24 Easy Plumbing Tips for Homeowners: The Ultimate Guide
You don’t have to be an expert plumber to perform preventative maintenance or fix minor problems in your home. In fact, we have 24 easy plumbing tips for homeowners that can save you some serious stress down the road.
Moving into your first home is an exciting milestone, but it comes with a host of new responsibilities, including maintaining your plumbing system. While most new homeowners are eager to learn skills like painting or installing flooring, many overlook plumbing basics, only later realizing that poorly maintained plumbing can cause sleepless nights and costly repairs.
Hamilton Plumbing, Heating, A/C & Rooter has been serving the Kansas City area for over 40 years. Our technicians and plumbers not only help maintain your home, but we’re also happy to teach you a few skills.
Our 24 Plumbing Tips for Homeowners in Kansas City
Even if you know nothing about plumbing aside from turning on the shower or plunging a toilet, we can still teach you a few extra tips so you feel confident maintaining your home. These 24 plumbing tips for new homeowners will reduce the risk of common plumbing problems and save you money down the road.
If you have a little experience soldering or repairing, you’ll find some useful tips here, too!
Drain and Pipe Care
Our plumbing tips for homeowners begin with drain and pipe care. We have several practical tips to keep your pipes from becoming damaged.
Some of these DIY plumbing tips will also help you reduce damage in the event of a leak or crack.
1. White Bread Hack for Soldering Copper Pipes
If you have a little soldering experience and want to try soldering a copper pipe fitting while the pipe is leaking, take a piece of white bread and stick it down into the pipe as far as possible. The bread will stop the leak while you’re soldering the fitting and will eventually dissolve.
If you’re soldering a copper pipe, but there’s a sticker attached to the end, heat up the pipe until the paper burns off. You can then use some flux (a chemical agent that helps prepare a metal surface for soldering) to remove the glue. This tip will save you the headache of trying to remove the sticker.
2. Know What Not to Flush
Toilets are designed to handle human waste and toilet paper only. Flushing items like the following can cause severe blockages in your plumbing system:
Wipes (even those labeled as flushable)
Feminine hygiene products
Cotton balls
Paper towels
These items don’t break down like toilet paper, so flushing them quickly leads to costly repairs. Educate the rest of the household on what everyone should and shouldn’t flush so nobody ends up with a nasty surprise a few days later.
3. Learn What Goes Down the Garbage Disposal
Be mindful of what you put inside your garbage disposal. When the wrong substances find their way into the drainage system, they can cause a massive clog that needs professional help.
Some of the things you should never put into the garbage disposal include:
Rough bones
Starchy vegetables (like potatoes, corn, and squash)
Pasta and rice
Oil, grease, and fats
Non-food items
You should also regularly run cold water while using the disposal to help flush debris through the system. A cold-water flush once or twice per week can help prevent major clogs in the future.
4. Invest in a High-Quality Plunger and Wet-Dry Vacuum
As a new homeowner, your first plumbing issue will likely be a clogged sink, toilet, or bathtub drain. However, this will be a non-issue if you have a high-quality plunger.
This simple tool can easily create a vacuum to suck in water and debris, loosening clogs in a blocked drain, then use water pressure to dislodge them. Good-quality plungers save you time and money by allowing you to handle minor clogs on your own.
If you have a stubborn clog that won’t respond to your plunging attempts, it’s best to call a local plumber. Attempting to continue plunging despite no results can actually damage your pipes by putting too much stress on them.
You should also buy a wet-dry vacuum, a helpful tool for dislodging clogs caused by small, hard objects like toys, toothbrushes, or combs. While a plunger will push the clog deeper into the drain, a wet-dry vacuum sucks out the object.
5. Prevent Frozen Pipes
Kansas City’s heavy winters make frozen pipes a common (and nerve-wracking) problem. Frozen pipes can crack and burst open at any time, leading to severe water damage in your home.
Some of the best plumbing tips for homeowners in Kansas City include taking a few preventative measures, like covering outdoor pipes with pipe insulation sleeves and outdoor foam covers. Seasonal plumbing maintenance can also look like cleaning out your gutters and detaching your garden hoses.
For indoor pipes, consider insulating any exposed pipes in unheated areas (like your basement or attic). If a pipe does freeze in your Kansas City home, give us a call to have an experienced technician visit your home.
6. Regularly Clean Your Drains and Pipes
Running water isn’t enough to clean your drains and pipes. One of our top plumbing tips for homeowners is to pour a mixture of vinegar and baking soda down your drain once per month, then let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes before running hot water.
Avoid using chemical drain cleaners with harsh ingredients, as they can erode and weaken your pipes over time. You can also use a drain snake to clear out hair or minor clogs.
Some clogs build up very gradually over the months, usually from a mixture of soap scum, hair, and food debris. Monthly maintenance flushes away this minor build-up to prevent it from eventually turning into a clog.
Leak and Water Damage Prevention
Leaks are one of the most common and frustrating homeowning issues. Not only can they be noisy, but they can also lead to water damage or higher utility bills if you don’t fix them.
