Outdoor Plumbing Installation in Houston

Summer is officially here, and in Houston, that means spending a lot more time outdoors. With the heat and humidity we have to contend with for six months or more out of the year, having access to water on the outside of our homes is crucial to our comfort and convenience.

It wasn’t that long ago that your backyard irrigation system consisted of a single spigot in the backyard with a lonely garden hose. This one hose was used for watering lawns, washing cars, cleaning your driveway and even providing the neighborhood kids with a lukewarm drink in the middle of the afternoon.

Within the last couple of decades, outdoor kitchens have become increasingly popular, utilizing complete gas and plumbing fixtures. Most new home construction includes provisions for adding outdoor gas and plumbing fixtures, and retrofitting an existing home is easier than ever. Outdoor plumbing fixtures, for both gas and water services are much easier to install at the time a home is built. Many homes today are built on top of concrete slabs, and unless service lines are provided during construction, there is considerable cost associated with the necessary excavation and repairs.

The concept of delivering gas and water through outdoor plumbing fixtures is identical to the way these services are provided inside the home. What makes it a bit more challenging is the necessary routing of supply, drain and gas lines through the concrete and underneath elaborate landscaping.

The most popular outdoor plumbing features, of course are swimming pools and sprinkler systems. Plumbing companies are not usually involved in the installation of these systems, except to provide access to water supply and drain lines. Installations of sprinklers and swimming pools are typically handled by independent contractors.

With the advent of easily accessible water supply outside your home, decorative features like fountains, waterfalls and even koi ponds are simple to install, and require little maintenance beyond the occasional cleaning.

Outdoor plumbing fixtures, for both gas and electric, require a little more attention than their indoor counterparts, particularly when cold weather arrives. Water supply lines that are located outdoors without any protective insulation are susceptible to freezing in temperatures under 25 degrees. This includes water supply lines to your sprinkler systems, which need to be bled and de-pressurized before the winter.

Nick’s Plumbing and Air Conditioning Services has been installing all types of outdoor plumbing fixtures since 1979. After forty years in business, and with over one-hundred and fifty-thousand satisfied customers, Nick’s wants to be YOUR plumbing company.

Call Nick’s Plumbing and Air Conditioning Services today. We’re on the Way!

THE POTTY MOUTH GUYS SHOW:

Outdoor Plumbing Installation in Houston

Nick’s Plumbing & Air Conditioning Live Video Transcription:

On the day show, it’s all about outdoor plumbing installation in Houston.
Yeah,
I’m John Nichols. Richard side gas or what it is summertime, a summer, summer time. I just got fired for that cause I can’t sing. I had to do it though. Yeah. So if you couldn’t tell absolutely summers here, it was hot as can be outside this weekend. I wouldn’t know why I was gone. I had to try it. You’re out of town. I was out of town town, but I heard it was real hot. Oh, his is excruciating hot and it’s only going to get worse. And what happens when the summer comes and the heat gets up there a lot more outdoor activities are happening every day. We tend to focus, you know, these activities around water, right? Which has to do with plumbing. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And swimming. Yeah. So summertime, yeah, features, water, which features plumbing. So it’s very big for us plumbers and the summertime because there’s all these activities that we do.

Richard just mentioned one, it could be swimming pools, a Dillon with your hose beds and sprinkler systems to outdoor faucets. Anyway, in the summertime, we put a huge demand on our plumbing system and it’s a little taxing. So today we’re going to talk about some of those things and how it’s gonna affect and how, you know, the different things that go on outside with the plumbing. Yeah, that’s exactly right. And you know, it wasn’t that long ago that our backyard irrigation system consented can consisted, I can’t say that word today consisted of a hose bib attaching a hose to it and you’re expecting water to come out of that hose and you water your flowers and plants. Right. I don’t remember doing nowadays it gets a lot more complicated. People want Splank sprinkler systems that are automatic, that are installed. Washington things down, cars, cars, kids.

