I have had several letters recently about bad smells and even flies coming up out of basement floor drains and sump pump pits. One viewer was quoted hundreds of dollars to break up the entire basement and replace all the sewer lines.
The real problem is usually that the trap under the floor has ...
INSPECT, MAINTAIN OR INSTALL A BACKFLOW VALVE UNDER THE BASEMENT FLOOR BEFORE DOING ANY RENOVATION WORK IN A BASEMENT. It is always easier to install while the floor is bare than after the finished floor is destroyed by a flood.
Sewage back-up through the floor drain is prevented by a thing...
Nav in cold Edmonton, Alberta, writes: "We are trying to build an ice rink in the backyard. Our tap has frozen over and nothing comes out of it at all. Are they any solutions to this problem?"
The easiest way to unfreeze the hose bib is to wrap rags around it and keep pouring boiling wa...
When condensation shows up inside a thermal pane double window (between the two pieces of glass), you know that the seals around the edge have been compromised, allowing moisture to get inside. These cannot really be re-sealed so the standard response to this problem is to replace the glass ...
Scott in Grand Falls, NF has a loud banging noise in his pipes every time he shuts off a faucet.
In some plumbing systems when a faucet or an automatic valve like in a washing machine stops the water too fast, it tries to keep going and you get a banging sound throughout the house. The pipes are...
The rubber hoses that bring water to a clothes washer, particularly the hot water one, will age, swell, and eventually burst, usually right where they bend coming out of the faucet. The official instructions with all clothes washers are to turn these faucets on and off every time you use the mach...
As weather patterns change we are getting longer colder periods than traditionally in many areas of the country -- and with that, more and more complaints of water pipes freezing. Finding the frozen point can be difficult, thawing it can be problematic but if you have done those two, go one step ...
Jim from London, Ontario is wondering what temperature he should leave his thermostat while he migrates south for the winter. The short answer is 55 degrees F, or about 12 degrees C.
That should keep the pipes from freezing, keep the humidity under control, keep the furniture from going through ...
Over the years I have seen and tested a large number of gadgets designed to get rid of toilet odours, from double walled ceramic toilets that had an exhaust pipe to the outdoors, to exhaust ducts that fitted under the tank and various carbon filters situated under the seat. Finally an New Zealand...
I like to look at history and tell stories, but if you are not the type that likes to read a lot and all you want is to control your water flow – jump down to the best plumbing flow control systems to date: my experience with AquaTrip (from Australia and no longer available in Canada) and the ne...
