Avoid these common plumbing mistakes and save yourself some headaches

Most of us don’t think of the plumbing in our houses unless and until something goes wrong that needs to be fixed. However, the more we take a proactive approach to our homes’ plumbing, the less likely it is that we will end up needing to call Mississauga plumbers in an emergency situation in the future. Avoid these common mistakes and your home’s plumbing will run as smoothly as possible for as long as possible.

Asking too much of your garbage disposal

A garbage disposal unit under your kitchen sink can be very handy and a convenient way to dispose of organic materials quickly. However, it’s important to remember that they are not designed to take on anything and everything. It’s important to read the manual and to follow the guidelines for use. Instead of throwing tough things like eggshells into your disposal, save those things for your compost pile. The kinder you are to your garbage disposal, the less likely it is to breakdown or become blocked, requiring the services of a plumber.

Abusing your fixtures

Use your plumbing fixtures for the purposes for which they are meant. That means, don’t use your sink as leverage when getting up from the toilet, don’t hang things from your shower curtain, etc. This places undue stress on your fixtures and can cause them to break and malfunction.

Taking on DIY projects you aren’t ready for

It’s great to try to fix things yourself, but if you don’t know what you are doing you can actually cause more harm than good. If you do decide to take on DIY repairs, always be sure you are using the proper materials. Otherwise, corrosion, leaks and other negative side effects can occur. If you aren’t sure of what you are doing, however, it’s always best to call a professional so you don’t cause a bigger and costlier problem.

Dumping too much down the drain

Have you ever brought dinner plates to the sink, and instead of scraping off the remnants of the meal into the garbage can, you simply fill the sink with water, wash the dishes, and rinse those food particles down the drain with the water? Doing so can cause serious blockages in the drain, which will cause it to back up. Although you may think this is an easy thing to fix with a plunger, that’s not always the case. A better approach is to avoid flushing things down the drain in the first place. Scrape your dishes!

Forgetting about routine maintenance

As with other systems in your house, your plumbing system needs regular maintenance to keep it running at peak performance. Neglecting your maintenance routine can result in small problems (which regular maintenance would have caught early) turning into bigger, expensive-to-fix problems.