Translating…
DIY is something a lot of people love, and something that a lot more people don’t actually like so much but they do their own home repairs to save a bit of cash here and there. Painting a couple of walls on a rainy weekend when there is nothing much on the telly is one thing, but tackling your own plumbing is quite another. Ask any tradesman, there are more DIY plumbing disaster stories out there than any other kind.
What looks simple in a book (or in a YouTube video) is quite a different thing when it comes to putting your amateur plumbing skills to work in real life. Even if you can get hold of instructions that tell you exactly what to you are supposed to do in words and pictures that are easy to understand (good luck with that, by the way), after a busy work week, it can be a little difficult to get too hyped about snaking your toilet because it won’t flush (again)
So while plumbing should really be left to the professionals there are some things you and everyone else in your household can do to prevent plumbing problems from occurring in the first place:
Avoiding Clogs
Clogs are one of the biggest causes of all kinds of plumbing problems so avoiding letting them build up in the first place is the best course of action. Never flush anything down the loo that is not bodily waste or proper toilet roll. Even if the packaging says something is flushable, all too often that turns out not to be the case.
Little kids can be a problem here as they seem to have an inbuilt desire to flush things just for the fun of it. Keep an eye on what they are doing in the bathroom and try your best to explain why the flushing game is one they should not be playing.
Another big clog cause is too much hair in the shower drain. Make sure you have a good grate of some kind fitted to catch all that loose hair and that you actually remember to clean it out on a regular basis.
Pre Planned Plumbing
Clogs are far from the only thing that can cause homeowners all kinds of plumbing headaches. Leaky pipes, slow toilets, frozen pipes can all wreck havoc and often just when you least expected it. That is why it pays to find yourself a good plumber now, when you really don’t need one. Finding a good plumber is like finding a good mechanic or a great hairdresser – once you have located them you will never, ever want to let them go.
Knowing that you will know exactly who to call when the ceiling is in danger of coming down because the bathroom sink above sprung a leak (or worse) will be a lot better than trying to Google your way to a plumber while being drenched by an indoor rain shower.