Category: Plumbing

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7 Signs That It’s Time to Replace Your Plumbing Fixtures

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Old, leaky plumbing fixtures are an eyesore. Surprisingly, they can also be harmful to your health. Whether you plan on selling your San Antonio, Texas home or intend to live in it for quite a while, upgrading your plumbing fixtures will make your living environment safer, more visually appealing, and far more pleasant to be in. Here are seven solid reasons to make having new plumbing fixtures installed your next home improvement project.

1. New Fixtures Will Make Your Home More Marketable

When selling your home, you should know that bathrooms and kitchens are among the very first places that prospective buyers tour. After all, these are the rooms that building residents are virtually guaranteed to use every day. When bathrooms and kitchens have rusty and outdated plumbing fixtures, homes are far less likely to attract motivated buyers or command the highest possible prices.

If you plan on listing your home soon, having upgraded plumbing fixtures installed is an easy and affordable way to make the best possible impression on your target market. Even if you don’t intend to sell, having new plumbing fixtures put in will keep your house on par with current market standards. This way, if you do decide to sell at some point, you won’t have as much to take care of.

2. You Currently Have Standard Fixtures Installed

Plumbing fixtures have come quite a long way in the past several years. The latest options in plumbing fixtures are sleek and highly refined. They improve bathroom aesthetics, limit water waste, and provide greater ease of use. There are also a number of options in low-touch faucets that limit the likelihood of illness by preventing the transfer of germs. You can find options made from materials that have inherent antimicrobial properties and upgrades that seamlessly coordinate with other indoor elements such as your wall sconces, towel racks, or cabinet hardware among other things.

3. Water Pressure Is Unsteady

Many of the best reasons for upgrading home plumbing fixtures are functional and practical. Although having new plumbing fixtures is sure to make your kitchen and your bathrooms look more modern and appealing, it will also make many essential home features perform better. For instance, if you experience dramatic changes in water pressure while taking a shower, replacing your old shower heads and faucets can enhance your daily self-care routine.

Aging fixtures are often filled with mineral deposits and other build-ups. Although these accumulations can be eliminated by removing and soaking their clogged components, with aging fixtures, replacement tends to be the most effective choice.

4. You’ve Got a Leak That Can’t Be Fixed

The naturally high levels of humidity in kitchens and bathrooms can take a toll on plumbing fixtures. When hard water is added into the picture, plumbing fixtures can look worn and aged as they begin to visibly degrade. One sure sign that it’s time to change your plumbing fixtures is the development of leaks that are impossible to fix. Constantly dripping faucets can be a nightmare to live with. Attempting to asleep while hearing loud dripping and splashing sounds is downright maddening. A constant drip can also increase your water bill because of the constant water waste.

Leaky fixtures that cannot be repaired have often been stripped or rusted out beyond repair. Some leaky fixtures may even progressively wear down the valve stems that they’re attached to. Once this occurs, these fixtures can no longer be tightened. In these instances, the only choice is to replace them.

5. Your Plumbing Fixtures Have a Dingy, Rusty Look

It’s definitely time to have your fixtures upgraded if they have a dingy, rusty look despite your best efforts to clean them. Not only will your home look better after this upgrade, but you’ll also find it much easier to clean. You won’t have to experiment with new cleaning or polishing solutions, and you can enjoy a living environment that always looks fresh and inviting.

Brand-new fixtures are incredibly easy to take care of. Moreover, given that newly installed fixtures are less likely to have leaks or pooling water at their bases, they’re also less likely to develop problems with mold, mildew, bacteria, and other common pathogens.

6. Your Water Quality Has Gone Down

Leaky fixtures create the perfect environment for mold and bacteria to thrive. Changing them out at the end of their lifespan can actually improve your water quality. Most plumbing fixtures are designed to last 15 to 20 years. However, the expected lifespans of plumbing fixtures is often calculated with optimal conditions in mind. For instance, plumbing fixtures are more likely to last for two full decades in homes that don’t have excessively hard water, when fixtures aren’t being overused, and when problems with leaks and rusting don’t exist. In the typical home, residents regularly contend with leaky faucets, mishandling, excessive use, and gradual corrosion.

Waiting two decades before changing your plumbing fixtures out can have a marked impact on your home’s water quality. Depending upon where your outdated fixtures are located, this can mean having an unacceptably low quality of water for:

  • Drinking
  • Cooking
  • Bathing and showering
  • Washing your personal items

If you’ve got rusty, cloudy, or all-around murky water coming out of your taps, old fixtures are a likely culprit.

