Plumbing Tips Which Save You Money

Plumbing repairs can cost you an arm and a leg unless you creatively think through solutions to your problems. Armed with a bit of hardware, some ingenuity and a willingness to get to work you can fix your plumbing on a budget. Use these tips to address common plumbing problems and save yourself money in the process.

Quiet Noisy Pipes

How can you silence noisy, annoying, squeaky pipes? Use adhesive felt to wrap up loud pipes. Cut the felt into pieces and remove the hangers. Slowly and carefully wrap the pipe to quiet them. Running hot water through pipes causes expansion and rubbing against hangers. You’re likely to run into this problem when using hot water frequently. A tiny bit of felt makes all the difference in the world and it’ll save you money too.

Hush Loud Sinks with Foam

Expanding foam can quiet loud sounds from your sink. Find the empty space between sink basins. Apply foam to fill the void. The gong effect disappears and the foam also helps to deaden any strong vibrations occurring from sink use. Make sure to use this method before installation to save yourself time and energy. Messing around within a drawer or cabinet can be an agitating experience. Let the foam solidify fully before trimming away excess foam exposed around the basins. Get rid of these annoying sounds without breaking your bank.

Toilet Clogged with Something Solid?

Toilet tissue, paper and other forms of waste are not the only culprits when your toilet becomes clogged. Combs, toothbrushes and toys might become jammed in a toilet or drain and if you can’t reach in and pull it out you’ll need something more than a snake to get the job done. Enter the industrial strength vacuum cleaner. Using a wet/dry shop vacuum helps you to suck out excess water and the object. Rent a quality wet-dry shop vacuum to save yourself a plumbing nightmare. Accidents will happen so use the best tool available to complete the job without having to tear up floors or walls to reach piping.

Find Hidden Pipes with a Strong Magnet

If you’re not keen to knock down walls to find hidden pipes try using a strong magnet. Rare earth magnets connected to electrical fish tape can help you find secret pipes easily. Feed the contraption into drains through the cleanout plug and locate the magnet using a compass. When you’ve found the magnet the compass will turn quickly.

Flushing Alternative

If you’re tired of scrambling to your neighbor’s house when your toilet is being fixed use a bucket full of water to flush your toilet. Filling a large bucket with water and dumping into the toilet bowl creates enough force to flush the toilet completely. Keep in mind that this strategy will not refill the bowl. You’ll need to add more water through the bucket method to fill the bowl fully, but for the moment, this approach works nicely to save you a few trips during plumbing projects.