Tag Archives: Plumbing
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Hot Water Tank Safety!
Posted on August 30, 2023 by mikew in Fix It & Use ItThere is a 400-pound pressure keg sitting either in your garage, closet or laundry room! It is the source of soothing showers and refreshing hand washing. This unit brings as many warm and delightful moments as the family pet. It has become an essential part of our lives and the modern world. It is virtually […]
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Solstice House Check Up
Posted on December 30, 2022 by mikew in Fix It & Use ItEssential House Maintenance Chores Repeated every December and June The summer and winter solstice are great times to perform needed house maintenance so let this article be a “maintenance needed” dash light to gently prod you toward some simple house care. Addressing these tasks will make you familiar with possible repairs, alleviate the worry of […]
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Snow is Coming, So What?
Posted on December 10, 2021 by mikew in Fix It & Use It20 minute projects that will count in the cold! We prep the car for snow, school districts send out their cancellation plans, parents stock up pantries, grandparents knit winter caps, but what can home owners do? It is easy to forget or even know what to do in preparation for the upcoming winter storms and […]
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Down the Drain
Posted on November 15, 2021 by mikew in Fix It & Use ItWhere flex piping is not a great solution. Several years ago a real estate agent and friend commented, “Oh-no, this sink has a hole in it!” I had just finished the inspection and felt a momentary panic that I had missed an obvious defect. He was right. There was a hole: A drain in the […]
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Garbage disposals are not garbage disposals
Posted on February 10, 2020 by mikew in Fix It & Use ItI have a complicated relationship with garbage disposals. These small appliances installed in kitchen sink drains are a helpful aid to those of us frequently on dish duty, but they often leak and can cause dishwasher issues. Hopefully this will help clear up a few misunderstandings about how to use them. First, garbage disposals are […]
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Settling fears about fire sprinklers
Posted on January 30, 2020 by mikew in Fix It & Use ItIf an actor is trapped in a building and needs to create a diversion for her escape, what is the best diversion? Dozens of Hollywood movies have this dilemma and the common solution is to set off the fire sprinklers. In the resulting pandemonium she escapes as water rains from the ceiling and floods the […]
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Roof Maintenance – plumbing vents
Posted on November 30, 2019 by mikew in Fix It & Use ItThere are open pipes sticking out of our roofs. And you might wonder, Aren’t holes in a roof bad? Not in this case. Let me explain what they are and then offer a suggestion for keeping these in good working order in the future. These are plumbing vents so that when you pull the plug […]
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The p-trap is not a pee trap
Posted on November 20, 2019 by mikew in Fix It & Use ItBelow every sink and tub is drain-piping shaped like a sideways letter “P”. This is called the p-trap… and, as you might imagine, the source of plumber humor and bathroom misunderstandings. The p-trap performs two important functions. First, it water collects in the lower crook that traps the odorous sewage gases from escaping up through […]
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Up Periscope!
Posted on June 20, 2019 by mikew in Fix It & Use ItThis was a peculiar sight in a recent attic. This picture is of a plumbing vent pipe improperly terminating in the attic. In short, there are pipes sticking out of most roofs to allow water to drain quietly and smoothly when we flush toilet and pull stoppers on drains (see the next picture). This one […]
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Second thoughts about tea-in-seconds
Posted on March 10, 2019 by mikew in Fix It & Use ItI remember my parents getting our first microwave. One of the coolest features was setting the mug of cold water in the compartment and two minutes later pulling it out boiling hot and ready for a tea bag. In those days the “microwave culture” was born in my family, and that was about as far […]
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