Ken's Plumbing | Blog

The plumbing system in your home gets used constantly. Every time you take a shower, wash your hands, do the laundry, run your dish washer, go to the bathroom, water the garden...  Well, you get the idea.

While you may not think about where the water comes from and how it gets to its final destination, the process is more complicated than you might think, and it's important to make sure your plumbing system stays healthy.

If your plumbing system breaks down, you will quickly find yourself wanting to pull your hair out in frustration.

Day to day activities aren't the only reason you should care about the health of your plumbing system. Let's take a closer look at why your plumbing system is so important, and why you should give more thought to its health and longevity.

It might come as a surprise that we’re writing about reducing your water pressure. Most of the time when people have a complaint about their water pressure, it’s because the water isn’t coming out of the faucet strong enough for them. While having a nice hot shower with just the right water pressure is a pleasure that’s tough to beat, there is a certain point where your water pressure can be too high and actually cause damage to the internal workings of your plumbing.

Let’s take a look at what causes high water pressure, some of the damaging effects it can have, and how you can use a pressure reducing valve to solve these problems.

We know low water pressure is an issue, but have you ever thought of high water pressure being a problem with your plumbing? This can actually lead to some serious issues that could affect all the plumbing appliances in your home.

Scalding hot water coming out of shower heads is a common complaint we get here at Ken's. If you're a parent of a small child, you know it's the kind of hot where you forget (only once) that your kid doesn't know to check the temperature before stepping into the tub until you hear the screams down the hallway. It's a kind of hot that makes your pets stay away from their bath schedules, too.

While owning a home can bring the greatest joy and be a source of great pride, there are always a number of unanticipated problems that arise. Inevitably you are eventually going to have plumbing, electrical, heating and air, or other major home systems that develop issues, and it can be hard to know what to believe with so many so-called "experts" out there giving conflicting information. Today, we want to walk you through a list of myths that you may hear over time in order to keep your home well maintained and your wallet in your pocket.

When we seem to have issues with our drains, we always reach for the Drano. We think it's the perfect, most affordable solution and will easily reduce any drain clogging. It might be harsh to read, especially if you just finished screwing the cap back on your bottle, but throw the container out! You heard us — throw it out, and let us discuss a few problems caused by the popular product that you may not have known about:

No matter what animal is your favorite, we can all agree there’s a certain level of happiness only a pet can give us when we can cuddle up to our Burmese cat or our Boykin Spaniel. While pets are those perfect companions that find their way into our hearts...they usually find their way into our plumbing, too. If you are a pet owner, we want to walk you through four precautions you might want to take in order to keep your plumbing up to par and your furry friend out of trouble!

Many households end up putting plumbing problems on the back burner when it comes to calling in a professional to help. Either other expenses come up and eat away at money saved to help take care of that plumbing bill or they just can't afford to take time off work to let the plumber in the house.

By getting caught up in every day responsibilities, it's easy to believe other chores take precedence over a leaky faucet. However, if you continue to neglect "small" repairs, you may find yourself looking at a much larger and costlier repair in the future.

We bet you didn't know that the plants you choose to landscape your yard with could have an affect on your plumbing, but they definitely can! Now, we aren't saying planting marigolds around your mailbox is going to cause your water heater to quit on you, but some larger plants like trees and bushes can actually affect how your toilets, sinks, and showers drain.

To help you avoid problems down the road, here's a list of trees, bushes, and plants that you should keep out of your yard (no matter how pretty they'd look):

You've finally found your dream home! Not only is it beautiful inside and out and the perfect size for your family, it's also close to your work, it's in a great school district, and there are plenty of children in the neighborhood for your kids to play with!

But before you finalize the sale, do yourself a favor and check the plumbing throughout the house to know for sure whether this great house is too good to be true. To help you out, we created this plumbing checklist so you'll know exactly what to look for: