Is It Time to Upgrade Your Plumbing System? | Insight from Your Trusted Houston Heights Plumber

8/15/2020

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Your plumbing system is one of the most used parts of your home, so it’s important to make sure it’s up to your standards. Unfortunately, a lot of homeowners have plumbing systems that could use a little bit of an upgrade. Whether you feel like your toilet isn’t quite powerful enough or your faucet is having problems, upgrading your plumbing is a great way to get a fresh feel to your water system. If you’re thinking about having a plumber install new pipes or a new fixture, here’s how you can decide if it’s time to make an upgrade.

Pipe Problems

If you’ve had a lot of problems with your pipes, that’s a good sign that you need to upgrade your plumbing system. Pipes are only made to last so long because of the materials they’re made of, so you need to have them replaced every once in a while. If your home was built more than half a century ago and you’ve never had a plumber take a look at your pipes, you might be in the market for a repipe.

Water lines are the ones that tend to go the quickest, although they still last quite a while. Water lines can last up to 70 years, although that depends on water and soil quality as well as other external factors. However, you still have to keep an eye on them more than drain lines.

The drain line in your home is what lasts the longest. Since PVC drain lines haven’t been used for a long time, nobody can say for sure how long they will last. However, most plumbers agree that PVC drain lines have an indefinite lifespan, which means you don’t have to worry too much about replacing them.

Wasting Water

The fact of the matter is, you’ve got to use a good amount of water if you want to keep yourself and your family comfortable. Some people like to take longer showers while others prefer to wash their cars on a regular basis. Despite that, you shouldn’t be spending a huge amount on your water bill. If your water bill is absurdly high, that’s a sign that you might need to have a plumber take a look at your plumbing system.

In some cases, a high water bill is the result of a running toilet. While it might not sound like a huge deal, a running toilet can cost nearly $100 per month when it comes to your water bill. Depending on the toilet, this cost may even exceed $100.

If you’re noticing any unusual problems with your water bill, you might want to consider upgrading some of the fixtures in your Houston Heights home. A running toilet or leaking sink can cost you a lot more money than it costs to replace the fixture, so it’s best to do it before you end up with a hefty water bill.

Leaks

Whenever you’ve got a leak in one of the pipes in your home, you’ve got a big problem. When pipes are freshly installed and all the fittings are attached right, you shouldn’t have to worry about any water leaking out. If you’ve got older pipes in your home or some of your plumbing work was done by an amateur, you might have a leak that could lead to costly water damage and other problems down the line. If you have a leak in your home, you need to have a plumber fix it ASAP.

While a plumber can fix a leak without a whole lot of trouble or invasive work, those leaks can cause a lot of water damage on your home. On top of that, they can cause an increase in your water bill that leaves you spending more money. The best thing you can do if you want to save money on plumbing repairs and your water bill is keep an eye out for leaks and report them to a professional as soon as you notice them. You might consider having a leak detector installed so you can be notified of any potential leaks in your plumbing system right when they occur.

Lack of Features

While it’s not the biggest reason to upgrade your plumbing system, some people hire a plumber to install new fixtures just to get some of the latest features. If all the fixtures in your home are decades old and lack all the water-saving and convenience features of new fixtures, you might want to consider upgrading.

One of the best things to upgrade is your kitchen, especially if you’ve got a small sink or an older faucet currently. Upgrading your kitchen faucet to a newer model with a built-in spray nozzle can make it much easier to do dishes and cook, which is a huge part of making your kitchen work for you.

If you’re tired of the lack of water in your shower, you could have a plumber install a second showerhead so you can rinse yourself off from all angles. You could also have a more powerful toilet installed so you don’t have to worry about your toilet getting clogged or taking multiple flushes to get everything down. These are all great reasons to upgrade the plumbing fixtures in your home.

Here to Help

The truth is, there are tons of things you can do to make the plumbing system in your Houston Heights home a little bit better. If you want to make sure you’re only getting the upgrades your home needs, you can have a plumber take a look at your home and recommend the best upgrades.

If you’re in the Houston Heights area, bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of West Houston can help you with all your plumbing upgrade needs. Our plumbers know what it takes to get your plumbing system in great shape, and they’re happy to help. Give us a call at (346) 262-0129 today.