1. Locate Your Home’s Shutoff Valves for Both Water and Gas
One of the first things every homeowner should learn is where the shutoff valves for their home’s water and gas lines are located and how to turn them off. Knowing how to quickly shut the water or gas off in an emergency can prevent a minor issue from becoming a catastrophe.
Make sure every household member knows the location of these valves and how to operate them.
2. Maintain Your Shower’s Water Pressure
Low water pressure in the shower head may be caused by mineral deposits. To address this, fill a plastic bag with white distilled vinegar and place the shower head inside.
Leave it in the vinegar for a day to allow the mineral deposits to dissolve. Then, reattach the shower head to the faucet and double-check the water pressure. Regular water pressure should be a fast spray of water. Low water pressure appears as a weak trickle or an inconsistent spray.
3. Know the Signs of a Plumbing Leak
Early detection of plumbing leaks can save you extensive damage and costly repairs. Common signs of a plumbing leak include:
Unexplained increases in your water bill
Damp spots on walls or ceilings
The sound of running water when no taps are on
Mold and mildew growth
If you notice any of these signs, act quickly. Ignoring leaks can lead to significant water damage and structural issues in your home.
If you need help locating a leak, or you've found the leak and tightening connections or closing a shutoff valve didn’t stop it, give us a call. We offer multiple plumbing services, including repair and installation.
General Preventative Maintenance
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as the saying goes! Developing a sharp eye (and ear) for problems will keep minor issues from turning into expensive repair jobs.
A little weekly or monthly maintenance can also keep your fixtures and piping working well year-round.
1. Learn How to Listen to Your Water Heater
When you start to hear a crackling noise during operation, it probably means there’s a buildup in your water heater that needs to be addressed. The best way to reduce rust and scale buildup in your water heater is to flush it regularly.
By flushing the tank every six months (or at least once per year), you’ll reduce the repair issues you'll have to deal with in the future.
If your system is over nine years old, it’s time to start thinking about replacing the entire unit. Your energy bill will only go up as its efficiency goes down. You can also extend the life of your water heater tank by replacing the anode rod.
2. Install a Water Softener
Hard water can cause scale buildup in pipes, reducing their lifespan and leading to issues like low water pressure and odd-tasting water. Installing a water softener can help prevent this by removing the minerals that cause hardness.
Most water softeners last 10 to 15 years, providing you with fresh water and healthy fixtures with little extra effort on your part.
3. Schedule an Inspection
If you’re a brand-new homeowner, an inspection will give you peace of mind that your home doesn’t have any hidden plumbing or piping issues. Since most plumbing essentials are hidden from plain sight, professionals can show you where each item is located and provide a list of items that need maintenance or repair.
An experienced plumber will also educate you on the warning signs of leaks, old age, or clogs, so you can either fix it or call for help.
Schedule an appointment online to have an expert visit your home.
4. Replace Commonly Failing Plumbing Items
The water heater is one of the most common household plumbing items that fail. Regularly inspect your water heater for signs of wear, such as rust or leaks. Check your water heater’s manufacturing recommendation.
Other items with shorter lifespans that we recommend you monitor for damage or poor performance are:
Faucet aerators (replace every three to five years)
Toilet components like flappers (every three years) and wax rings (every five to 10 years)
Shower heads (once every year or two)
5. Avoid Common Plumbing Myths
There are quite a few myths surrounding DIY plumbing. Some common plumbing mistakes to avoid include:
Overtightening connections, which can cause fittings to crack. You might think you’re being extra careful, but in fact, over-tightening plumbing fittings and connections can lead to broken bolts and stripped screws. As they say, “hand-tight is just right.”
Using too much drain cleaner. More is not necessarily more! If you need to use a little extra cleaner for a particularly stubborn clog, try an enzyme-based cleaner. They’re gentler on pipes, yet still work very well.
Ignoring small leaks. The sooner you fix these leaks, the sooner you can prevent costly water damage.
6. Schedule Regular Maintenance Services
Yearly maintenance is one of the most reliable ways of catching small problems happening right under your nose. When you hire an expert plumber, you can get a thorough inspection that includes:
Checking for leaks
Inspecting pipes
Flushing your water heater
Ensuring all fixtures function correctly
A professional can also assess the age and condition of your plumbing components and replace them as needed to avoid unexpected failures.
Regular maintenance helps extend the life of your plumbing system and can catch potential problems early. Hamilton provides thorough safety inspections that cover all your plumbing and piping essentials.
Quick Fixes and Useful Tools
Give yourself a little extra peace of mind by filling up a toolbox with some of our favorite DIY tools. Our plumbing tips for homeowners will also debunk a few home maintenance myths so you don’t accidentally make an existing problem worse.
1. Avoid Products Marked Universal Fit
In some cases, you will need to find replacement parts to fix the issues with your plumbing system. When shopping for the right parts, avoid products billed as universal fit.
Using these products usually doesn’t work well (and can even make the problem worse). Paying a little more for an exact fit part is well worth it for a dependable, long-lasting result.
2. Stock Up on Teflon Tape
Also called Teflon tape, plumber’s tape is useful when you need to seal pipe threads and prevent leaks around joints and fittings. Wrap plumber’s tape three times around pipe threads before sealing.
