In your home there are a variety of different sized waste lines which get larger the closer to the exit point of your home. The waste traps under your sink are two inch lines and fixtures like your toilet and bath tub are between two and three inches in diameter but your main waste lines are four to six inches in diameter and are large enough to carry water out of your home from …
Plumbing
How To – Basement Sinks
Many people have a need for a sink or toilet below ground in their basement. If you are lucky your waste water pipe will be in your slab or low enough that you can simply install a sink with a check valve and get to washing. If not you will need to install a brown water pump.
Brown water pumps are able to pump dirty water up from your basement into your waste water line. …
How To – Water Heaters
Water heaters are one of the larger utility items that a home owner can replace by themselves. Unfortunately the weight of the water heater and its size make it difficult to get rid of. When purchasing a new water heater you will have to decide if you are willing to go through the hassle or pay $150 for someone to install a new one who will take your old one away as …
How To – Fixing Leaking Toilets Blamed For 45 Percent Of All Wasted Water
Wasting water can be costly and it is interesting to know that of all wasted water in residential buildings the culprit is your toilet.
The good news is fixing a leaking toilet does not need to cost a lot and most people can do this themselves with only a few simple tools. When you are done you will have a toilet that works better and gets clogged less often and you will save money on …
How To – Fixing An Electric Water Heater That Is Getting Too Hot – Thermostat
It may sound strange but one of the problems when your water heater malfunctions is that it can allow the water to get too hot.
The reason this happens is because the thermostat on your water heater has malfunctioned and it is allowing the heating element to remain on at all times instead of cycling on and off as heat is needed.
The symptom for this problem is steaming hot water coming out of your faucets …
How To – Working Safe Around Buried Gas Lines
Every year there are thousands of accidents due to improper digging around utilities in our yards that go unreported. For the most part when there is a mistake which causes puncture on a residential line or one in the street no one gets hurt but in some cases tragedy happens.
For this reason it is always important to understand where your utility lines are located and the methods for avoiding them.
Where are primary gas pipelines …
How To – Designing An Efficient And Environmentally Friendly Bathroom
Making over your bathroom can be expensive depending on whether you hire someone to perform the work, have a professional perform some of the work or do it all yourself. Although the average initial cost can come in around $7,000 it is also important to think about how you may end up flushing money down the toilet for years if you don’t pick and choose your fixtures and materials correctly.
Water use will be a …
How To – Getting Rid Of Bad Smells In Your Kitchen Sink
There are a few different reasons that your kitchen sink could be giving off a bad smell but lucky for us it is a pretty easy thing to cure.
The first thing you have to determine is where the smell is coming from. Is it actually coming from the drain in your sink or is it coming from under the sink. Place a stopper in the sink and fill it with a few inches of …
How To – Can I Clean My Drain With Baking Soda And Vinegar?
If you ask half a dozen people how to clean out a clogged or smelly drain more then half seem to come up with the idea that baking soda and vinegar is the best way to get it clean. So what is the truth about this old wives tale will this solution clean your drain or are you just dumping money down the drain and hoping it will help..
The first thing to look at …
How To – Accessing Pipes In Floors To Make Repairs
Repairing plumbing pipes in Kitchen and Bathroom Floors is easier then many people think but if you have not viewed the inside of a home as it is built you may not know where to start.
To better understand how your pipes are placed in your floors you need to go back to when the home was framed. Framing is the part of home building where walls and floors are built out of plywood, 2×4 …