Yeah. I’ve, all of ours have become pretty popular actually. Yeah. In fact, two buddies of mine just said outdoor showers. Yeah. You know, another thing, outdoor kitchens are on the rise as well, right? I mean, those, those have been on the rise of probably about the past decade or so. They have, yeah. In fact, I just did one, so I get that. Yeah. So how hard is that for us to get that in as the question today too, because that has to do with outdoor plumbing, right? Absolutely. So lots of summer activities outside, especially for young kids, for the adults, it’s more of cooking outside and cleaning outside these days. Yeah. Which, you know, prior to those 10 years, it wasn’t real prevalent. Prevalent and that weird. Yeah. And now everybody wants them. Yeah. Just like I did. So what did I do? I got one. I’ll write one, but I don’t have one.

You should. Everybody should have, actually, I do have one. I just don’t utilize it as much as I want to. Everybody should have one. That’s right. So speaking further on that outdoor, right for us, for adults, right? Eh, what’s it consistent? We need plumbing. We need water and we need gas. You gotta run that grill. Who wants to use a propane bottle? That’s not fun. No, I’m, but you still do it? I do. Well, I, I live where I live. It’s up. I’m sorry. Oh yeah, you’re on ProPath. I don’t haveS as a city guests is, that’s right. Yeah. I forgot. You know, you’re poor solar panels. You have no gas, no gas. So so when we’re talking to, especially about the outdoor kitchen, right? We got rain, we got water, we got gas. Uthen you have, you know, all this ties into these activities, pool parties, barbecues, getting together with family, all these activities. So how do we get water in the service to our outdoor appliances,

You know, big. Does it have to be done when I build the house or can it be done after the fact? No. After. Yeah. So I’ve gotta dig you gotta shovel. I can’t do it when I’m building it. You can, but I can do it after. Yeah. So I can do it both ways. Yeah. Do it both ways. Okay. Might be more difficult if you don’t set it up for the future. Correct. Okay. Okay. So when I did my outdoor patio, I set it up where I’m going to get my indoor cable. Oh, right. So I’ve got my indoor cable system sitting on the backside of that house ready for the trench to be hooked up and it’s just going to be pulled through. Okay. So I’m going to get all of my TV channels outside. So would that be similar for the plumbing then?

Right. You just kind of, you can set it up the same way? I think that if you think that you’re going to do it, if you set it up for ease of putting it in, in the future I think regardless, we could get it in. It just is how easy is it? And you know, what kind of complications are we going to come across? I try. So, you know, if it’s not there and you want it, it’s like Richard was saying, you know, simply digging a trench and pulling those utilities over there, whether it be snip, boom. In 15 minutes we’re in and out. You got an outdoor kitchen. That’s right. Why was it so expensive? Why was that kitchen 30 Rand? I don’t get it. Yeah. It’s obviously easier if where you’re putting all these things, if the water and gas lines are already in the area or they’ve already been ran to those areas, you know, some people preplanned it that much that they know, okay we’re building a house in two years we’re going to put it, let’s go ahead and run our stuff over here and have it set.

Either way it can be done. It’s just the level of difficulty. You know, what obstacles are in the way which we deal with them all the time. Honestly the biggest headache, the, the gas in the water is not bad. It’s probably the drain. The drain is typically the most challenge if you’re going to put in any sort of sink that has an actual drain on it or any sort of actually that’s probably the one, a yard drain is not bad cause you can get a fall depending on where you’re going to run them, but it’s to follow the line. Right. You know, if you didn’t plan right and you can’t have the correct fall cause remember shoers are all done on gravity then you know the our way around that would probably be some sort of lift station. Right. So I mean it still can be done but it’s, yeah it’s like at my house, my gas meter is 30 feet away.

Alright. My hose bib, which we can take water from is 20 foot away. Yup. And they’re all on the same line that the a Cabana’s on. Okay. So I can get my gas, I got my water and then what I had to set up was that cable because there was no way that I was going to get cable over there over there without a lot of pain. Right now what is going to create pain for me is getting electrical over there. Okay. That’s going to be a big trench because my electrical meter box is on the other side of the house. So my gas is perfect. I’ve got cable sitting there and I’ve got water sitting there, but now the electrical is going to be a pain. That’s going to be the task. Yeah. So typically when you’re doing these outdoor cabanas, it’s going to be a trade off.

