Some household repairs - fixing a leak under your sink, clearing a clogged drain, etc., are simple enough that many home owners choose to save money by doing it themselves. This is always an option.
However, when you call a professional plumber for a simple household repair, he does not charge on the basis of how complicated the job might be, but based on his time and overhead expenses. So there is a certain minimum he must charge on every call, no matter how simple the job might be.
This usually amounts to somewhere between $50-100. People tend to get upset paying $50 or more for a job that may take merely 10 - 15 minutes to complete. What they fail to factor is what it costs the company to bring a plumber to your door. They must pay for the dispatcher, truck, fuel, tools, insurance coverage, office equipment, etc.
How do you define a "decent" plumber? The least most people would expect is that he'd be able to identify and fix the problem and guarantee it for at least a year - or return at no extra charge if it breaks down before that. The work should abide by safety standards and codes. It's also reasonable to expect the firm to be licensed, insured and not on the public prosecutor's most wanted list. This inevitably means adding that "arm and leg" in overhead costs.
So much for simple repairs. The true skill of a mechanic, just as with a doctor, has less to do with turning a wrench than diagnosing a problem. If you have no hot water, or no heat from your boiler, or foul gunk flows from a faucet, it's no time to look for someone who works cheap. Imagine asking: "How can I find a decent brain surgeon who doesn't charge an arm and a leg...a decent defense lawyer...a decent airplane pilot..."
Oh, but how could anyone compare one of those skilled professionals to a lowly plumber! The fact of the matter is that plumbers also deal in life and death matters. The fuel lines and flues to your heating equipment carry the potential for death and destruction. And how would you like someone to cross-connect a waste line with your potable water supply? A well-trained plumber has been through a four or five year apprenticeship that is every bit as challenging as a college education. Their work is priced accordingly.
Some plumbing companies have taken to charging a flat rate for certain types of repairs, whether it takes one, two or more hours to do the job. People who don't like surprises may find this more appealing than paying by the hour.
If you do find a very cheap plumber, beware. As with everything else, you get what you pay for. That's no baloney.
Frozen pipes are common occurrence during sub-zero weather up north. They tend to plaque Southerners from time to time as well. Piping generally gets placed well inside the bowels of buildings in the north. Designers of southern buildings generally don't pay much attention to the location of water piping, and on those rare occasions when temperatures drop a little below freezing, occupants pay the price.
Pipes that have frozen in the past are obvious candidates for special attention. Insulation is an obvious benefit, but won't by itself prevent pipes from freezing if they are too exposed to the elements.
It's also important to keep a heat source close by. In the case of bathroom pipes enclosed in vanities or cabinets, leave the doors open during frigid weather so the heat from the room can penetrate the enclosures. Professional contractors sell pipe wrappings imbedded with electrical coils to provide an outside source of heat. This is okay, but if you forget to plug in the device with the approach of a cold front, or if there's an electrical power interruption - as often occurs during severe weather - the product won't work.
If a pipe does freeze, try defrosting it with an electrical hair dryer. For safety, be sure the dryer is grounded and never hold the pipe while operating an electrical appliance.
To prevent the pipe from bursting, turn off the water supply to that line. Be careful, however. If you use a boiler for heating, it must have continual water supply to operate. Don't turn off the main household supply, just the valve leading to the frozen line. If you're unsure how to do this call a plumbing contractor.
Also remember that running water does not freeze very readily. During severe cold weather you may want to keep a stream of water trickling out of faucets or spouts attached to vulnerable pipes. This wastes water, but may be preferable to a burst pipe.
Persons who go south for the winter or leave on extended vacations ought to drain their plumbing system to prevent frozen pipes. Here's what to do:
DO NOT DRAIN THESE TRAPS - the water keeps sewer gases out of the building.
If a pipe does burst, there's not much you can do except mop up the area and get the pipe repaired. An ounce of prevention is worth many pounds of this cure!
