Plumbing Mistakes You Should Avoid in Your Home

With a homeownership rate of 52.5%, most Charlotte, NC residents own homes. Having a home comes with responsibilities and ensuring the plumbing system is functioning properly. Today, many Charlotte homeowners prefer fixing plumbing problems as a DIY task. They purchase all the necessary tools and kits and take up the matter into their own hands to ensure a smooth plumbing system.

While it may seem easy, DIY projects often come with hazardous situations. From unsafe tools to electric shocks, plumbing mistakes can occur when you are least prepared. Therefore, hire a trained and licensed plumber in Charlotte, NC, to maintain your plumbing system regularly.

However, you can experience a plumbing emergency that requires an immediate response while waiting for a professional plumber to fix it permanently. You need to know the top plumbing mistakes you should avoid controlling impending disasters in your home in such circumstances. Below are the prime plumbing mistakes you need to avoid:

Extreme Tightening of Fixtures

One common blunder that you can make is to over-tighten the plumbing fixtures in your home. For instance, supply tubes, fittings, bolts, among other fixtures, do not need extreme tightening. Thus, avoid fixing tightly because the fitting might crack and cause further damage.

Although you may not see the cracking immediately, excessive tightening may cause the fixture to break down, resulting in severe flooding. Avoid tightening the faucets because you will be applying excess pressure when using the tap, which causes wear and tear. Eventually, you may start experiencing water leakages and faulty fixtures.

Therefore, avoid the blunder of over-tightening toilet bolts and other plumbing components because you might require emergency services.

Using Wrong Tapes

Professional plumbers understand the proper use of the Teflon tape in their work. The skilled plumbers usually wrap the tape clockwise to ensure it works efficiently. However, most individuals who prefer DIY jobs often misuse the tape by wrapping it backwards. Thus, the tape does not hold a fixture properly since it will come off over time.

Research extensively and identify the different Teflon tapes and their uses. Avoid using inappropriate tape for the wrong fixture if you want to achieve excellent plumbing results.

Using Commercial Drain Cleaners

Clogged drains are common plumbing challenges affecting many homes. Pouring commercially-bought drain cleaners in their drains is the first mistake homeowners make. These cleaners contain harsh chemicals that usually gradually damage the plumbing pipes. They only dissolve paper and hair while leaving the other foreign debris.

Unclogging kitchen sinks or bathroom drains require barbed tools to clean out the drainage system. Therefore, do not use the drain cleaners as the first option until you use the tools first, or else you might be dealing with excessive leakages in the future.

Forgetting to Turn Off Water

When you experience a plumbing emergency, you might panic and decide to change the valve without turning off the main water supply. If you opt to continue repairing a leaking sink or valve, you might cause further damage to your home due to flooding.

Therefore, turn off the main water supply before fixing the valve or any other broken fixture. Avoid further damages by following the advice of skilled plumbers and save extra cash you would have spent to repair the losses.

Using Incomplete Spare Parts

Most homeowners who prefer DIY jobs often make the mistake of buying incomplete spare parts. For instance, if the washer needs repair, you need to replace various parts of the sink, such as the gasket and O-rings. If you replace one part, you will still encounter water leakages over time.

You will make numerous trips to the hardware to buy spare parts without achieving satisfactory results. Therefore, replace the entire fixture to avoid wasting time, effort, and money purchasing one spare part each time you encounter faulty components.

Ignoring Local Codes

Professional plumbers understand the importance of plumbing codes of a particular location. For instance, a skilled plumber in Charlotte, NC, should be familiar with all the local codes in the area. But most homeowners practicing DIY plumbing tasks are not aware of such rules.

Therefore, before undertaking any major project, visit the authority offices to know more about the regulations and avoid harsh penalties in case of any problems. Certain projects may require plumbing permits to execute, depending on the city or state. Thus, you follow up on the plumbing codes in your region.

While tackling plumbing problems as DIY projects may seem like a good idea at first glance, it’s crucial to avoid common mistakes that could worsen the damage. Instead, hiring a qualified plumber for regular maintenance is a smarter choice to extend the lifespan of your plumbing system. And while you’re maintaining your home, don’t forget to learn how to shave without clogging the drain to prevent future plumbing issues!