It’s important for homeowners to maintain their plumbing systems. Issues with your plumbing can lead to leaks, damage, and drainage problems. The most common issues are due to general carelessness.
At Caccia plumbing, we want to help people learn about how their plumbing can affect them so they don’t make mistakes that will cost them more in the long run. That’s why in this article, we’ll discuss some of the common mistakes homeowners make that can lead to costly repairs.
Failure to schedule a sewer inspection
In most cases, plumbing inspections come before the selling of a house. Even if the plumbing system received a clear bill of health, you shouldn’t be pleased with this first assessment.
The majority of plumbing inspections include an examination of all fixtures and visible pipes. It is critical to understand the status of your sewer lines if you own a single-family house in San Diego. The sewage mainline may be composed of cast iron or orange burg pipe, depending on the age and location of your new home. In order to discover the real health of your plumbing system, it is critical to include a sewer camera inspection within your home’s inspection period.
Performing Unauthorized Work
Making large improvements to your house’s plumbing system without the required permits might result in the devaluation of your home. Homes with unpermitted work may take longer to sell or may sell at a loss due to the cost of repairing the previous work.
Depending on your state, you may be needed to hire a contractor to obtain the necessary permissions. Nevertheless, you should be certain that you have all of the necessary permissions before undertaking any big home improvement project, such as installing a bathroom or repiping. Permits are a vital component of the community since they allow local building regulators to keep an eye on home improvement projects and assure the safety of each structure’s development. While permits might be a costly starting point for any project, they can protect you from fines in the future while also guaranteeing that your plumbing job is completed correctly.
Bringing Galvanized and Copper Pipes Together
This is typical in DIY projects since it necessitates prior specialized expertise. Corrosion happens when galvanized pipes meet copper pipes.
Homeowners who do their own plumbing may be oblivious of this issue, so they will repair old galvanized pipes with new copper pipes. These pipes may be linked together using a specific connection known as a dielectric union. Dielectric unions are used to link pipes made of various metals by establishing a galvanic corrosion barrier.
Performing Specific Projects without Appropriate Training
Homeowners who undertake complex plumbing projects often do so without a license or insurance (which most professionals provide). Plumbing specialists bring a wealth of information about how home plumbing works to the table. They go to vocational school to learn suitable procedures and the best tools for the work. Before taking a licensing exam, they must complete an apprenticeship and accumulate years of experience in the profession. All of this experience assures that the job is of high quality and that your house is safe.
Those who take on more advanced projects than they are capable of easily risk hurting themselves or damaging their homes. This can result in spending even more money to bring in a contractor to undo the previous work and complete it correctly.
It might be difficult to judge if a job is above your ability level in some scenarios. When this occurs, we usually recommend contacting your local plumbing professional before beginning your next project. A qualified plumber will be able to evaluate the project’s difficulty and advise you on whether you should do it yourself or hire someone to help you.
Recognizing when you need help
The best piece of advice we can offer is this: avoid doing a DIY plumbing installation by yourself. If you are unsure of how to properly complete the task, you may have to wait until you hire a professional plumber. Alternatively, the project will go catastrophically wrong and it could take longer to fix it.