The plumbing might be a little bit easier and the electrical is going to be the hardest part of it, or the electrical’s right there. But all the plumbing is on the other side of the house. That’s where it can get really expensive. Oh yeah, absolutely. Right. I mean it’s just, it’s just more work that’s needed. Yeah, absolutely. What are some other items that are outdoors that people are liking? Hot tubs. Yeah. Yeah. Big fan. I like them. I like them. I like them. Did we do weed? What? What is our reach into that world? Into the hot tub. Swimming pool world. Not much. We can fix things, but it’s going to be better for a pool company to do it. Kinda like sprinklers, you know, our licensing on a sprinkler system trumps the license of a sprinkler company. Right. Our license is the highest license, so we can do sprinkler systems, but typically what we do is just put the backflow systems in.

Right, right. And why is that? You got to have it for one. Yeah, but, but why aren’t more plumbing companies putting in sprinkler systems? That’s my question. Right? And I think that that’s a niche market. I think that the landscaping companies have have it niched down and the plumbing companies just aren’t dealing with it as much. You know, I think that the control valves and the cylinoid and stuff, if you don’t know how to do it, then it creates, you know, I don’t know the question relation issue, but I mean they’re not hard. No. You know, I just think that it’s a niche. It is. So with a sprinkler company, what the term that I use is economies of scale. That’s all they do. Yeah. Is that one thing? Yeah. Plumbing companies like us do all plumbing. Right, right. But then let’s talk about plumbing companies.

Some companies can’t, they’re a niche plumbing company. They can only do one or two or three things like the re pipe kind like a rape pipe company. Yeah. They can’t come fix anything. Right. They’re going to tear it out and put new. Right. They’re not in the fix it business. They’re in the replacement business. So that’s a niche business, right? And if you know that’s what you want and you know, Hey, I’m going to buy that, so be it. Okay, buy it. Right. But we are a plumbing company that fixes everything. So we’re not a niche plumbing company and we can do from your under slab repair all the way up. So that’s good. That’s the difference. Yeah, that is, that’s why sprinkler companies tend to be less expensive than plumbing companies. Right. And I don’t know any plumbing companies that are actually doing sprinklers.

I don’t know. I don’t, again, I know that we toy with a repair for customer sometimes, but as far as putting them in and stuff like that, same thing with the pool stuff. You know, we’ll hook up a pool heater for a comp, right. Customer, but we won’t install it. We don’t mess with the pool equipment, but we have repaired fill lines. Right, right. Stuff of that nature. Right. No, but on the largest, like you’re saying, we refer to, you know, yeah. To the knit. That’s exactly right. Because they’re doing that every single day and it doesn’t take a plumbing license. Talking about pools doesn’t take a plumbing license to do pools. What takes a plumbing company on the pool side is the gas to the heater. Right. That’s it. Other than that, you don’t need a license.

Hmm. Yeah, that’s true. That’s the difference.

So what are some other outdoor water features that customers might have? Koi ponds. Fountains. Oh, mountains. Second quiff ponds. That’s the one that’s fountains. All right. Both have to have water Rantoul and rung koi ponds. No. Yeah, we can’t have two. Yeah, you could have an automatic fill valve. I was where you never have to fill it up again. I said I was, those are really cool actually, or something with a nice long, just like you do in the pool, you can put it on the pond. Yeah. How about fountains? Would they need us for found? I used to have a water fountain. Again, I think that it’s depending on the size, if you’re gonna have that auto feel, I think auto fill and those things is a big, big piece of it. I had a small fountain that I didn’t need water into it then I had a bigger one than I did.

