Nick's Plumbing & Air Conditioning Blog

We use hot water for so many daily tasks in our home, with cleaning, bathing, and cooking almost impossible without a water heater. In keeping up with this demand, our water heaters put in 24-hour days, seven days a week, maintaining the water temperature inside a steel tank. Water Heaters Haven’t Aged Much. Since their…

Whether you need a 3-hole widespread, a 1-handle deck mount pull-down, or 2-handle widespread, there are as many faucets to choose from as there are people on this planet. Whether in your bathroom, kitchen, or workroom, installing a new faucet can dramatically change your room's look. It can take transform your space from dated to…

We've all done it.  Searching out the perfect home for you and your family can be a long, torturous process that saps all your energy for weeks or even months.  And then it happens. You find THE house. After countless internet searches, open houses, and meeting more realtors than anyone should have to endure, the…

Normal wear and tear, as well as the simple settling of your house, can wreak havoc on your pipes and other plumbing fixtures. As rust and corrosion settle into older, galvanized pipes, it can lead to discolored water and strange smells from your faucets. Built-up grease, hair, and other dirt in your pipes will coagulate…

What is a Plumber? The current edition of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary states that a plumber is "one who installs, repairs, and maintains piping, fittings, and fixtures involved with the distribution and use of water throughout a building." In Texas, it is required that anyone who performs plumbing work on any residential or commercial building must hold…

Sewer cleanouts are a crucial part of your home's plumbing system, as they allow for access to your drains and sewer lines without having to dig up your yard or tear out walls. Depending on your home's age, you may have as few as one or as many as ten access points for sewer line…

It's the beginning of October, and it's time to close the books on another hot and humid Houston summer. If you're like us, thanks to the pandemic, you probably spent a lot more time inside your home during the summer of 2020 than in any year prior. Through it all, there was one home appliance…

OK, you've got a drain clog.  Please don't panic; it isn't the end of the world. In a recent blog, we described how a homeowner could clear their own drain clogs safely. If you're looking for a DIY method to clear your drain, you can find that blog here: https://nicksplumbing.com/clearing-your-own-drain-clog/. This time out, we're going to…

More and more homeowners are tackling home improvement projects themselves. The "DIY" or "do-it-yourself" mentality has gained popularity, especially in recent months, as more people find themselves spending more time at home. What better time than in the middle of a pandemic to test out that set of tools you got for Christmas five years…

Water heaters have a pretty long life expectancy, particularly in light of what we ask from them. For a tank-type water heater, the average lifespan is between 7 and 10 years; for tankless units, they're known to last upwards of twenty years. Your tank-type water heater is working twenty-four hours a day, keeping anywhere between…

Not that many years ago, it was considered a luxury to have a garbage disposal installed in your kitchen sink. Alright, maybe “luxury” is a bit of an over-sell, but at one time, garbage disposals were considered a premium appliance in a new kitchen build. Today, garbage disposals are as standard in new homes as…

Maintaining free-flowing drains is one of the essential do-it-yourself tasks a homeowner can perform. By keeping troublesome clogs from blocking the drain and sewer pipes, you can extend your existing plumbing life by decades. The residue from everything we put into our drains builds up over time, leaving grease and soap clinging to your pipes'…

There's no getting around it, Houston summers are getting hotter every year, and the struggle is real for HVAC systems trying to battle against the heat. Poorly insulated homes, leaky windows, and windows with direct sun exposure are all your HVAC system's mortal enemies. Needing to use window A/C units or fans to supplement your…

The idea of performing your own plumbing maintenance, minor repairs, or even installation of new fixtures, like faucets and garbage disposals, is an attractive one. Completing a home improvement project on your own can seem like a daunting task, but the sense of accomplishment you feel after it's done far outweighs the dread. One of…

Our kitchens are full of convenient appliances to help get us through our daily cooking and cleaning tasks. Microwave ovens, electric can openers, and food processors are just a few of the tools used every day, and we tend to take them for granted. For the mechanically inclined homeowner, replacing a kitchen sink sprayer is…

Dealing with drain clogs is much more about being proactive than reactive, in that it is much easier to prevent a clog than it is to clear one. Most drain clogs are confined to a single sink or tub and are simple for the homeowner to remove without needing a call to a plumbing company.…

As we’re spending more and more time at home these days, now is a great time for the “do-it-yourselfers” to truly shine. One of the most common causes for a slow drain in a kitchen or bathroom sink is a dirty P-trap pipe. What is a P-Trap? Take a look underneath your kitchen or bathroom sink,…

When someone thinks about who’s responsible for the repair and replacement of their sewer lines, it is often assumed that it falls on your city or municipality. Unfortunately, this is not the case in the greater Houston area (or in most areas, for that matter), and the city’s responsibility for your sewer line ends where…

 Out of sight and out of mind. Unfortunately, that is the approach most homeowners take toward the maintenance and upkeep of their sewer lines. It’s only natural that we pay little to no attention to our sewer lines condition until signs of sewer line trouble appear. Symptoms of sewer drain issues include gurgling sounds from…