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If you took a look at your home’s plumbing by itself, you’d be surprised at how much of it there is, and how it wanders all over your home, providing not only water and drains, but support systems for your health and safety. Most of these pipes and systems are hidden in your walls, running across your floors including the basement, and poking out of your roof to balance your plumbing. Most of it runs unattended over the years, though occasional surprises like a bird’s nest on top of the vent can lead to a plumbing service call, and of course, the parts of your plumbing that you interact with sees a lot more action, with the most popular plumbing service in most cases drain cleaning service, simple or emergency. We’re Benjamin Franklin Plumbing of Fort Worth, serving Rhome, TX and other area communities. If you need emergency service, upgrades, repairs, and remodeling, or any other plumbing service, we are experts in every inch of that complex web of pipes that serves you and your family around the clock.

Drains: If You Could See What We Often See

Let’s start with one of the most common reasons that we get calls, the drains flowing away from your sinks, toilets, showers, and appliances. It takes a lot to design them so gravity keeps them flowing, and so it can be a challenging job to keep them clear so they work properly. When they slow, not only are they heading towards stopping as they narrow into a clog, they’re also making a clog more likely since all that grease, hair, and other substances that would have been carried by fast flow may sit around on the walls of your pipes. That’s one reason that clogs form closer to your fixtures, though the same principles apply in the main drains that travel through your wall and into your basement and sewer line.

Depending on the materials, flow rates, and pipe condition, your drains can stay in good shape for years, or they can get ready for a clog or backup in short order. We’re drain experts, though, so we have the tools to clear your drains in an emergency, or on a regular basis if you prefer preventive care. We also have video equipment to examine your pipes for corrosion, clogs, and lost objects. Like we said, if you could see what we see in there. That’s why one of our tools is a very high-pressure blast. Sometimes that’s what it takes to start over.

Sewer Lines Face Drain Challenges and Much More

Narrowing pipes, growing clogs, slowing flow and increasing problems happen in your main sewer line as well. Our video equipment allows us to take a look out there as well, and that’s both enlightening and potentially cost-saving. You see, we can discover a large clog in there, determine that the pipe is generally in good shape, and with a high-pressure cleaning session turn that back up into your basement into a smooth outgoing flow that will give you peace of mind.

A lot happens in sewers, and they tend to last a long time, so there are many other plumbing service issues we may find in your Rhome TX. Tree root intrusions can cause leaks into the surrounding soil and gradual disruption of sewer line service as the pipe falls apart, a piece of construction equipment crossing your yard can crush the sewer pipe below, and older pipes may corrode or degrade if they’re iron or clay and simply stop being the sewer line that you need. Fortunately, that image of a trench through your yard and an officer detouring traffic while heavy equipment connects a new line to the city sewer service is not nearly as common anymore.

Sewer Line Repairs and the Many Options for Today’s Homeowner

Sometimes the best answer is a total sewer line replacement, especially when the line has served for a long time or the damage is extensive. These days, though, there are plumbing service technologies that will amaze you, as robotic equipment descends through small entry points and patches the sewer using video inspection equipment, or our team pulls a new lining through the existing pipe, allowing it to serve you for decades to come. “Pipe bursting” is another technique in our arsenal of trenchless sewer line repairs that spare your yard and often your budget as well. It’s situations like sewer line repair that prompt us to remind you, a relationship with your plumbing service provider such as us at Benjamin Franklin can help you anticipate problems and understand your options in advance, giving you a chance to make your best plumbing choices.

Main Water Lines Also Suffer

Many of the issues that happen to your sewer line as it crosses your yard also threaten your water line, and you face another problem: loss of water pressure, which can cause health problems, and wasted water, which you may first notice as a spike in your water bill in addition to a stripe of especially green grass across your lawn. Physical damage and corrosion can lead to a need to install new pipes, for your well water system as well. Hard water in Rhome, TX can make the problem worse, or cause it to happen sooner. While your home’s pipes may be protected against excessive pipe corrosion by a water softener system, your incoming water line isn’t.

Once the water line enters your home, there’s another matter to think about: the pressure of the incoming supply or well feed. High water pressure can cause a lot of damage to your plumbing, fixtures, and appliances, so a pressure regulator is usually installed on the incoming water line to keep things reasonable. When that regulator has held off the pressure long enough, it may start to break down and require replacing. If you’re noticing fluctuations in water pressure such as in the shower or sudden low pressure which could of course be caused by water line leaks as well, give us a call to check on the cause and see if it’s time to replace your pressure regulator, if one is present.

