Home Maintenance and Repair

Tips for doing your own home maintenance and repair

Plumbing Your Worst Nightmare Come True !

One of the components in your home that can give you lots of trouble is the plumbing. In older homes the water supply to the faucets maybe steal flex hose. Over time the walls of this hose will thin and at some point you will have one of these small but powerful pipes break probably when your not home or asleep. This little pipe will flood your entire house if left alone.

I awoke one night to the sound of running water I walked out into the hall and stepped into warm water an inch deep. It seems that the a twenty year old steal flex hot water supply line in the hallway bathroom had broken and had flooded 1/3 of the house. This resulted in damage to the carpeting, walls, wood floors, and the vinyl flooring.

I recommend that you take a look under every sink in the house and determine the condition and type of supply hoses you have. Newer homes will probably have a type of vinyl hose that is much stronger and less likely to fail. If you have older steel flexible pipe ( not braided ) you should consider replacing them. You can do it yourself or have a plumber do it for you.

Replacing old water supply hoses.

Turn off the water to the sink. There should be a shut off valve on each hose under the sink. Turn the valve counter clockwise to shut it off.
Using a crescent or open end wrench loosen the fitting holding the hose to the valve very slowly at first you need to determine if the valve is shut off completely. If the valve did not shut off completely and water starts to leak tighten the fitting back up. At this point you have 2 choices on how to proceed. 1 You can shut off the water to the entire house and replace not only the hoses but also the valves or angle stops as they are called by plumbers. 2 You may wish to call a plumber to replace the angle stops and hoses.
Once you have removed the old pipes take them to your local hardware store find a store employee in the plumbing area, show him the parts you have. Tell him or her that you want to replace them they can lead you to the right parts and get you the right hoses at the right link by matching them to your old ones..
When you return home with your new parts. Install them they way the old ones came out. Turn the water back on check for leaks and your done.

Checking these areas in your house before you have a problem is highly recommended. We put roofs on to keep the rain out but never picture the water coming from inside.