We like to do things without any help. That’s especially true if, for instance, your toilet clogs up. You probably think, “I’ll just grab the plunger and take care of it myself.” In some cases, that works out just fine. But there are other cases where you’re going to need a lot more than a plunger to fix the issues with your home’s pipes.
That’s not a judgment on you as a person or a homeowner; it’s just that pipes tend to break down and need repairs every now and then. That’s especially true if you live in a home with aging pipes, or if you live in a city with a severely out-of-date water system. Here are some hints to help you figure out when you need to call in a professional plumber.
There’s a backup (and it’s spreading)
There are a lot of unnerving things about owning a home. One of the weirdest experiences, though, is seeing sewage bubbling up in your tub or bathroom sink while you’re trying to remove a clog in the toilet.
Even someone who doesn’t know a ton about pipes knows that’s not how it’s supposed to work. If a clog gets to that point, then it’s long past time you call a plumber. You may even want to call an emergency plumber if this happens outside of normal business hours.
And yet, you may feel too deeply invested — you may want to get some fancy piece of equipment and keep trying. Resist the urge. If you don’t fix it, you could make an even bigger mess that costs a lot of money to clean up. And chances are, no one is going to help you clean up the mess that you’ve made.
If your bathroom is flooded with sewage, you’ll have to pay for a clean-up crew. And you may also need to pay for renovations. This is all in addition to the original plumbing costs. It’s best to save yourself some stress and just call for Seattle sewer repair already. Seattle has enough problems with its sewer lines, including rats. There’s no need to make things worse.
The shower is cold
Living in a house for just a couple of weeks gives you a pretty good idea of your hot water heater’s capabilities. You probably know that you can’t take an hour-long shower. Even if you had enough hot water, long, hot showers are bad for your skin as well as the environment.
But if you get up one morning and find that there’s no hot water at all, that’s another matter entirely. You should try a few different faucets to see if the problem is universal. If it is, then it’s time to call in a plumber who deals with hot water repairs.
Don’t go to the basement or garage and fiddle with the hot water yourself. The problem likely won’t be as clear as you’d like. In general, faulty hot water heaters aren’t equipped with arrows that point you to the issue. And the issue could be very different based on whether the hot water heater uses gas or electricity. So leave it to the experts.
If you’re still not convinced, then try to think of hot water heater repair as being like an iPhone repair. You use hot water every day, just like you use your smartphone every day. But that doesn’t mean you’re an expert at diagnosing its issues. For most people, the standard response to phone trouble is just turning it off and on again. Your home’s plumbing system deserves better than that.
At the very least, you should call a plumber and see what they say. It’s possible they’ll tell you to try something on your own, but it’s more likely they’ll want to come out with a set of tools and take a look.