Owning a home can be a very expensive thing. There is always going to be some maintenance that needs to be done and emergency repairs are not as rare as you would hope they should be. Calling in a professional can be expensive. Unless you have a reliable home warranty plan then this is all going to come out of your pocket.
Luckily, not every plumbing job requires a plumber to make a visit. There are small jobs that you can do yourself and save hundreds per year. It’s always a good idea to take care of those small jobs before they become big jobs that require an expensive plumber to do. In this article, we will go over several of the small jobs that are easy to learn so you can save money.
1. Go Low Flow
You can easily replace any of the fixtures in your bathroom and kitchen to save money on your water bill. You don’t need a plumber to come and change the showerhead or faucets. All you need is some plumber’s tape and some patience along with a wrench and possibly some other tools.
If your faucets and other fixtures are old then switching to low-flow ones is essential these days. Not only are you saving money on your water bill but also helping to conserve water. Of course, any savings would go to the plumber so it’s nice to be able to do this work yourself.
2. Unblock Your Toilet
One of the most common plumbing problems is a blocked or slow flushing toilet. It’s a job that usually takes a plumber a few minutes to fix but still costs you hundreds to have them do. You may be tempted to hope that the toilet unclogs itself, so you can save money, but you can often take care of this easily on your own.
There are a number of new generation plungers out there that use a blast of forced air into the toilet to remove even the most stubborn clogs. If it doesn’t do the trick then a snake or auger can go through and break through just about any clog you have. It’s also the same tool that a plumber is likely to use and you can buy it at any hardware store.
You can even make a mixture of baking soda and vinegar to dissolve the blockage so you don’t even have to use any force if it’s minor enough.
3. A Jammed Garbage Disposal
Garbage disposals often get jammed because there is always something getting thrown down them that they can’t handle. Once this happens it becomes a very expensive mistake. That is unless you decide to take matters into your own hands.
As long as you shut the electricity off, then it is perfectly safe and actually easy to unclog your garbage disposal. Many have a reset button that will help to dislodge the blockage. Other times you have to loosen the screw underneath and it will allow the piece that is blocking it to pass on through.