7. You’ve Got Mold or Pest Problems That Won’t Go Away

If you’ve got persistent mold problems in your home, the best way to deal with them is by identifying and eliminating their source. In many instances, the source of indoor mold is a slow or inconspicuous leak. Unfortunately, many of these leaks exist at faucets. A leaky faucet doesn’t have to make a lot of noise or keep you up at night to cause serious problems. Faucet leaks add moisture to the indoor environment. Depending upon where they’re located and how fast-moving they are, they can also saturate building materials and create standing bodies of water. Changing leaky faucets out will leave you with dryer cabinets and sink areas, less indoor moisture, and fewer problems with mold.

It’s also important to note that old, leaky fixtures can also be a major attractant for pests. Although people are often diligent about storing their food items, most rodents and insects enter homes in search of water. Having a leaking faucet could set the stage for a major rat, mouse, or cockroach problem even though your home is otherwise pristine. If you’ve struggled with pests in the past or if you’re currently dealing with a major infestation, having new fixtures put in could be an essential step toward eliminating water access and getting rid of pests for good.

[Company_name] proudly services residents of San Antonio, Texas and the surrounding areas. We offer plumbing services, water treatment services, and water heaters. If it’s time to upgrade the plumbing fixtures in your home, we’ve got you covered. We also take care of serious issues with your plumbing, such as those involving your garbage disposals and sewer or gas lines. Give us a call today to request an estimate or to schedule an appointment.

8 Solid Reasons to Have a Plumbing Maintenance Plan

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Many homeowners in San Antonio don’t spend a lot of time thinking about their plumbing systems until something goes awry. Burst pipes, clogged drains, and whole-house backups are urgent and unfortunate reminders that preventative maintenance is always worthwhile. Purchasing a plumbing maintenance plan is a great way to sidestep costly issues that are largely the result of negligence.

The money that you spend on a plumbing maintenance plan is guaranteed to pay for itself over the years. These plans can help preserve the value and integrity of your home, keep building residents safe, and ensure that you remain compliant with the terms of your home insurance policy and home warranty. The following are eight solid reasons to invest in a plumbing maintenance plan today.

1. Stop Dealing With the Consequences of Costly Oversights

Plumbing maintenance plans take the stress and hassle out of plumbing maintenance. When you sign up for a maintenance program, the scheduling of essential preventative services will be done for you. You’ll get helpful reminders when it’s time for a whole-house plumbing inspection, and you’ll get regular services that include:

  • Leak detection
  • Water pressure checks
  • Faucet and hose bib inspections
  • Toilet inspections
  • Water heater maintenance and inspections

These services allow plumbers to identify minor issues before they’ve had the chance to spiral out of control. As such, your repair costs will be lower, and you’ll be far less likely to have major flooding or backup events that cause water damage to your property.

2. Get Priority Scheduling

Signing up for a preventative maintenance plan is a great way to forge a solid relationship with a trusted plumbing company. Homeowners who have maintenance plans in place are often viewed as V.I.P. customers. This makes it easier for these consumers to get timely service during busy seasons and at all other times when their providers are inundated with repair requests. Maintenance plan memberships can also provide access to special discounts and other loyalty benefits.

3. Protect and Improve Resident Health

Routine plumbing maintenance is the best form of prevention for whole-house backups, burst pipes, and failed water heaters. Many of these events can flood your home with water that’s rife with chemical and biological contaminants and set the stage for serious mold issues.

If you have someone living in your home who suffers from asthma, allergies, or any other chronic respiratory health issue, you probably go out of your way to keep your HVAC system in top condition. Surprisingly, taking good care of your plumbing can be just as important to this end. When plumbing systems are working as they should, the risk of being exposed to harmful airborne contaminants is greatly minimized. Taking measures to prevent major flood events also protects pets and small children from having direct contact with gray water, black water, or the harmful pathogens they often contain.

4. Replace Worn Components Before the End of Their Lifespans

Most major plumbing repairs and plumbing-related floods are the result of letting fixtures, appliances, and other key plumbing components reach the ends of their lifespans before replacing them. Annual plumbing inspections are opportunities for plumbing professionals to swap out worn parts before they’ve failed entirely. When homeowners stay on top of general maintenance, they’re often able to avoid even the most minor plumbing repairs entirely.