3. Curb Foul Odors with Baking Soda
One of our favorite plumbing hacks for odors is using baking soda and hot water. Baking soda neutralizes odors, while hot water (not boiling) can help dissolve a little extra debris on the sides of the pipe.
Whenever in doubt, contact your local plumber for professional leak detection and repair. We’re available seven days a week, so schedule your appointment online today!
Outside Plumbing Care
When it comes to plumbing tips for homeowners, the outside of the house can sometimes be overlooked in favor of common indoor leaks and clogs. Kansas City can get quite rainy and hot, so your outdoor fixtures need extra attention to keep working well.
1. Test Your Sump Pump
A poorly maintained sump pump risks overflowing and leaving a very messy and wet problem for you to deal with later. You can test your sump pump for potential blockages by pouring a few gallons of water into your sump pump pit.
A properly working sump pump will quickly drain the water. If it’s very slow to drain or doesn’t drain at all, it’s time to call a plumber.
You should also double-check the discharge line to make sure water drains away from the pump’s housing, the pit, and your home’s foundation. There shouldn’t be any pooling water, rust, or constant running without explanation.
2. Check Sprinklers for Blockage
You shouldn’t have any debris blocking your sprinkler heads, like dirt, rocks, or mineral buildup. We also recommend checking for general damage or anything that looks ‘off’, like misalignment or uneven spraying.
3. Check Your Outdoor Faucet’s Water Pressure
You should get a smooth stream of water every time you turn on your faucet. If you get sputtering water or a weak trickle, you have a water pressure issue that could be caused by pipes, tree roots, or a valve problem.
Water pressure issues are best fixed with the help of a professional. Call our team to have one of our plumbers take a look.
Mold Prevention Tips
Mold appears slowly, but it can be tricky to remove and hazardous to your health over time. Fortunately, preventing mold is as easy as incorporating a few daily and monthly habits.
1. Ventilate Your Home Regularly
Mold spores gradually build up in indoor air. You can flush them out by ventilating your home daily. Opening up the windows for a few hours per day will help, though you can go a step further and purchase a few air purifiers.
2. Check Under Sinks
Puddles under your sink are among the first tell-tale signs of a leak, which can create an ideal environment for mold. Catch these leaks early by checking under your sink once every month or two for any dark spots or strange odors.
3. Buy a Dehumidifier
Sometimes you need a little extra help controlling condensation. A dehumidifier will go a long way toward reducing excess moisture in your kitchen or bathroom.
When Should You Call a Professional for Plumbing Help?
Sometimes the best plumbing tips and tricks still can’t fix your situation. Knowing when to call a professional plumber instead of attempting DIY repairs can save you time, money, and stress.
Here are some common situations where you should call a plumber right away:
Persistent leaks: If you notice a leak that you can’t easily fix, call a professional. Leaks can cause significant water damage and increase your water bill.
Low or High Water Pressure: Sudden drops in water pressure can indicate clogs, leaks, or issues with your water supply. A plumber can diagnose the cause and provide a prompt repair.
Water Heater Issues: Problems like no hot water, strange noises, or leaks around the water heater require professional attention. Attempting DIY repairs on a water heater can be dangerous and may even void an existing warranty.
Sewer Line Problems: Frequent clogs, foul odors, or persistently slow drains can indicate a significant blockage or damage in the sewer line. A professional plumber has the tools and expertise to inspect, diagnose, and repair sewer line issues safely.
Major Installations and Replacements: For installing new water heaters, replacing pipes, or remodeling bathrooms, hire a professional plumber. These projects require specialized skills to ensure everything is installed correctly and up to code.
Emergency Situations: In emergencies like burst pipes, severe leaks, or sewage backups, immediate professional assistance is necessary. At Hamilton, we offer emergency services to handle urgent situations and prevent extensive damage to your home.
Think you have a plumbing emergency on your hands? Call us today to get help fast!
What Is the Life Expectancy of Plumbing in a House?
As a new homeowner, you might be wondering how long you can expect your plumbing system to last, especially if it’s already a few decades old. The life expectancy of household plumbing varies depending on the materials used and maintenance practices.
For example, copper water pipes can last over 100 years, while underground PVC waste pipes can last between 50 and 80. However, some vital plumbing system components, such as sump pumps, have an average life expectancy of just 7 years.
Protect Your Home with Expert Plumbing Services
Our plumbing tips for homeowners will do wonders for reducing stress, saving you money, and helping you feel more confident in maintaining your home. However, there’s no shame in reaching out to a professional if you don’t feel safe doing maintenance or have tried everything you know.
Whether you need regular maintenance or fast help in an emergency, with Hamilton Plumbing, Heating, A/C & Rooter, you’ll enjoy the highest level of expertise and professionalism. You can find us serving homeowners throughout Kansas City, with offices in Overland Park and Lenexa.
We offer financing options, guarantees, and the testimonials of happy local customers. With multiple locations in the Kansas City area, we’re always ready to serve you.
Call us at (913) 227-4943 or schedule service online for any of your plumbing needs.