Everyone in the service business cringes a little when people call and ask, "How much do you charge?" No, it's not because we charge too much. It's because, deep down, we know we cannot completely answer the question.
Most service firms will quote an hourly rate over the phone, but does that really tell you anything? What any home owner really wants to know is, "How much will it cost me to fix my problem?"
To answer that question, the service company needs to know 1. the exact nature of the problem, which cannot be described with certainty over the phone, and 2. how long it will take to fix it. Quoting an hourly rate might seem to provide a rough estimate. Yet how often have you seen home repair jobs drag on for hour after hour with "the meter running"? Too many variables come into play, including the exact nature of the problem and the skill of the service technician dispatched to your firm. Some are more experienced and work faster than others.
With this in mind, I would like to suggest some other questions that you as home owners might wish to ask of the people you call for home repairs and service who quote you hourly charges over the phone.
Can you guarantee a maximum price to do the job?
Expect to hear a lot of stuttering and stammering with this one. Some contractors will laugh out loud.
However, there are a few progressive contractors out there who do quote exact prices, guaranteed, once they perform a diagnosis. Usually they charge a modest up front fee for the diagnosis, though many waive the charge if they get the job. Nonetheless, it does remove the guesswork.
Do you charge for time driving to and from a supply house?
Some jobs might require only 15 minutes of labor to perform, but you'll see the service technician disappear for an hour or more to go pick up parts not stocked in the truck. Supply houses are some of the favorite hangouts of many service techs. Many serve free coffee and snacks to their customers, and it's a great place to catch up on the latest industry gossip.
Who will be doing the work?
Sometimes it will be a master mechanic with many years of experience. At other times, though, it could be a youngster with less than a year under his belt - maybe even an apprentice filling in during an absence. Who does the work has a lot to do with how much you end up paying when rates are quoted on an hourly basis.
If the problem persists or reappears after your mechanic leaves, will you come back to fix it at no extra charge - immediately?
Most companies will answer yes to this questions, but watch out. Most labor guarantees extend only a month, which is not very long when you think about it. Also, call-backs tend to be the lowest priority when service firms get busy.
Can you show me proof of a license and insurance, both general liability and worker compensation?
This is a big one. Most people don't realize that if an uninsured worker gets injured while working in a home, the home owner can be held financially responsible.
On the flip side, in some states where licensing is required, a home owner is not obligated to pay for any work done by an unlicensed contractor.
What time will you show up?
Most service companies can't pinpoint their time of arrival closer than "morning or afternoon." This can get expensive if the home owner has to take off a full or half-day of work.
Progressive service companies can many times pinpoint within an hour or two when their service technician will be at the door. If he or she does get delayed, these companies will call with an updated time of arrival.
Another useful gauge of a service firm's value is if there is even anybody available to answer these questions. Many contractors try to do business using answering machines, promising to return calls at some undetermined time. This isn't much help to someone who needs an emergency repair right now.
Also, how many of you have had this experience - you call one contractor and leave a message on an answering machine. Then you call someone else to do the work who is available at the moment.
A day or two later, the contractor with an answering machine calls you back. You inform him that you had someone else do the job. Then he asks, "How much did he charge?" You tell him, and then the guy says, "You got ripped off. I would have done the job for half that price!"
Reminds me of the old story about the customer who goes into a store to buy a toaster. The owner rings up a $25 sale.
"That's outrageous!" the customer complains. "A store down the street sells the same toaster for $15."
"Well, why didn't you buy it there?" asked the owner.
"Because they're out of toasters."
"Heck," replied the owner, "when we run out of toasters, we only charge $10."
Let the buyer beware.
Not since the infamous shower scene in the movie "Psycho" have there been such moments of dread.
You're in the shower and suddenly, unexpectedly, just as your body's all lathered and hair drenched in shampoo bubbles, your whole world takes a shocking turn for the worse. The water coming out of your shower head slows to a trickle. You scream to the party downstairs...
