Typical Plumbing Issues Demystified: What You Should Know

Book Instantly

MOST COMMON PLUMBING PROBLEMS IN OLDER HOMES

Galvanized Pipes

The galvanic process means coating an iron pipe with molten zinc to prevent the iron from corroding. The zinc lasts a while, but not forever. As the zinc erodes, the exposed iron begins to rust. This can cause pipes to fail, but the warning signal is easy to spot: Your water will become discolored from the rust in it.

The answer is to have galvanized pipes professionally replaced by modern alternatives, such as copper or PEX (Cross-Linked Polyethylene). A well-trained plumber and assistant can perform this work in relatively short time, ensuring a constant water pressure, no odd taste or color to your water and no leaks.

Pipe Bellies

As your Phoenix home rises and falls in its surrounding soil, the pipes leading into your home will rise and fall, too. When they buckle or bow, they form a pipe belly, a low spot that defies gravity’s pull on sewage. While this settling occurs slowly, you will eventually notice poor drainage, slow-flushing toilets and, ultimately, a clogged sewer line.

Similar to pipe bellies are pipe channeling, where hard water carves its own channel in the bottom of a sewer pipe, rendering it very weak.

Polybutylene Pipe

Once thought of as a great water pipe product, polybutylene pipe (PB) was used from the late ’70s into the early ’90s because of its low cost and easy installation. It breaks down with exposure to water and water’s dissolved solids, so it is not acceptable anymore. As time goes on, homeowners experience more and more polybutylene pipe problems.

If you have an entire house piped in PB, you need the services of an experienced local plumber to replace every run, every elbow and tee, and every connection to fixtures throughout your house. Otherwise a leak could destroy furniture, furnishings, flooring and more.

Sewer Lines

Sewers and sewer lines are definitely at the top of a lot of people’s old house plumbing problems. Sewer lines take your home’s gray and black water from drains to the sewer main, where it travels on to a municipal treatment plant. Sewer lines are always wet, so they attract tree roots. Cast iron pipes are particularly susceptible to cracking and intrusion by tree roots, which can completely clog a line.

Professional plumbers can send a camera into your home’s sewer pipe to diagnose channeling and bellies, and they can find and fix tree roots that clog your pipe. This is a much more affordable option than the disgusting and expensive issues created by a sewer backing up.

Drains

Fifty years of draining water, soap scum, sewage and shampoo can take a toll on your older Phoenix home’s drains. Clogs develop in pipes in all drains, but toilet, kitchen, and bathroom sink drains are particularly prone to clogs.

Toilets are infamous targets for children, fascinated by the disappearing act. While you may never know a small action figure or toy car went down the toilet, you will know a backed-up toilet when it strikes. A small item could start a very slow-building clog.

Kitchen sink drains also tend to accept things that should not go down the drain, like kitchen fats, bits of food that should go through a sink strainer and even bone. You can do your part, of course, by keeping waste out of the kitchen sink or having a garbage disposal installed, but in an older home you will not know what others have stuffed down there before you.

Original Fixtures

While some original fixtures are notably sturdier and of better quality than their corresponding modern fixtures, many older ones simply wear out with time. Washers and valves degrade and cause leaks. Stems and handles break. If your home still has its original spigots, faucets, handles and valves, you may not notice the tiny leaks that lead to higher water bills and unpleasant smells.

A worry spot in any home is the shut-off valve for a toilet. This little-used valve attaches where the rigid pipe exits the wall, down below the tank, and a flexible metal and plastic tube connects the water supply to the tank. That shut-off valve can get stuck in its typical, open position, so any attempt to close it may actually cause it to leak. A trained plumber can replace not only the flexible tube to the toilet tank, but the antiquated or stuck shut-off valve. This means you never have to worry about turning off the water to the toilet should a bowl clog cause your toilet to back up.

https://www.acehomeaz.com/blog/common-plumbing-problems-older-homes/

Exactly How to Fix Common Household Plumbing Issues

Some plumbing problems are much more common as well as can be conveniently dealt with. Doing the repair work yourselves on these simple plumbing troubles can save you lots of money. As a house owner, you will encounter several plumbing issues that occasionally make a hassle. Take a look at 5 of one of the most typical ones below:

Low Tide Pressure

Is someone from your family grumbling that there's low water stress from the sink? Initially, examine if this concern influences both the cold and hot water lines. The problem is the aerator within the sink which might have a whole lot of sedimentation resulting in low water pressure if indeed. This is really easy to repair as you simply require to take it out and also scrub away the mineral deposits.

Running Toilet

You may have experienced a running toilet, which can be rather aggravating since the storage tank will not load up. At the exact same time, leaving it alone equates to throwing away water and also surging up your water bills.
Bathroom fill shutoff
Leaking flush valve
Commode flapper

Malfunctioning Garbage Disposal System

This aggravating problem is also high on the checklist of common plumbing problems. If you shed it, you will certainly require an Allen wrench to deal with the trouble. You have to go under the sink as well as look for the area where you can put the key.

Slow Draining Sink

You can use a plumbing device for fishing out the debris. From there, you can make use of a store-bought drainpipe cleaner to clean the lines.

Sluggish Tub Drain

Just like the sink drainpipe, hair, soap residue, dead skin cells, and various other cruds swimming pool in the drain commonly. After using the claw, you can pour drain cleaner to rejuvenate the drainpipe lines.

You may even finish up saving cash in the lengthy run since you can relax ensured that your straightforward plumbing trouble will certainly not rise. Just make sure you call a respectable company with licenses and also qualifications since you will be inviting complete strangers in your residence.


Some plumbing problems are extra typical and also can be easily taken care of. Doing the fixings yourselves on these easy plumbing issues can conserve you bunches of money. As a property owner, you will experience numerous different plumbing troubles that periodically make a hassle. You can utilize a plumbing device for fishing out the debris. You may even end up conserving cash in the lengthy run due to the fact that you can relax ensured that your simple plumbing problem will certainly not rise.

Hopefully you liked our article about Repairing Common Household Plumbing Issues. Thanks a lot for taking the time to read our article post. Sharing is good. Helping others is fun. We treasure reading our article about Common Household Plumbing Issues.

Quick fix? We're here.