Time for Those Summertime Honey Dos

By Billy Aldridge

The heat is on in North Florida in July and August.  We’re talking flame broil here, with temperatures in the nineties most days.  That means that most of us guys are busy crowding the golf course at first light or lighting out before sunrise with rod and reel in hand.  Anything to avoid the heat of the day.  Of course on weekends this means spending way too much time indoors with nothing for your significant other to look at but you.  And you know what that inevitably leads to: The dreaded honey dos.  So to help you keep the peace at home during the dog days of summer, I have pulled together some simple plumbing DIY projects that can not only save you money, but also keep you off the wife’s radar.  You’ll thank me later.

      1.      Exercising Your Cutoff Valves – There are actually two types of cutoff valves in your home.  The first is the cutoff for the entire house and the second are the valves behind every sink, toilet, washing machine and dishwasher, as well as the ones atop the water heater.  The ones inside the home need to be exercised from time to time to keep them from jamming when you need them.  It’s a good idea to turn them on and off every couple of months to keep them in proper working order.  To do this you need to support the valve with one hand while turning the cutoff off and then back on.  If the valve is hard to turn or will not turn at all, do not attempt to use brute force, since this can break off the valve.  Simply grab a can of WD-40 or some other lubricant and give the valve a spritz.  Then wait for at least thirty minutes before trying to turn the valve once more.  If it still stubbornly refuses to budge you can have someone support the valve with their hand while you gently apply a wrench to try and free it. (And I stress gently.)  If that fails to do the trick you will need to have the valve replaced by a plumber.

      2.      Is your toilet a water hog? Utility bills being what they are, the last thing you want to do is donate any more of your hard earned money to the utility company. Since the toilet can be one of the thirstiest water hogs in the house, you need to be aware of the fact that if the system has a leak or the flapper is old and out of shape, then you are wasting water and with it your money.  There are two ways of detecting for leaks: by sight and by sound.  The way to see if your toilet is not sealing properly is to grab some food coloring from the kitchen and put a few drops into the toilet.  Do not flush it, rather walk away for ten minutes or so and then return to see if the water is clear.  If it is still tinted, then you don’t have a leak.  The other way is to flush the toilet, let it refill and then stand there for a few minutes to hear whether the water runs intermittently, indicating a poorly seated flapper.  Changing a toilet flapper is one of the simplest DIYs in the plumbing trade.  Below is a video designed to take you step-by-step through the entire process.

      3.      The Thing in the bathtub – It’s big, it’s hairy and it lives in your bathtub drain.  It likes nothing better than to hunker down and slow the water attempting to flow down the drain to a crawl. It will stop the flow altogether given half a chance.  While this bathroom menace might be gross, it’s also fairly easy to tame.  Due to the architecture of the standard bathroom drain, it has a propensity to gather and trap hair and soap into a ball that slowly but surely impedes the flow of water.  If you have noticed lately that it seems to take forever for the tub to empty after a bath or shower do not panic.  Most likely the trap just needs to be cleaned.

To accomplish this you will need a pair of needle nose pliers.  Start by removing the drain cover.  (See the video below for more details.) Once you have used the pliers to unscrew the cover, turn it over and clean it since it tends to be a collection point for gunk.  Then lay it to one side.  Next you should use the needle nose pliers to reach down the drain to fish out the hairball that has been causing the clog.  Throw the hairball away and with the cover removed, run the water to make sure that the drain is now clear.  Reassemble and go have a beer, you’ve earned it big guy.

Billy Aldridge is one of the Doctors of Plumbology at Aldridge & Sons Plumbing in Jacksonville, Florida.  For even more helpful plumbing tips and helpful DIY videos, visit http://plumbers-jacksonville-fl.com