Your Home Can Outlast Its Water Supply Pipes

Hard water isn’t the only reason that your home’s pipes can fail or degrade to the point that they need replacing. Many homeowners opt to perform a “re-piping” and replace water supply pipes throughout or in a part of the home. One motivation is an excessive number of plumbing service leak repairs, which can be complex and costly depending on the location. If the pipe is weakening, the problem may be caused by water pressure causing leaks through otherwise intact piping, as it gradually turns into a sieve. This can happen with iron piping in particular, and other metals, as well as certain types of plastic piping, used years ago that has turned out to have a shorter lifespan than expected. The discovery of lead pipes in your home can prompt a plumbing service visit to re-pipe for health reasons as soon as possible. One big advantage to installing new pipes in your home, especially in older construction, is the effect it has on the buyer’s confidence if the house goes on the market.

A Word About Water Hammers

If you haven’t heard this term, you probably have a puzzled look right now. It’s a hard concept to imagine without context. What water hammers are, for you, is sound. It sounds like someone is whacking your pipes and while that’s happening, usually when an appliance cycles or someone suddenly shuts off a faucet, there’s a pressure spike going through your water line and causing damage to valves in faucets and in appliances. Water hammers can lead to repeated repairs to your washing machine and dishwasher as the electrical valves that allow hot and cold water in during cycles get damaged by the pressure spikes. The solution is quite simple in most cases: a device called a “water hammer arrestor” added to the line manages the pressure spikes and keeps peace among your appliances. If you don’t have them, our plumbing service serving Rhome, TX can add them in a simple visit.

Other Protective Devices

Another small but important job we do for our customers is ensuring that sinks and shower drains have proper protection against dropped objects. Either mechanical drain plugs or strainers can do the job, limiting access to the drain to mostly water, and perhaps even saving some jewelry or other valuables from loss along the way. In the shower, shampoo caps can create quite a drain problem if the drain is wide open, and strainers can also catch hair so you don’t need a plumbing service just to pull hair out of the drain. We also recommend the installation of simple shutoff valves, if they aren’t already present, in places where they can make a big difference. Helping to avoid trips to the whole-house shutoff valve when things get out of hand, one logical place for them is in the kids’ bathroom, where toilet and sink overflows can each be stopped pending plumbing service repairs by a simple valve twist underneath. As for us, our plumbing service providers can help you prevent water-related disasters in your home with simple devices and strategies.

Plumbers Know How to Add a Bit of Luxury to Your Life

Real estate professionals talk about bathrooms and kitchens, and that’s not just for better results when the home is sold. There are ways our plumbing service can enhance your morning showers, add convenience to your bathroom, and make your kitchen wonderful that will amaze you, often without waiting for a whole-room remodeling. Many homeowners in our Rhome, TX service area are having our plumbing service add efficient and highly effective multi-head showers, even 360-degree ones that can be luxurious on the weekend, or quick like a carwash when you’re getting started in the morning, covering all of you in a single blast rather than requiring you to twist around and lather again.

Our plumbing service can help you choose the level of luxury that works for you. We also can provide more comfortable and even technologically advanced toilets, hands-free faucets, and even a second sink for couples who have the same morning schedule. In the kitchen, the sky’s the limit. Powerful garbage disposals to replace the original wimpy unit, a commercial dishwasher, water lines to bar sinks and icemakers, and other nice additions can be done by our plumbing service on an as-needed or desired basis. That hands-free faucet for your bathroom has an equivalent for the kitchen, too, so when you add the double sink you’ve wanted you can pair it with a motion-sensing or even voice-activated faucet to help add grace to your kitchen routines.

Modern Gear Can Be Disability-Friendly as Well

If you’ve been trying to figure out how best to adjust your bathroom and kitchen for use by seniors, disabled family members, and children, ask our plumbing service for ideas. The various hands-free and voice-operated controls can help a lot, and specialized faucet controls with long paddles for accessibility and leverage make life a lot easier. High-arc faucets also provide more space to reach into the water flow for washing hands or filling containers, reducing common bathroom challenges. Most of these devices can be easily installed by our plumbing service team with a minimum of modification to your existing plumbing.

Your Whole-House Plumbing Service Experts Work with You to Improve Your Life

At Benjamin Franklin Plumbing of Fort Worth, we serve our customers including those in the Rhome, TX area with creative solutions as well as repairs and upgrades. We believe that your plumbing can add a lot to your lifestyle and that we can help you plan for repairs and maintenance to help your budget, too. We’re glad to answer your questions, provide new ideas, and of course, answer your emergency calls for care, day or night.