1. Know where your Water Main Valve is

Knowing where your plumbing hooks into the city water and how to turn it on and off is something every homeowner should know. If a pipe breaks or springs a leak the damage water can do to a home can catastrophic.

By knowing where the shutoff valve is, you can quickly limit the damage that water can cause. Hundreds of gallons can pour into your home while you search for the shutoff so it will pay to know where that valve is in a plumbing emergency.

2. Use Licensed, Bonded, and Insured Contractors

When you look for a plumber, aren't you really looking for someone you can trust? It's hard to know who to trust because there are many "handymen" who haven't had the training or experience required by law to perform some of the simplest plumbing tasks.

TRUST starts with a contractor who has training, experience, and the license to prove it. Trust is the main purpose of this website and is here to provide you with a list of competent, professional, and trustworthy contractors who are legally registered with the state. In fact, the Department of Labor & Industry strongly recommends that you don't use a contractor unless they are licensed, bonded, and insured.

The contractors listed on www.TrustedContractorList.org have proven to the state through strict testing that they know the right procedures for installing your plumbing correctly.

If you consider any contractor, by law their license number must be on all advertising, vehicles, and signage. If you can't find their license number you should check to see if they're licensed with the state.

TrustedContractorList.org is a listing of licensed, bonded, and insured contractors and no contractor is recommended over another. In fact each time you visit our site you will notice that the list order changes randomly so that no contractor has an advantage.

3. Plumbing Codes

Rules are there for a reason. If plumbing codes weren't used, contaminated water would back up into your plumbing, sewer gas would leak into your house, and disease would spread through your plumbing system. How do we know this? Because that's what happened before the codes were made law and that's why codes are enforced and are critical to the health of our society.

If you look at the plumbing code (enter 4715) you'll see that it's very detailed and complicated. Licensed plumbers must go through five years of training to be eligible to take the state plumbing test. This is very strict so that when you hire a licensed plumber you know they have taken and passed the state plumbing test. If you use a plumber who's not licensed you may be putting the safety and health of you and your family at stake.

If you are selling your home and use a handyman who doesn't follow the plumbing code, you may be liable for repairs and damages to the home years after you sell it. Licensed, bonded, and insured contractors are responsible with bonding and insurance to cover their work for any incorrectly performed jobs.

4. Leaky Pipes

If you find a leak in your plumbing system, shut off the water supply and call your plumbing contractor immediately. Water supply systems are under high pressure. Temporary repairs are only temporary and wrapping the pipe usually fails. Leaks must have immediate attention, since they can quickly progress into a serious break.

5. Toilet Problems

Clogged toilets aren't unusual and normally a simple plunger can handle the job. You can use a hand auger or "snake" with its spring-steel coil to easily work past the trap and down the pipe. Use the auger carefully because careless handling may crack the toilet. If the plunger or auger does not clear the toilet, call the plumber.

When you hear a toilet running for a long period of time, that means for some reason water is not being shut off within the tank. As the water goes directly down the drain, so does your money because you're paying the city for each gallon of water.

One cause of it may be a flapper that is either worn or hard and doesn't make a good seal. You can replace the flapper in some cases but make sure to get the exact match for your toilet. Also remember to shut off the water behind the tank and turn it back on when you finish.

If you don't feel completely confident about doing this we recommend contacting a licensed, bonded, and insured plumbing contractor to make sure the job is done correctly and efficiently.

6. Odors are not good

That may sound like an obvious statement but if you have strange smells coming from your plumbing system, something is wrong and possibly dangerous. Unusual odors should never be ignored. Such odors are often an indication that sewer gas is present. Sewer gas, while not always deadly, is noxious and capable of causing headaches and other minor illnesses.

If it is suspected that sewer gas is entering through a leak in the piping, a plumber will subject the system to a test either by means of smoke, water or oil of peppermint. The test will indicate the location of the leak.

7. Frozen Pipes

Frozen plumbing pipes, although inconvenient, do not constitute a calamity. The calamity may come if the pipes are thawed with a blow torch, and if the open flame or the torch is allowed to come too close to combustible material, such as insulation, wooden joists or flooring. Another danger from the use of a torch arises when both ends of a pipe are clogged with ice and when the heat is applied in the center. The application of the heat of the torch at the center of the pipe is likely to cause the water to flash into steam. Potentially this could cause an explosion with disastrous results for the user of the torch. It is far better to adopt the slower and more conservative procedure of melting ice by the use of a blow dryer or heat gun.

You can prevent frozen pipes by:

1. Insulating pipes most susceptible to freezing (those in unheated areas of house and near outer walls)
2. Disconnecting garden hoses, draining and shutting off outside faucets.
3. In extreme cold, letting the hot and cold faucets drip overnight. The water flow from one faucet can help keep pipes from freezing.
4. Opening cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls to allow warm air from the house to circulate and help keep sink pipes from freezing.