Building a long-term relationship with reputable plumbers and purchasing a preventative maintenance plan streamlines all plumbing elements for lifelong efficiency. With the right plumbing company and the right plan, you can rest assured that:

  • The right fixtures and appliances are correctly installed
  • You’ve been properly instructed about how to use and care for all aspects of your plumbing system
  • Wear-related issues are resolved before problems actually arise

Your plumbing fixtures and appliances will work more efficiently too. This means less water waste, lower water bills, and fewer earlier-than-anticipated replacements.

5. Plan in Advance for Major Plumbing Overhauls and Replacements

Failing to pay attention to your plumbing doesn’t just allow minor problems to spiral. It can also leave you sidelined by the sudden need for major appliance or fixture replacements. When you have licensed plumbers performing whole-house inspections, you can get early warnings about aging water heaters, toilets, pipes, faucets, bathtubs, shower pans, and more. These warnings give homeowners ample opportunity to plan and budget for essential plumbing improvements.

6. Enjoy Higher Water Quality

Water quality testing is an important part of routine plumbing maintenance. This isn’t something that you’re likely to think about if you’re only scheduling plumbing service when your showers won’t drain, your toilets are clogged, or water is backing up into your home.

Water quality assessments will let you know whether you’ve got hard water, high levels of waterborne contaminants, or other problems that are affecting the taste, purity, and all-around potability of your tap water. Following these inspections, plumbers can help homeowners learn about the benefits and best applications for water purifiers and water softening equipment. If you have need of either of these plumbing additions, making these improvements now could result in softer skin and hair, better hydration, improved health, and better-tasting water for everyone.

7. Limit Water Pressure and Lower Your Water Bills

Another common oversight among Texas homeowners who don’t invest adequate effort into plumbing maintenance is excessively high water pressure. Having a forceful spray at your shower heads might feel good in the morning, but high water pressure can wind up costing you a veritable fortune over time. When water pressure is too high, a lot of water that flows out of the tap winds up going down the drains unused. Moreover, excessive pressure expedites normal wear. In turn, appliances like dishwashers and washing machines don’t last as long as they were meant to. Given that plumbing maintenance plans include water pressure testing, you can have the necessary adjustments made before excess pressure causes your appliances and other plumbing features to break down.

8. Keep Your Home Insurance or Home Warranty Intact

Home warranties and home insurance plans keep homeowners protected from the high costs of covered damages. When plumbing fixtures fail or plumbing appliances break down, you can count on the protections that these agreements provide to cover the needed replacements or repairs.

However, it’s important to remember that both insurance policies and warranties are mutual agreements. Companies agree to pay for certain repairs and homeowners agree to take reasonable steps to prevent them. Neglecting your plumbing by having only sporadic whole-house inspections performed may be seen as a violation of these agreements. If you cannot prove that you’ve been diligent about having your plumbing professionally inspected and maintained on a regular basis, you may wind up having your warranty or insurance policy voided.

Purchasing a plumbing maintenance plan is a great way to keep your coverage and warranties intact. These services are structured to help homeowners meet the basic requirements of these agreements. If a major plumbing problem arises, a plumbing maintenance plan will make it easy for you to prove your diligence in this area.

Homeowners in San Antonio, Texas and the surrounding areas can count on Anchor Plumbing Services for all their plumbing needs. We provide water treatment services, drain cleaning service, water heater installations, and more. We also offer a comprehensive plumbing maintenance program. To schedule service or to sign up for our preventative maintenance plan, call us today.

Pet Safety in San Antonio, TX

9 Ways to Keep Your Plumbing and Your Pet Safe

Posted on | by P3services | Leave a Comment on 9 Ways to Keep Your Plumbing and Your Pet Safe

Most homeowners who own pets understand that sometimes their furry friends and plumbing don’t mix. Keeping your home’s plumbing system and pets in check can be challenging, particularly if you don’t know how your four-legged friends can negatively affect your plumbing. Pet-related plumbing issues are increasingly common for almost one-third of all San Antonio homes. At [company_name], we understand that you love your pets, so we’ve prepared this guide to help you pet-proof your plumbing system to avoid serious and costly issues.

1. Use a Drain Strainer to Prevent Clogs

It’s crucial to give your furry friend a warm and nice bath to keep him clean. But if you bathe your pet in the bathtub or shower, you could have a massive clog in your drain. Even if your cat or dog doesn’t seem to be shedding at the time, or even at all, the fact is that all animals release some fur. When washing your pet, ensure a drain stopper or strainer is in place. This will prevent animal fur from going down the drain, thereby preventing clogs.

