FAQ

The first step would be to check the shutoff under your sink to make sure it’s fully open. If rubber washers or seals have begun to deteriorate, you’ll also lose water pressure, so check those seals. Calcium and lime buildup will also cause low water pressure.

Do not rinse fats or cooking oils down the kitchen sink. Liquid fats solidify in the cold pipes and create clogs.

To help prevent clogs, fit all your tubs and shower drains with a filter that catches hair and soap chips and regularly cleans the filter.

In most homes, the kitchen and laundry drains are connected. When the lint from the laundry drains meets the grease buildup from soap and food products, a nearly solid substance is formed, causing the blockage.

Using filters and strainers will help, but you’ll also need to get the drains snaked periodically.

The main culprit is tree roots, and once they’ve blocked the line, there is very little you can do. A plumbing professional can snake the line to get it as clear as possible, and then use copper sulphide products to kill the remaining vegetation. But odds are the sewer line will most likely need to be replaced.

Toilet leaks can be wasteful and expensive. At least once a year, check your toilet for leaks by adding a small amount of red food colouring to the tank, and then check the toilet bowl later. If the toilet bowl water is coloured red, water is seeping through from the tank. If it is leaking, you should replace the tank ball.

While it is possible to install your own tankless water heater, it’s not a job for inexperienced do-it-yourselfers. There are a number of different sizes and styles of tankless water heaters, including propane, natural gas and electric, along with single-room or whole-house sized models. Since the typical tankless heater requires more gas than the largest residential furnaces, you will need to check with your local gas company for proper sizing of your gas main. You will need to know how to shut off the gas supply to the existing water heater and disconnect the tank without releasing gas. You will also need to pay someone to dispose of the existing tank properly.

Simply put, whether to soften or not is a matter of personal preference. There is no requirement for it and yet still, the decision will affect your home.

Also, we want to make clear that we don’t want to talk anyone into buying a water softener. Softening has both advantages and disadvantages – which you will learn about soon.

If you were to ask, Do I have hard water? And you are on a private well, the answer would be probably yes. But even people living in the city can be plagued (softening on a large scale is too cumbersome and costly for suppliers).