Great Ways to Keep Your Plumbing Costs Manageable
At some point or another, it’s likely that you’ll need to give a plumber a call to fix an issue with your Sacramento home’s plumbing system. Although some people dread calling a plumber, there are plenty of great ways to find honest plumbers who won’t charge you for something that doesn’t need to be done. At the same time, there are some plumbing services that can start to get expensive because of the amount of labor involved.
Fortunately, there are some steps that you can take to reduce the risk of a major plumbing bill. Here are some insider tips from our experts at Gallagher's Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning that will help remove some of the anxiety the next time you have a plumbing problem.
Schedule Regular Maintenance
The most effective way to keep your plumbing costs down is to have a plumber come to your home before there’s a problem. Annual system maintenance will ensure that your system operates without small, annoying issues and helps prevent the larger problems that can cause big plumbing bills. Annual maintenance consists of a complete plumbing system inspection. During the inspection, the plumber will make sure that your connections aren’t corroded or leaking and that all of the pipes are in good condition without signs of stress. They will also make sure that your drains are draining properly and that all of your fixtures are working as they should.
Don’t Wait When You Notice a Problem
Since you use your home’s plumbing system every day, you’re the most likely person to notice a problem. When a problem does pop up, Gallagher's Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning encourages you not to wait around and hope that the problem will fix itself. Instead, call our team in right away. Taking care of an issue in its infancy will almost always be easier and less expensive than if you wait and allow the problem to progress. Although the issue may be serious, there are also countless cases when homeowners fear the worst and find out it’s a simple fix after they call a professional plumber. Don’t let your worry get the best of you and end up costing you more money.
Improve Your Access
One reason why plumbing bills can increase is that some parts of a home’s plumbing system are hard to access. The time it takes to cut through walls to get to problem areas means that you will be without your plumbing fixtures for longer and likely have to pay more in the end. To prevent this, it’s a good idea to look into adding access panels at key points to help make plumbing maintenance and repair a breeze. You can talk with a plumber about recommended locations for these panels to ensure you don’t add more panels than necessary. Some plumbers can install these panels for you to ensure a professional result.
Understand the Scope of a Project
While there are a few plumbing projects that can easily be tackled by do-it-yourselfers, most plumbing repairs require skill, training, and specialized tools to complete. Problems arise when you try to do a complicated project without assistance and end up damaging a pipe or fixture that wasn’t part of the original project. This can lead to increased repair costs. Gallagher's Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning recommends calling a professional for any major plumbing project.
Be Careful What You Put Down the Drain
Drain problems can get expensive quickly because your home’s drains extend all the way to the main drain line under the street in front of your home. That’s why it’s vital to take care of your home’s drains as much as you can. One great way to do this is to be careful about what you put down your home’s drains. For starters, don’t put fats or oils down the drain, because these items can congeal in the drain and cause clogs. Other food items, like eggshells and coffee grounds, should also stay out of the drain. Additionally, you should avoid liquid drain cleaners. While these products can remove clogs, they can also damage older drain lines, leading to expensive repairs.
Have the Right Tools
A plunger is a must-have plumbing tool for every homeowner. Other items, like a crescent wrench and plumbing snake, are also useful tools to have around for basic plumbing repairs. Using the wrong tool for a plumbing repair can quickly cause problems that increase your plumbing costs. For example, if you are trying to adjust a pipe fitting using the wrong type of wrench, you could strip the head off the fitting, making it much more difficult to adjust or remove. Depending on where the fitting is located, this could become an hours-long job that could have been avoided if you had started with the correct tools. If you don’t have the right tools, and you don’t want to acquire the tools, don’t hesitate to call Gallagher's Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning.
Protect Your Pipes
Although it doesn’t usually get bitterly cold in Sacramento, it can get below freezing on the coldest days of winter. If you have exposed pipes in an uninsulated basement, you could face frozen pipes that are expensive to repair. That’s just one example of why it’s important to protect your home’s plumbing pipes. To protect them from the cold, you can wrap them with pipe sleeves so that they can hold in their heat. For any plumbing pipes that run outside, make sure that they’re not in a location where you might run into them with a lawn mower or other power equipment. If you do have pipes in problematic locations, it’s better to call a plumber to reroute the pipes instead of leaving them alone and allowing them to become progressively more damaged.
Invest in Insurance
Some plumbing repairs will be expensive whether or not you take proper precautions. For example, if a main drain line starts to leak because a root grows through it, this could end up being a time-consuming and expensive repair. For those situations, it’s best to invest in insurance to make sure you don’t have an unexpected, expensive plumbing bill. Typically, these policies are only a few dollars a month and can save you thousands of dollars if something goes wrong. Having these policies in place is the last layer of protection to give you complete confidence in your home’s plumbing system.
Your Cost-Effective Plumbers
At Gallagher's Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning, we take pride in doing great work while still keeping costs affordable for our customers. When we install water heaters, remove drain clogs, install air conditioners, maintain furnaces, clean ducts, and perform our other services, we always do so with pride and integrity. That’s why we’re able to maintain an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. It’s also why customers consistently leave us five-star reviews.
For over 30 years, customers just like you have been trusting us to take care of their homes. You can do the same when you contact us at Gallagher's Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning today.
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