Plumbing will be an invisible part of the home
as long as things work well. There are many
different plumbing problems that can arise.
Some of these are Noisy Pipes, Banging,
Squeaking, Water Hammering just to name the
most common. One of the most common
plumbing repairs is the replacing of the flushing
valve in the toilet tank. Another frequent event
is the dripping tap. Both of these problems are
easy do-it-yourself repairs. There are actually a
fair number of pluming jobs that are
handy-man/woman friendly. The biggest trick is
to take it easy, do not go too fast. If you think it
through carefully, follow the instructions, not too
much is likely to go wrong. If working on supply
lines remember to shut off the water supply to
the area you are working on.
Noisy pipes can have a couple of different
causes. One of reason is a loosely mounted
pipe vibrating. First step is to secure all the
accessible pipes with straps to the framing. If
the problem continues you may need to locate
where the noise is in the wall then there are two
ways to go. You may need to open the wall and
secure the pipe (relatively major). Or you can
carefully drill a small hole next to the pipe and
inject expanding foam into the wall. As the
foam expands it not only secures the pipe but
also dampers the vibrations. Another cause is
pressure hammering when faucets are closed.
The easiest cure for this is to install a pulsation
damper at the extreme end of the distribution
pipes. This is fairly inexpensive.
Condensation is likely to show up in a couple
of places. The toilet tank is the most common
spot. Usually this indicates a problem with your
flow control vale or flushing valve in the toilet
reservoir tank. Fix the valve and the
condensation problem should disappear. If not,
you need to put a liner into your tank. The other
common condensation place is where the
pipes are exposed. This caused by the warm
moist air coming into contact with the cold
water pipes. Insulate the pipes and all will fine.
If any of these situations seem overly
difficult to you, I would suggest calling in a
plumber.