2. Cover Exposed Pipes

If you have exposed pipes and drains in your home, ensure you cover or wrap them to prevent pets from getting to them. When developing teeth, kittens and puppies can use your pipes as their plaything and chew on them. If your pet chews down on your pipe, you may have to spend a lot of money on costly plumbing repairs. Furthermore, your pet could get hurt if they get a paw caught in the pipe or drain. You’ll be adding a vet bill to your expenses. To avoid potential issues, cover any exposed pipes and ensure your pets have enough toys to chew on or keep them occupied.

3. Flush With Caution

Flushing kitty litter down the toilet seems like a simple and convenient way to clean up after your cat, but it’s never a good idea. Although cat litter is flushable, the chances of getting it clogged in your sewer lines are high, mainly if you use a septic tank. Cat litter absorbs moisture and increases to 10+ times its original volume. Thus, when you flush it down your toilet, it can expand and cause a massive obstruction in your plumbing. In addition, waste contained in the litter can have contaminants, such as Toxoplasma Gondii, which municipal water treatment systems cannot remove. Therefore, it’s best to throw the waste in a trash can and remember to take the trash out often to protect your family and your pet’s health.

4. Install Pressure-Balancing Valves

If somebody flushes the toilet while you’re showering, you or your pet could get scalded suddenly. If this is occurring in your home, it’s probably because your plumbing system doesn’t have pressure regulating valves. Without these valves, hot water could suddenly jet out of your faucets and showerheads, scalding anyone who could be using the water. In addition, constant water flow at high pressure can dramatically erode your pipes, faucets, dishwasher, washing machine, and other plumbing fixtures, reducing their lifespan and causing costly structural damage. Thankfully, you can avoid these plumbing problems and keep your pets safe by installing pressure-balancing valves.

5. Wash Dirty Pets Outside

If you have a cat or dog who loves playing in the mud, you’ll have a lot of dirt to clean up. If you wash your furry friend in the bathtub or shower, all that dirt and shedding fur will come off and get into your drains. This debris can cause a severe obstruction that can damage your plumbing. Rather than having to spend a lot of money on plumbing repairs every time you wash your pet, always rinse them off outside when the weather allows.

6. Ensure Your Pets Have Enough Water

When your furry friend gets thirsty and has run out of water, rest assured they will go to a great extent to find some. Some animals are clever enough to have known how to turn on the faucets. This could be potentially dangerous, especially if you are away from home. If there’s something covering the drain and your furry friend turns on the faucet, this could cause flooding or, at the very least, increase your water bill. The simplest and safest thing to do is leave a lot of fresh water out for your furry friend so that he doesn’t need to look for it elsewhere. For increased safety, leave bathroom doors closed whenever you aren’t home. Also, ensure you keep your pet’s water bowl clean for their own health and clean it at least once every day for sanitary conditions.

7. Cover Toilets

Animals don’t know what water is fit for consumption. Whenever they see any open water, they get inclined to drink it. And if you leave your toilet uncovered, the toilet bowl will be the first place they’ll go. Toilet water is unsanitary and harmful to your pet’s health due to an array of cleaners and chemicals used to clean the toilet. Make it a family policy to keep your toilet seat always covered. Your pet drinking water from the toilet bowl may not damage your plumbing, but it’s not suitable for your furry friend.

8. Store Plumbing Chemicals Responsibly

Although it’s not advisable to use harsh chemicals in your plumbing system because these store-bought cleaners can cause damage to your pipes, you might have them in your home. Exposure to these chemicals can present serious health risks. Always keep drain cleaners and other plumbing chemicals in sealed containers and place them out of your pet’s reach, just as you’d for your children.

9. Keep an Eye on Pets Who Like Digging

If your pet spends a lot of time digging holes in your backyard, you must ensure they don’t dig too deep. Your sewer lines are buried far enough beneath the surface to protect them from environmental factors but also close enough for quick access by technicians. If your dog digs enough to access those lines, you could end up with a costly clean-up, and your furry friend could stand to get injured, both things you don’t want to deal with.

Rely on the Experts

If your pet has caused any plumbing problems at your San Antonio home, [company_name] can help. Our seasoned and skilled plumbers can locate the problem and address it within the shortest time possible. We always show up on time with all the tools needed to address the issue. As a full-service plumbing company in San Antonio, we can handle any plumbing repair, maintenance, or installation job. We vow to leave your plumbing system, equipment, and fixtures running efficiently and reliably. In addition, we specialize in leak detection, drain cleaning, and plumbing fixtures repair and replacements. We also work on virtually any type of water softener system, garbage disposal, pressure valves, and more.

If you need more details about our professional and affordable plumbing services or want to set up an appointment, don’t hesitate to contact [company_name].