Plumbing tips
Straight answers to the plumbing questions people around Springtown ask us most — what it means, what to do first, and when to call.
The clog that keeps coming back
Plunging a toilet once in a while is normal. Plunging the same toilet every week is not. A clog that keeps coming back has a reason, and it is usually one of a few.
A stain creeping across the ceiling
A brown ring on the ceiling that gets a little bigger every week is water getting in from above. Paint will hide it for a while. It will not stop it.
The water heater that groans in the dark
A tank water heater that pops, crackles, rumbles or groans while it is heating is almost always telling you about sediment on the bottom of the tank. It is not haunted, but it is worth listening to.
Rusty water from the hot tap only
If the hot tap runs brown or orange and the cold tap runs clear, the color is coming from your water heater, not from the city or the well. Where it shows up tells you where to look.
Something gurgling in the drains
A gurgle from a sink or tub after a toilet flushes, or while the tub drains, is air being pulled through the water in a trap. It is a sign the drain is not breathing the way it should.
The rotten egg smell from the hot water
If the hot water smells like rotten eggs and the cold water does not, the smell is almost always being made inside the water heater. It is unpleasant, but it is usually fixable without a new tank.
Haunted pipes? Banging when a faucet shuts off
A thump or bang in the walls the moment a faucet, the washing machine or the dishwasher shuts off is not a ghost. It is water hammer, and it is worth fixing, because every bang is a jolt to the pipes and valves.
Find your main water shut-off before you need it
When a pipe bursts or a supply line lets go, the minutes before the water is off are the ones that do the damage. Knowing where the main shut-off is, and that it works, is the cheapest protection a house has.
Tank or tankless water heater
When a water heater wears out, the question comes up: put back a tank, or go tankless? Neither one is right for every house. Here is what each one does well and what each one asks of the house.
Signs of a slab leak
Most houses around here sit on a concrete slab, and the water lines run through or under it. When one of those leaks, the water has nowhere to show itself at first. These are the signs to watch for.
You smell gas — what to do first
Natural gas and propane have no smell of their own. The rotten egg smell is added on purpose so a leak gets noticed. If you smell it, take it seriously.
Every drain in the house slow at once?
One slow sink is a clog in that sink. When the tub, the toilets and the floor drains all slow down together, the problem is usually further down — in the main line every drain in the house runs into.
Hard water — what it does to your house
Hard water is normal in Parker and Wise County. It is not unsafe to drink, but the minerals in it build up everywhere water goes, and that costs money over time.
Toilet keeps running?
A toilet that runs on and on, or refills by itself every so often, is quietly sending clean water down the drain. Most of the time the cause is one of three parts inside the tank.
Water heater leaking from the bottom?
Water on the floor around a water heater does not always mean the tank is done. Here is how to tell where it is coming from, what to shut off right now, and when it is time to call.
Where we go
Parker, Wise and Tarrant County, out of the shop in Springtown. Springtown, Weatherford, Azle, Boyd, Decatur, Newark, Millsap, Fort Worth and the country in between.
Call 817-487-8866