The holiday season is quickly approaching. It’s time to start making sure your Elk Grove home is ready to meet the challenges of preparing extra food and entertaining extra guests. Although it’s easy to focus on details like cleaning your carpets and shopping for great gifts, it’s important to pay attention to some of the unseen components of your home. One such area is your plumbing system. At Huft Home Services, we see plenty of home plumbing problems every holiday season, and we want to help you avoid those problems with the suggestions in this article.
Be Mindful of What’s Flushed
A toilet clog can quickly result in a massive and disgusting mess. That’s why it’s important to only allow toilet paper and human waste to go down the toilet drain. If you are expecting young children at your home who might not know the “rules of the toilet,” you may want to consider putting a sign close to the toilet explaining that only toilet paper should go down the drain. It’s also a good idea to keep a plunger handy in case the toilet begins to back up. If your toilet connects to a septic tank, Huft Home Services also recommends having your septic tank inspected before holiday guests arrive.
Check Your Water Heater
If you plan on having guests spend the night at your home, you will need to provide them with plenty of hot water to take showers. You will also likely have extra dishes to do and laundry to wash, meaning you’ll need even more hot water. To keep up with this demand, Huft Home Services recommends inspecting your water heater to ensure it’s operating normally. Check for wet spots under the water heater that might indicate a leak in the tank. Additionally, adjust the water heater temperature properly so the water doesn’t burn your guests.
Schedule a Plumbing Inspection
During the holiday season, your home’s plumbing system will be pushed to its limits. To give yourself the best chance at successful holiday entertaining, schedule a plumbing inspection with Huft Home Services before the holidays get into full swing. A plumbing inspection will take a close look at each of your plumbing fixtures, supply lines, and drain lines. This includes the main drain line that leads from your house to the sewer system. A problem in this line will cause major headaches for you and your guests. Plus, scheduling a plumbing inspection will help catch minor issues so that they don’t become messy emergencies during the holidays or any other time throughout the year.
Install Low-Flow Fixtures
After spending a lot of money on food and gifts, the last thing you want is to receive a high water bill in the months following the holiday season. To avoid this problem, Huft Home Services recommends installing low-flow plumbing fixtures throughout your home. Low-flow toilets can save up to 5 gallons of water per flush, while a low-flow showerhead can save multiple gallons of water during every shower. In many cases, low-flow fixtures are affordable, meaning you’ll be able to quickly recoup the cost of the fixtures with your lower water bills. Other plumbing fixtures you can replace with low-flow options include your dishwasher and washing machine.
Be Careful When Cooking
One of the great traditions of the holiday season is cooking up delicious meals for you and your family to enjoy. While preparing each scrumptious dish, Huft Home Services wants you to be mindful of what you put down the drain. Many food items should be disposed of in the trash instead of in your garbage disposal. These items include eggshells, coffee grinds, and fats of any kind. These materials will harm your pipes and cause clogs that can be difficult to remove. If you need to dispose of liquid cooking fats, allow these substances to harden before placing them in the trash can.
Know Your Home’s Plumbing System
Although Huft Home Services offers emergency plumbing services, it’s still a good idea to understand your plumbing system so that you can respond to plumbing problems before a plumber can make it to your home. One important part of your home’s plumbing system is the various shut-off valves that control water flow to individual plumbing fixtures and your entire home. Before the first guest arrives, be confident that you know the location of each of these shut-off valves and understand how to operate them. By using these valves, you can stop the flow of water to a busted pipe so the pipe won’t flood your home. This flip of a switch can mean the difference between a successful holiday get-together and a notorious nightmare of an event.
Clean Your Dishwasher
Unless you plan to use disposable dinnerware for your guests, you will likely end up with far more dirty dishes than usual during the holiday season. This means extra cycles for your dishwasher so that you don’t have to wash the mountain of dirty dishes by hand. Since your dishwasher will be under more stress than usual, Huft Home Services recommends giving your dishwasher a thorough once-over. Specifically, make sure that the dishwasher’s drain isn’t clogged with food particles. A clogged dishwasher will reduce the unit’s performance and leave you with dirty, greasy dishes. Furthermore, make sure that none of the jets are clogged by inspecting each of them individually and looking for any mineral deposits in the holes where the water comes out.
Become Familiar With Drain Clogs
Your best insurance policy for addressing plumbing problems during the holidays is having the skills to deal with minor plumbing problems yourself. Since the most likely problem you’ll encounter is a clogged drain, it’s wise to know the basics of fighting drain clogs. First, make sure that you don’t use chemical clog removers. These products can eat away at older drain lines until you end up with a significant leak on your hands.
Second, understand how to use a drain snake. A drain snake is a mechanical option for removing drain clogs. Once you’ve used a snake a couple of times, it’s fairly easy. However, attempting to use a drain snake for the first time when you’ve already got the pressure of a full house can cause you to make a mistake. Consider getting a quality drain snake and practicing with it to ensure you can take care of any clog quickly and easily.
We’ll Help Prepare Your Home
At Huft Home Services, we want each person we serve to have a pleasant and memorable holiday season. That’s why we offer a complete lineup of plumbing services, including drain cleaning, water heater installation and maintenance, leak detection, water filtration installation, and much more. We can keep your home comfortable by installing, maintaining, and repairing air conditioners, furnaces, and backup generators. We’ll also keep you out of the dark with our electrical services, including panel upgrades, electrical wiring, and surge protection.
For over 15 years, we’ve been taking care of home mechanical needs, both big and small, in the Sacramento area. Our integrity and professionalism continue to earn us five-star customer reviews. To learn more about preparing your home for the holidays, contact Huft Home Services today.
