Nick's Plumbing Blog

Sometimes we need someone to tell us the hard truth, and we can’t lie to you anymore. Your hot water smells horrible. Showering at your house should not be a “blame the dog” moment, but that’s where we’re at. Soon, you’ll start to find that it’s not limited to your shower, and these stinky…

Nobody likes to think about plumbing repairs until they need them. Plumbing repairs are often costly, usually messy, and always inconvenient for the homeowner. If you were to discover a leaky pipe or a clogged sewer line in your home, how would you go about getting help for that problem? Every homeowner should have…

You hope it never happens, but a drain or sewer line in your home can get clogged. If that happens, you don’t want to dig up your yard or tear out walls trying to find the clog and clear it up. To avoid that headache, plumbing systems have sewer cleanouts that allow access to your…

Drain and sewer lines carry wastewater away from your home’s kitchen and bathroom. Houston homeowners are thankful for that since they don’t want wastewater to remain anywhere in or near the house. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. An unforeseen leak in a drain or sewer line can lead to raw sewage leaking onto your…

Hey, I’ve got an idea. Let’s take a four-foot tall, cylindrical metal tank, fill it with seventy gallons of hot water, and install it in the attic directly over your family’s living space! If you had never considered the above idea, you’d be well within your rights to stare at me like I grew a…

Installing or replacing a washing machine or dishwasher has always been a simple, straightforward job for professional plumbers. Even if the homeowner hadn’t previously had either appliance in the home, adding the necessary fittings and fixtures was as easy as hooking a hot water line, cold water line, and drain to the machine. Some folks,…

Nobody wants to replace their water heater. In fact, most of us rarely give our water heaters a second thought. We don’t see them often, as they tend to be out of our usual sight range, either in an attic, a garage, or a utility closet. Even if you’re among the folks who have regular…

Aside from indoor plumbing and air conditioning, our garbage disposals are simply one of the greatest conveniences of modern times. Imagine your family finishing a large meal and having to scrape all traces of food from every plate into a trash bag (horrors!) and then taking that bag outside to store it in a can…

Chances are you never give your water heater a second thought until you find yourself taking a cold shower. While this is never a pleasant experience, it might not be the end of the world for your water heater. By their construction, water heaters are doomed to fail. You’re putting nature’s most effective solvent, which…

Did you know that if you have a combination bathtub and shower head, you also have a shower diverter device? You use it every time you need to redirect water flow from your bathtub faucet to the showerhead. Like most plumbing-related things, the shower diverter can break down mechanically, is prone to corrosion, and will…

What is a Plumber? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary tells us a plumber is “one who installs, repairs, and maintains piping, fittings, and fixtures involved with the distribution and use of water throughout a building.” It sounds like an important job, doesn’t it? In Texas, it is required that anyone who performs plumbing work on any residential…

Worrying about some domestic disasters is enough to keep some homeowners awake all night. Tree limbs can crash down onto your roof, your new in-ground swimming pool could develop a leak, or your water heater could explode. My what could WHAT? Exploding water heaters are actually “a thing,” but fortunately, it’s not a thing that…

Did you know that you could live for almost two weeks without food? Do you know how long you’d be able to live without water? Stick around to the end of this blog and find out! In our part of the modern world, we take the supply of clean, potable water for granted. Even though…

The plumbing industry is loaded with industry jargon that plumbers need to learn and their necessary piping skills. Some of these terms certainly put colorful ideas in our heads. Honestly, how are we supposed to react when our plumbing technician tells us we need a new hose bib, we have a leaky nipple, or heaven…

It seems like we post pretty often about drains. We’re always posting something about drain lines, sewer drains, French drains, shower and sink drains, laundry room drains, sump pump drains, and the list goes on. Quite frankly, the subject can be draining. Drain maintenance is easily the single most crucial task of keeping your home’s…

There are roughly a dozen manufacturers of tankless water heaters for the home. Each of these makers offers a great product, with advanced features and unsurpassed efficiency. With the desire for tankless water heaters continuing to expand, more established manufacturers are getting into the game. However, the Bradford White Corporation is no “Johnny Come Lately” to the…

The first day of January finds many of us deciding that the incoming new year will be the time to cast off bad habits, get some things done that we’ve been putting off, and maybe even lose a few pounds while we’re at it. Even though we are already a few days into the new…