I like it. So, yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. My pool. That’s my point of paint on my pool. I don’t have an auto mean either. And my pill was pool, I’m sorry. It was built back in the late nineties. Right. Hey, I know, I’m sorry. Yeah. Late nineties. So it was mine. Yeah. Yeah. I didn’t build it. I wouldn’t have done it the way they did it, but I bought the house with it in there. And they went as cheap as they could. So it’s almost time for me to redo it. I would, I would love to have that auto fill, but auto fills. Awesome. Yeah. So ponds really don’t need us. Sprinklers don’t really need us. No. Right. Yeah. Outdoor kitchens, you need us. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, that’d be a big deal. You know, and again, it doesn’t really matter if it’s before or after.

We’re definitely going to bill to get that handled for you. It’s just how crazy and elaborate you’re your ideas. I mean, that does basically how it comes down to, and it’s it, these are things that are absolutely, totally different. One from another. Yeah. You know, I mean, one person could have something set up one way and then is totally different on the next one. One more. I thought of French drains. Oh, absolutely. All the drainage. Now that does require a license that requires a plumbing company and that level of licensing. But you know who’s doing them illegally all over Houston landscape guys. Oh yeah, absolutely. They’re doing them illegally, everywhere. And there’s a lot of hazard and danger and then people wouldn’t think was storm drains. But I can’t tell you guys how many times I’ve seen a landscape company put in storm drains and they don’t work, but they got charged five grand or they tell them in the wrong areas.

Yeah, yeah. We see that, don’t we? Oh yeah. You know, and those that come especially the last two years after Harvey had become pretty prevalent. Yeah. So basically a French drain and area drains are pretty common or pretty similar. They’re a little different on how they’re installed, but there they serve the same purpose. Take pulling yard water and move it away. You know, normally to the street in a new house or an old house, you can do it either one. Absolutely. You know, it doesn’t matter. Post-Construction preconstruction the expense is, I would think that it’s relatively the same clothes, you know, because when you’re doing these, the only thing that you’ll get pre-construction that’s better than post is you got a fresh lay of land. You kind of know where everything’s at. Right. For the most part, you’re not going to be running through a sprinkler system or under a sprinkler system or stuff of that nature. So I mean, but yeah, I mean a lot of people are liking those things. Especially mosquito season. I keep pulling water out of the yard. Especially post Harvey with all the flooding. People thinks that it’s going to hell. But if you ever get a Harvey fringe drains aren’t going to save your life right now. When you’re dumping 58 inches a night, when you’re dumping 50 some inches. But it does on, that would’ve been better for me to be, you know, where you are, the poor area.

I didn’t have my area. I should’ve been slowly should’ve been slumming it up, man. Summing it up. Oh that’s right. So here’s an a, so this is something that a friend of mine asked me the other day and this is pretty interesting. So, and it works right into this show. He was asking, he was gonna put an outdoor kitchen and he was asking if they made specific outdoor fixtures or in the outdoors. Do they wear faster? What are the, do they last as long as they do on the inside? You’ve got it by the pool. Know that that pool will eat things. I can verifiably tell you that. Especially a chlorine pool. Absolutely. Yeah. But it also depends how, if it’s in the weather more than then, you know, if it’s undercover and stuff like that. You know, one thing that I told him that I noticed even outside of that is there’s a lot of outdoor elements that affect your Fitch fixtures that you’re not really thinking of bugs, right?

They get in there and they start messing with screens and dust and yeah. Pollen, I mean, all that stuff takes a little bit of a wear and tear on your fixtures and in your outdoor plumbing. So it’s not gonna in my eyes, it’s not going to last as long knowing we’re wrong. If you take care of it and you’re out there all the time cleaning it, well, maintenance is key, right, on anything. The more you maintain it, the better off it’s going to be. But it’s probably going to have a shorter shelf life than your indoor plumbing. Totally agree. Now. Yeah. It’s just you’re in the weather and the element. Yeah. I mean, how many times, I mean, this sounds silly, but you know, if you get a dark Dom or something that goes down into your hose and you can’t get it out, I had that happened actually. Oh, that’s probably in that it’s, yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The propane. Yeah, or your areas. Yeah. Well, thank you guys. Any questions that you may have, thoughts, concerns you want to talk about where he lives versus where I live? Whatever you want to talk about. Call us, right? Absolutely. We’re going to be here. That’s right. We’ll see you next week.

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