It can be hard to know where to start when it comes to fixing your plumbing. There are many different tools and equipment that will need to be purchased along with a lot of directions and regulations that need to be followed. The ideas and suggestions in this article will help you with information to work on the plumbing in your home.

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Roots from a tree in your backyard can be a real headache when it comes to plumbing. Make sure if you have a big tree or bush or some kind of plant with a big root system, that you ask your plumbing company about root-killing agents. You can flush these down your toilet and kill any roots that may be blocking your pipes and save yourself a lot of money by stopping a backup before it happens.

To avoid having your outdoor faucets freeze up in the winter, detach all hoses before the first freeze. Also, close the shutoff valve that leads to the outdoor faucets, then turn on the outdoor faucets to let any remaining water in the lines drain. Once temperatures warm up in the spring, you can reverse the process.

You need to winter-proof your house. You have to make sure you switch of the master circuit breaker or the shut-off valve before you leave your house. Since one small hole or congested water can quickly freeze and cause pipes to break and expand, you need to drain and open all outdoor and household water lines.

Make sure you clean out overflow holes in your kitchen and bathroom sinks on a regular basis. These holes are intended to act as an emergency fail-safe to prevent spillage from a full sink, but if they are clogged they can’t do their job. You can clean out an overflow hole using the same techniques you would for a clogged drain.

If your garbage disposal is having problems, don’t give in to the desire to attempt a fix by reaching down into the disposal. Garbage disposals can be very dangerous, so take caution when fixing it, even while it’s turned off. Troubleshooting techniques and schematics of your garbage disposal are available on the Internet.

In order to keep your garbage disposal in optimal working condition, run it on a regular basis. Just a simple 60 seconds per day under cold water can keep it running clean and smooth. If not run regularly, your disposal can be susceptible to corrosion that will eventually make it inoperable.

Make sure that your toolbox is ready for any project you are preparing to do. The last thing you want is to be knee-deep in a job only to find that you are missing the one tool you need to finish. Be sure to have various sizes of pipe wrenches that can be used to complete any job.

If you are using PEX tubing for the supply lines in your home, make sure you get the right tools for the job. PEX tubing requires a completely different tool type than regular lines. PEX has a lot of benefits though, so don’t let the different requirements throw you off.

One way to avoid a common plumbing problem is to make sure never to flush anything but human waste and toilet paper down a toilet. Other things made of paper like tissues, paper towels, and the like do not dissolve the same way toilet paper does and can get stuck.

While you may not always have your choice of plumbers, you can use the Internet to research and review plumbers in your area. Even if your insurance provider has assigned you, someone of their choosing, find out who it is online and check to do a web search for ratings of previous customers, so that you can be prepared for their arrival.

Ask before the plumber comes out if they charge for the consultation. In order to quote a project, the plumber has to come out to inspect your particular issue. It is standard to charge for the consultation appointment but the prices can vary wildly. Ask upfront so that you aren’t surprised by the total.

As you may have noticed from this article, plumbing is not so hard to do! It’s just that there are quite a few basics to learn. You can handle any plumbing job armed with the right research, the will to work and common sense.