Smart Plumbers, Inc.

Most people do not know where there main shut off valve is at there home. Hopefully this will help you locate the main shut off valve. Main shut off valves allows water to come into your home when open and when closed will shut water down water to the entire house.  Water main shut off can be inside or on the perimeter of your of your house.   Reason being that is where water first enter your home. Always the side facing the street.  Water lines run from water main to the shut off valve. One thing to remember is if your in a basement you will be looking eye level or up if you are on the ground level you will be looking down.  In the basement you will look towards the from of the house.  From the utility box in front of your home stand on top of the utility box and walk the shortest path in a straight line to your house your shut off valve should be in that area,  if it is not visible it will be behind a panel. Sometimes the shut off valve will be l...

Once a month we have a mandatory monthly meeting here at Smart Plumbers and Rooters.   The meetings are usually scheduled very early in the morning.  These meetings involves everyone that works for Smart Plumbers and Rooters.  At these meetings we discuss any problems that have taken place during the month, safety issues, customer concerns, employee concerns and how we can improve our company and service.  Our plumbers hard work never goes unnoticed and all plumbers are appreciated and thank by the owner for working so hard each and every day.  Each plumbers work is reviewed all  month  and in our meeting we announce one plumber for Plumber of the month with an award. This is probably the only time that all the employee's gather here at the office at the same time. After the meeting we enjoy coffee and breakfast supplied by the company owner.  One of the biggest concerns this month was safety cause of the Corona virus.  Health is al...

It's always a good idea to have tools in your home: Often times something will come up and you need a certain tool for the problem.  The list below are some of the tools that will come in handy,  not just with plumbing but are good to have in case something arises. Plungers and Auger:   There are drain cleaning tools that will come in handy for those unexpected problems. Zip-It:  This can be used on the sink drain and also the tub drain.  This is used to pull hair and gunk that may be clogging your drain.  It's a long thin piece of plastic ( about 2 or 3' ) with teeth to catch hair and gunk as you pull it out of the drain. Bucket:  for catching water if needed Garbage disposal wrench:   To turn shredder and clear clogs Adjustable wrench:  For Hex shaped nuts. Allen Wrenches:    used to drive and remove nuts Tongue and groove pliers:  turning and holding nuts and bolts Stubby Screw Drivers (Flat head and Ph...

Six Types of Venting Stacks:  depending on the purpose they serve: Soil Stack:   Receives discharge from sinks, showers, tubs and toilets but never from urinals or water closets. Waste Stack:   Tie into clean water fixtures. Vent Stacks:  No liquid runs through the vent stack only air flow through the drain system. Leaders:  Rain water these extend horizontally.  Storm drain or combined sewer drain to roof. Branch drains:   These lines branch off like a tree vertically to toilets sinks, dishwasher, washing machine etc.  These lines carry waste to basement underground drain lines Horizontal underground lines:  are underground main lines that are under the slab usually in common areas and are slightly pitched cause they are gravity powered.  These line carry waste to the city sewer.  The horizontal lines that receive from waste and soil stacks run in building sewer line. Call Smart Plumbers and Rooters to s...

Have you ever wondered where the plumbing pipes are for your mobile home?  Unlike a house where a lot of your plumbing is underground, in a mobile home the plumbing is under the bottom flooring system or belly board. The area under the flooring is insulated; this helps keep everything in place. In a mobile home most of your pipes come up through the floor, not through through the roof like in single family homes. You will usually find the main line clean out in the back of the mobile home. It will have a cap that can be remove to gain access in case the line needs to be cleared.

The plumbing system for a apartment building is the same as a single family home system, only it branches out to provide water to each unit..  One of the most difficult things in a apartment buildin is getting enough pressure for water to reach each unit. All plumbing systems have one with fresh water coming in and one that carries waste that goes out. Fresh water uses pressure to get fresh water to all the units but the waste water system always aims downward and vents in the system lets air in this allows waste to flow much easier.  Traps in the system stops waste from coming back up.

Plumbing vent pipes When your plumbing vent pipes are not working properly neither will the plumbing in your home. Often plumbing vent pipes or vent stacks are overlooked.  Plumbing vent pipes can also get clogged with debris or damaged. The plumbing system and vent pipes work together.  Vent pipes help regulate air pressure in the plumbing system to help water flow through drain pipes easier.  It also helps keep your house smelling fresh. If your vent pipes are clogged you will notice sewage odor.  That's because sewage gases have no where to go so they re-enter your home causing your home to smell like sewage.  Another sign is you may hear your toilets and drains making gurgling sounds or you may also have slow drains. If your vent pipes become completely clogged you will no longer hear gurgling sounds and the smell of sewage will come into your home.  Although clogs can be cleared it will only be temporary. A clogged vent pipe can cause further ...