Home on Mondays: Tips from a Master Plumber

My nose is horridly sensitive and I could smell stuff not many people can detect. This meant I easily got a whiff of unpleasant smells in our house. Since we did an audit of our electrical system, we asked help from Architect Wansi to also have our plumbing system checked. We still had trauma from a waterfall situation in an apartment we rented in Singapore. Definitely didn't want that to happen again.

So architect sent Rod. He has a good reputation in BNI for his masterful plumbing projects. He inspected our house a couple of times and gave us several tips through his visits. Here's a few:

1. Drains should have proper p-traps. He discovered our drains did not have p-traps and it caused the bad smell in bathrooms and the kitchen. 

2. Check bathroom fixtures and pipes. Luckily, Rod said that they used proper pipes for our bathroom. We only had the sink and faucets replaced since the faucet didn't properly reach the basin. 

3. Proper drainage is key. Whenever it rained hard, our garden would flood. Rod and his team excavated our garden to check on the pipes. He found out the pipes were smaller and not properly laid out. This was why it would flood in our garden. He corrected the issue by re aligning the pipes, adding a pipe and adjusting the drain. 

4. Check outdoor faucets. One of the difficulties we had was having our washing machine installed. We had some of the outdoor faucets re-located because they were not in logically proper areas (who puts faucets far from drains?). Also had one installed near the gate so it would be easier for us to water the plants outside. 

5. Make sure the drain going out of your house is properly aligned with the street drain. We were surprised to discover a huge hole outside our gate. It was semi covered with grass. Sweetie stuck a bamboo in it and was surprised to find a very deep hole. Rod said it was the drain leading out and should have been fixed prior to turn over. 

6. Water tank installation. Our water tank eats up a lot of space in the laundry area. You can also trip from how the pipes were installed and they could easily break if you have the misfortune of tripping on it. It wasn't properly installed, so we're going to have it fixed. 

7. Water tank cleaning. You should have your water tank cleaned every six months. It is very expensive to have it cleaned since it's hard to find someone to do it. Rod advised to install a filter so we could just clean the filter every so often. The water that comes in the tank would already be rid of silt.

8. Downspouts. Downspouts are supposed to lead water away from your roof. Our backyard would flood because the water from the downspout wasn't going to the drain. We also noticed some spots on our roof where water would drip. 

9. Make it easy to collect rain water. There's a missing downspout in our garage. Rod said he'll add a downspout and a way for us to easily collect rainwater. Yay!

I really appreciate Rod for giving us a detailed explanation on his findings. He said he also had clients with big houses he serviced. He also has corporate clients. I'm happy we had an opportunity to have him work on our home. It rained hard for a few days last week and for the first time we were not worried about our backyard flooding. Water also did not come in for the first time in our family room. I guess they also added some sealant to the sliding door.  We'll probably be done with our outdoor work soon!

#BeKind #StaySafe