"Shut off the darned washing machine!" Or stronger words.
You are singing low water pressure blues. You are joined by a chorus that rings out in millions of American homes. What will stop the yodeling?
Something to consider right off the bat: Is it just your problem, or are your neighbors experiencing it too? If they are, be happy - not because misery loves company, but because the cause is probably a blockage or leak in a community water line, and that means you don't have to pay for repairs. Notify your local water department as soon as possible so they can get busy fixing the problem.
If it's not a neighborhood problem, you still could get off the hook if the leak or blockage is between what's sometimes called the "Buffalo Box" (B-box) and the community water main. The B-box is an underground valve located somewhere on or near your property. If a problem is outside the B-box, it's usually the community's responsibility. On the household side, it's yours. Water department workers use listening devices to pinpoint the leak.
In older communities, neighborhood water pressure problems also may be caused by calcium deposits that build up on the inside of water pipe to restrict flow. It's just like hardening of the arteries and is especially common with iron pipe.
All of this is the good news, relatively speaking. Remember, your city or village pays for any repairs on the other side of the B-box. Anywhere on the homeward side, and the bill is yours. Professional plumbers can perform a relatively simple test at the service valve to determine if the pressure is good as it enters your home. If it is, the problem obviously lies inside.
Sometimes there is a leak or blockage in the service line between the B box and where the service line enters your home. This calls for major repairs that involve digging up and replacing pipe. Often this type of repair runs several thousand dollars.
More often, though, the problem will stem from something inside the house, especially if it's an older home. Low water pressure is common in older homes for a couple of reasons. One is calcification. As years go by, just as with outside water mains (or human arteries), lime deposits build up on the inside of your home's water pipes, with hot water lines more susceptible than cold. Every plumber has tales of removing ancient pipe so clogged up you can barely see through to the other end.
Plumbers sometimes can remove this kind of blockage by blowing high pressure air through the water line. This is a relatively inexpensive task.
Home owners can tackle the job themselves with rented equipment, but proceed with caution. Inexperienced users often end up simply removing old rust that has built up on the inside. Yet that congealed rust may be the only thing stopping the pipe from leaking. Plumbers love it when home owners try to blow out their own water lines. They know that as often as not, a few months down the road the pipe is likely to start leaking like a sieve, which leads to piping replacement jobs costing thousands of dollars. As the saying goes, "You can pay me now...or pay me later."
Water leaks and blockages aren't the only cause of low water pressure. A more fundamental reason - again quite prevalent in older homes - is undersized water pipe. Many homes were built in an era when the typical house had only a single toilet and tub. Back in those day three-eighths inch diameter water pipe was the standard.
Since then many households have added a bathroom or two, along with many more water using appliances. Nowadays half-inch water pipe is the minimum you will find in modern homes, and three-quarters of an inch is recommended for many of them, especially multi-story homes.
Be mindful of this with any remodeling plans you may have. Many remodelers provide elegant designs and ultra-luxurious fixtures but know next to nothing about behind-the-wall requirements to supply those products. Tales abound of people excited to try out their new hot tubs or steeping baths, only to find out that it takes a better part of a day just to fill them.
Re-piping is expensive but often the only way to permanently solve a home's water pressure blues. Sometimes cost can be held down by replacing only the horizontal piping, which is most susceptible to build-up of deposits. If the risers also are involved, it becomes far more complicated. That's because to get to the risers plumbers usually have to poke holes in walls. (Hint: If at all possible, try to persuade your plumber to get at bathroom riser from outside the bathroom. You save money replacing plaster and wallboard as opposed to tile.)
The good news is that re-piping is a job that shouldn't be required more than once in a generation. If you can take the pain that one time, you can avoid a lifetime of blood-curdling screams from that second floor bathroom!
Oh, one more thing. If you suddenly experience slow flow out of a single faucet or showerhead, before you call anyone, check to see if it might be caused by granules in the aerator or showerhead openings. If so, clear them out. This costs nothing to fix.
