaway has turned into a vehicular nightmare.

Maintenance. It's a word we dread to hear but with a routine maintenance plan we can save our cars, our pets, our shoes, our health and yes, our homes as well! A study in April of 2023 showed that 64% of people overlook vehicle maintenance and that made me wonder, "What would a study of home maintenance show?"

Here's a few common homeowner oversights that, if neglected, could leave your home washed out - literally!

1. Poor Connections:

   What if I told you out of every 10 homes we enter, almost every one has at least one connection that has either already failed or is hanging on for dear life, about to go any moment. What if I also told you that more often than not, those connections aren't even what we were requested to address on our service call. Recently, on a call to quote a tub replacement, we found a main water connection with raw city pressure coming into the home where someone had glued a CPVC 90 onto a galvanized pipe and it was holding somehow! This was by no means a stable connection, and even worse, it sat less than 5 feet from an open breaker box. Talk about playing the lottery with water! Listen, an annual plumbing inspection doesn't cost near as much as a disaster would. Don't find your plumbing problems on accident. Get ahead of them with a licensed professional.

2. Pressure

   The average faucet is rated for about 60 PSI and that may sound awesome, but if you're on city water, you have the potential to exceed that rating by about twice as much. Bye bye, faucet. Also, you have a relief valve on your water heater that lets off that excess pressure by spitting out water where ever it's piped to. If these aren't piped outside then it's going in your floor! Luckily, your home should be equipped with a Presssure Reducing Valve to regulate this pressure. Do you know where yours is located? Has it been checked this year? What is your home's water pressure right now? Is it safe? We can help with all those questions!

3. Appliance Maintenance

   No home has perfect water and your water heaters see that first hand. Even under the greatest of circumstances, manufacturers recommend your water heaters to be flushed or descaled at least annually. We replace units all the time that have never been serviced and eventually that led to them failing much earlier than their lifespan. When is the last time your water heater was inspected and serviced?

   
   

   This of course isn't an all-inclusive list of we can offer to help keep your home's plumbing healthy. Jetting, water filtration, repiping and leak detection are just a few more skills we can provide to make your home that much safer. We all love our water, but we love it more when it stays where it belongs!

   
   

   So, do you need a plumber?