Bad Habits That Ruin Your Plumbing

We all have bad habits-- like nibbling our nails, slouching excessively, chewing loudly on gum-- that we would want to get rid of ourselves. While these are considered bad habits, not all of them can cause harm. While you have the power to notice these bad habits of yours, this may not be true when it comes to some nasty habits that are adversely affecting your plumbing. Many of these issues are unavoidable and can ruin your plumbing system, resulting in costly plumbing repairs.

No one would want to deal with plumbing problems. But in reality, many building owners take their clear-running drains, flushing toilets, and leak-free pipes for granted. We all expect our plumbing system to keep working day in and day out. But unfortunately, with the bad habits that you have, you might be the one sabotaging your building's entire plumbing system.

What better way to protect your plumbing than actually knowing and avoiding the bad habits that ruin your plumbing? Throw away those bad plumbing habits, and you're sure to save both your pipes, your money, and most especially the other parts of the plumbing system. So, to help you with this, Best Access Doors compiled these bad habits that ruin plumbing.

Toilet As Trash Can

You might have a bad habit of using your car's backseat as a storage shed or a trash can because you think that it probably won't be a big issue for your vehicle. Unfortunately, you can't say the same when it comes to your toilet. If you flush substantial trash down your bathroom toilet, your pipes will undoubtedly clog and prevent the toilet water from passing and going to the septic tank. That's why it is never advisable that you toss your cat litter, feminine or hygiene products, or wet wipes in the toilet. Even if the products' packaging says "flushable," it's highly advised that you properly dispose of it. It's always better to use a trash can instead of a toilet.

If you happen to be living in a room that doesn't have a kitchen sink to wash your dirty plates, you can always throw the excess food down the toilet bowl. Moreover, it would be best if you always took note that you can only throw bits of these food waste. If you throw away food waste such as chicken bones or ribs, you can expect a clogged toilet drain to happen.

Too Much Use of Cleaning Products

You have probably already tried pouring a ton of drain cleaner down the drain to remove clogs quickly, but it might clean the gutter a little too much to the point where the pipes are slowly getting damaged. It's great to keep your drains clean and free of gunk all the time, but you should maintain the right balance here. Most drain cleaners contain potent chemicals you might not know of. When you can continuously overuse many different kinds of drain cleaning products, it can worsen corrosion results inside the drain pipes. These issues can happen since the chemicals can slowly eat away and damage the inside of the lines. If this ensues, it can make the clogs even worse in many cases.

What's worse is that there might even come a time when the pipes get so corroded that you might have to replace the entire drain pipes. It's better to keep them from ever getting corroded than to pay for a considerable amount to have all of the damaged pipes replaced.

Abuse of Your Sink and Garbage Disposal

Just like how your toilet is not a trash can, your sink is also the same. The sink is also another area where having the drain pipes cleaned is vital. We all know that it's convenient to wash everything on a dirty plate and fall down the drain when you have a garbage disposal. But what you don't know is that it will come at a cost. Minor scraps of food, fat, and grease shouldn't just be poured down the drain and left to sit inside the drain pipes for a long time. The garbage disposal sink should grind up all of the food waste, along with proper running water. You should never pour down oil and fat on any drain because they can harden after a while, sticking to the pipes' sides.

You already know that pouring a tremendous amount of drain cleaner isn't going to help if you continue to keep making this bad habit. It's also worth taking note that a blocked garbage disposal sink can be an expensive repair, so always think about how much load you're placing it on. No matter how small the food may be, letting food waste is inviting plumbing problems into your home or office. It would be best always to keep a trash bin where you can throw all of the food waste not to cause any problems with your drain pipes.

Ignoring Seemingly Minor Plumbing Leaks

You're hearing that steady drip, drip, drip from your bathroom for a few days already, but you're just disregarding it because you think that you can still handle the noise, right? A tiny drip is something you don't have to worry about-- no, I wouldn't be so sure about that. Over time, that small leak can turn into a significant water waste. And if left unrepaired for a very long time, leaky pipes can even burst, causing extensive damage to the surroundings. It would be best to always keep in mind that neglected unrepaired lines mean that you will have to spend more money to fix the damage. It's still best to correct it sooner rather than later. The sooner you fix the minor plumbing leaks, the lesser risk there is of sustaining a lot of damage to your plumbing and property.

Damaged Hidden Pipes

If you're someone who's making improvements in your building, you need to be careful when drilling into walls or floors because there are pipes that you can't see. Without proper care and caution, you may damage the pipes and create an issue that only a plumber can fix. This problem usually happens when a contractor doesn't have a clue about the layout of your home. They might start drilling on a particular spot at once without ever knowing what's behind it.

Drilling into certain surfaces, blindly should never happen. There's always going to be an initial inspection of how the building's entire plumbing system is laid out and installed. An initial assessment can give workers an idea of how they will get the job done without damage. You should always know the worker you're hiring if they have enough drilling surface experience without damaging the building's plumbing system.

Letting Hair Down the Drain

It is a common fact that people naturally lose up to 100 strands of hair every day. Moreover, much of this falls out while taking a bath in the shower. All of this fallen hair has a bad habit of clinging to the inside of your plumbing system, and you might have to spend a few dollars on a mesh drain screen to prevent all the hair from getting in. If you don't get rid of them, you'll have a clogged drain before you know it.

Most of the time, many people tend to ignore this problem because it does not affect how they take a bath. Over time, the hair can pile up on the drain plate, prohibiting water from inside the pipes. It would help if you always kept in mind to clear out all the hair stuck on the drain plate to let the water waste flow perfectly. You should never get rid of the drain plate because this catches the hair, even if it's sometimes disgusting for you to take out.

Conclusion

When it comes to the maintenance of your plumbing system, checking your water pressure, clearing clogs, cleaning your drains, or repairing water leaks-- it is better to hire the services of a plumbing technician. It would be best if you look for a professional capable of giving your system a thorough inspection. They're also excellent at resolving other plumbing issues they can find. Don't take your plumbing for granted because you will surely regret it in the long run when it sustains more damage, and you'll have to shell out more money than you intend to.

If you're a building owner that needs to cut down on expenses, you should enforce rules like forbidding people from throwing waste into the toilet after using it. If you implement such regulations in your commercial building, you will maintain a functioning facility.

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