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"Old reliable" churns away in your basement or utility room day after day, month after month, year after year like a farm mule in days of yore. Except this one doesn't eat as much - nor do you have those ugly, malodorous piles laying all around the place!
Except every once in awhile, like a cantankerous old mule, the modern water heater doesn't do what it's supposed to do. That's when you call a plumbing contractor saying "no hot water."
This is the top reason why people call a plumbing or heating contractor, according to a survey taken a few years ago by the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Information Bureau (PHCIB) in Chicago. A related problem, a leaking water heater, came in at number 5 out of the top 10.
Looking over the list, I can't help but shake my head at all the waste of time and money these emergency service calls represent. Most people don't pay much attention to their household "mule team" - the mechanical systems that provide so much comfort and convenience in our modern lives. We take for granted our water heaters, toilets, faucets, furnaces and air conditioners, until they stop working. Then comes the panicked call to the service company, and a repair job that always ends up costing more than we expect.
Regular care and maintenance can forestall most of these breakdowns at a fraction of the cost of repairs. Have your plumbing, heating and air conditioning inspected, cleaned and checked at least once a year. Progressive service companies offer service agreements in which they automatically come out to take care of these things for a modest annual fee.
Homeowners also should consider replacing ancient water heaters, toilets, furnaces, boilers and other appliances with new high-efficiency or water-saving models. Most of us are in the habit of squeezing out every last day of service out of such equipment. Yet any unit more than 12-15 years old probably can pay for itself within a few years through reduced energy or water usage.
Here are the rest of the top 10 household repairs identified by the PHCIB.
#2 - Clogged drains. Many of these calls could be avoided by taking greater care in what you put down drains - especially the kitchen sink drain, the most used and most clogged drain in the house. I also recommend regular treatment with Bio-Clean, a biological drain cleaner sold only through plumbing contractors.
#3 - Dripping faucets. This is an annoyance that most homeowners have to deal with from time to time as the washers in the faucets wear out with use. You can extend the life of your faucet washers by not turning them off with too much force.
You may also consider replacing your older faucets with those that feature washer less valve cartridges instead of rubber washers. Since the valve mechanism is contained in one cartridge, these faucets are easier to repair and replace. In addition, cartridges are generally more durable and do not leak because they do not deteriorate with friction or age as washers do.
#4 - Leaking pipes. In extreme cases, these can cause expensive damage to floors and belongings. To stop a small leak from turning into a big one, take a look at your pipes periodically to check for rust or white lime deposits that may indicate a leak is starting.
#5 - Leaking water heaters. Most often when you have a leaker, it's time to get rid of the water heater. Usually leaks indicate rusting through at the bottom of the storage tank, for which there is no good repair. By the time this happens, the water heater is usually so old you'd benefit from replacing it with a more energy-efficient model anyway.
#6 - No heat. When your furnace or boiler stops operating, it can make for a long, cold winter night. An ounce of prevention here is worth of ton of cure. It's important to make sure your heating system is functioning properly before the first cold snap hits. Have a competent contractor do a thorough examination and cleaning in late summer or early fall every year.
#7-8 - Running & leaking toilets. This is not only an annoyance, but a waste of water and money. Leaky toilets can cost you upwards of $100 a year on your water bills. If you hear a low humming noise, or if the toilet continues to run into the bowl after the toilet is flushed, it indicates that some part of the mechanism is out of order. Sometimes a little jiggling of the ballcock or flush valve mechanism solves the problem with cost. Otherwise you may need to replace the entire mechanism.
#9 - New faucet installation. Many homeowners replace faucets not only when they break down, but for decorative reasons as well. This is the ninth most common reason for a service call, according to the PHCIB.
A few people buy a faucet from a home center and then call a plumbing firm to do the installation. This is okay, but be forewarned that in doing so, the plumbing firm will warrant only its workmanship, not the faucet itself.
