At the beginning of the year, California law imposed a new duty on owners of single-family residential homes. Simply put, the law requires you to install water-saving plumbing fixtures if you own a single-family home built before 1994—whether you are selling your home or not. California Civil Code § 1101.4 is the law’s name, and…
Leaky pipes are one of the most common threats homeowners face. In fact, leaky pipes are one of the most common home insurance claims made year after year. However, when it comes to water leaks, you don’t have to be a sitting duck. Leaky pipes don’t happen in a vacuum; leaks always come with symptoms….
Have you noticed a loud or odd banging noise when you flush a toilet, use a dishwasher or turn on the water? The loud banging noises are commonly called water hammer and relate to the rush of water through your pipes. Depending on the age of your house, the solutions to help reduce the sound…
Lead can infiltrate a home through various channels. However, when it affects the water, the health of the community is at risk. From Flint, Michigan, to East Chicago, the presence of lead in water immediately draws attention, and for a good reason: lead is toxic. Making sure your home has lead-free pipes and fixtures is…
When you unload the dishwasher, do you see streaking or cloudy residue on the dishes and glasses? After you wash your hands with soap, do you feel like there is a film on your skin that won’t come off? Do your faucets have a buildup of white, hardened residue? If you answered yes to these…
Leaks: as a homeowner, you definitely try to avoid them at all costs, be these a leaky faucet to a leaky roof to everything in between. After all, not only would a leak in a plumbing fixture be expensive to get repaired or replaced, but it could wreak damage in the home as well. However, unfortunately,…
When the water pressure isn’t right, you can feel it. Either you can’t get the shampoo out of your hair or it’s blasting you across the shower. It takes forever to fill a glass at the sink or an eternity for the washing machine to start the clean cycle. If water splashes everywhere when you…
Hard water is one of those common terms that most people instinctively understand, but that can be hard to define. Water hardness refers to the mineral content, primarily of magnesium and calcium. They can have an effect on the taste, the sudsing quality and the “scale” that household water leaves behind. The opposite of hard…
Clean, potable water is one of the most precious resources on the planet. The majority of the water on the planet is salt water, filling the oceans, or frozen. This makes the precious little drinking water remaining that much more precious. It also means that we must all do our part to reduce the amount…
There’s nothing worse than getting ready for a nice hot soak only to discover you’re in the midst of a cold water shower. If things simply never heat up, it’s probably because your water heater has been working overtime and needs time to regenerate. But if your hot water shower turns suddenly chilly, the problem…