#10 - Malfunctioning food waste disposer. This can be a messy headache for homeowners. Here are several tips to keep your unit in good working order. First, always run cold water when grinding to move the waste all the way down the drain lines. Fats and grease congeal and harden in cold water and can be flushed through the system. Hot water should not be used because it can dissolve fats and grease, which may then accumulate in the drain line.
Almost all bio-degradable food waste can be fed into disposers. However, they should not be used to grind clam or oyster shells, corn husks or other material with a high fiber content. Under no circumstances should you put glass, plastic or metal non-food materials through a disposer. This includes bottle caps, tin covers or aluminum foil, which are some of the items service technicians commonly find in clogged or broken disposers.
Maintenance is easy. Grinding small bones and egg shells actually helps clean the disposer by scraping away stubborn deposits or citric acid and pulp. Grinding a little ice is another way to clean deposits and get rid of odors. For the most part, though, disposers are self-cleaning.
May 1-7, 1994, has been designated by the American Water Works Association (representing municipal water supply agencies) as "National Drinking Water Week." This is a good time to reflect upon what everyone takes for granted, but which is a very complicated process of bringing safe drinking water into millions of homes and commercial buildings.
Municipal water supplies undergo elaborate testing and treatment involving dozens of procedures. If we were to follow a specific unit of water from the time it enters an intake pipe until it exits the purification plant, we would find it an all-day journey of eight hours or close to it.
The biggest municipal systems serving cities such as New York and Chicago require pipes measuring as much as 15 feet in diameter to handle volumes of water ranging upwards of a billion-billion-gallons a day. All this fresh water typically comes from massive man-made reservoirs (in the case of Southern California and New York) or even more massive natural reservoirs such as the Great Lakes. Huge pumps lift thousands of gallons at a time dozens of feet to different treatment stations.
First, chemicals are added in a rapid mixing procedure. There is chlorine for sterilization, aluminum sulfate or alum and polymer for coagulation, lime and caustic soda to prevent corrosion in the distribution mains, activated carbon to remove taste and odors, and fluoride to prevent dental cavities in children's teeth.
(There was much controversy when fluoride was first introduced into water supplies back in the 1950s. Some people even viewed it as part of a Communist plot. However, study after study has borne out that the procedure has done what it was supposed to do in dramatically reducing tooth decay. Likewise, there is little evidence of any harmful side effects.)
Following the rapid mix of chemicals into the water, it typically passes into mixing and settling basins for a leisurely bout of flocculating. No, there is nothing obscene about this. The flocculation process involves the settling of impurities after slow mixing with alum or some other flocculent. Around 90% of the solids typically are taken out of the water in the settling basins - some of which have capacities ranging into millions of gallons.
From the settling basins water usually travels to a large sedimentation tank to complete the clarification (making water clear and solid-free) process. From there the water goes through sand filters for final "polishing." Then the water receives a final dose of chlorine and, added in recent years, frequently a phosphate-based chemical to inhibit lead leaching from the distribution piping system. Safe, pure (except for trace impurities) water then passes into a variety of pumping stations for distribution throughout a municipality.
Along the way microbiologists and chemists monitor thousands of water samples for both organic and inorganic contaminants ranging from fungi to asbestos fibers to radioactivity. These monitors employ the most sophisticated scientific tools such as scanning electron microscopes and x-ray analyzers. They seldom find worrisome levels of anything, but when they do there are systems in place to quickly notify the EPA and other relevant government agencies, which may then issue warnings or take other remedial action.
Last year's outbreak of intestinal illness in Milwaukee - along with a lesser episode in the nearby city of Racine - are among rare cases when the treatment process broke down. Most water-borne ailments in modern America can be traced to organisms or substances that enter the water supply after it passes through the treatment plant. They get introduced either in the municipal distribution piping, in the building mains or within the building's piping system itself.
If there is a weak link in this system, it is the distribution piping. Some of our older cities still rely upon some old wooden pipes that are centuries old. The Associated General Contractors