Factors To Be Taken Into Consideration When Hiring A Plumber

Factors to Be Taken into Consideration When Hiring a Plumber

A plumber is a serviceman who ensures the maintenance and initializing of the sewer, drainage and portable drinking water system. Plumbers are a very important part of the service force for our household. We must always hire the best plumber for our house. In case of any plumbing emergencies it is very important that we get the best facility for our house. if we fail to get the same, it might result into high priced repairs in the near future. Therefore, there are a few important factors that need to be taken into consideration when we are to hire a plumber. Here is a list of some such facts.

Licenses

The Australian plumbers are required to have licenses in order to carry on with their work across the country.  The licensing may differ from state to state, but it is generally accepted after an apprenticeship of four years with an additional experience of two years. They also require a curriculum requirement as a benchmark for their licensing. The license ensures that the plumber is well trained in the field and is capable to carry on with the work in the concerned field.

Experience

The next most important thing to look for in a plumber is the experience. The experience of the service provider will let you know all about the kind of work a plumber can do. This also lets you assess the quality of the   service he provides and also helps to understand the complexity of the procedures involved in different kinds of work that the plumber has been doing. You can hence, with this gather whether he is fit to work according to your needs or not. Also, with experience he can guide you through any difficulties and also help you out in various situations.

Cost

The most important factor which has to be taken into consideration when you are hiring a plumber is to look at the price a plumber charges for a particular job. It is essential to ensure that the plumber is not charging more than it’s worth and is also providing you with the required benefits. It is not necessary that a plumber who charges high will provide you with a much better service, but someone who is fairly priced is bound to give you shining results.

References

Whenever we are to hire someone for a particular job, it is important that we always check for references. The references let us know the kind of work he has done previously. The list of references also allows you to have a look at the profile of the plumber and have a look at the resume. Any good plumber will let you have a look at their reference lists and not hesitate even once. Therefore, you should always check for it.

Response Time

The next most important factor is to consider the response time of the plumber. We often have plumbing emergencies in the most bizarre situations in our life. Hence, making sure that your plumber is readily available for you is very important. They should be competent enough to contact you within 24 hours of your problem and solve it as soon as possible.

These are just a few important factors which need to be taken into consideration when you are to hire a plumber for service. Other factors such as warranty of their work and insurance are also the deciding factors. The plumbers which keep in mind the benefits of the customers are very hard to find. These tips somewhere help us to find the best plumber required for our needs. Therefore, we should try and accommodate these tips when finding plumbers for rectifying household plumbing issues.

Guest Contributor, Amelie Lawrence

Yuck!!! What is that Smell?

Yuck!!! What is that Smell?

What are you putting down the drain?

My husband is a plumber, I know what I’m allowed to put down the drain and what doesn’t belong down the drain. Recently we redid our plumbing in our kitchen, so there is zero excuse for the sink to smell. I love to cook, with cooking comes a pile of dishes, pots and pans constantly getting washed in our kitchen sink. It doesn’t matter what you like to cook, everyone uses some sort of oil or butter for cooking. I personally love Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and I know for a fact that it needs to be disposed of properly (in a container or double bagged) and thrown in the garbage. But, there will always be residue left on plates, and on pots and pans. If you’re not putting oil down your sink drain, why does it still smell? Because of all the residue left on your plates, pots and pans, you are going to get a nasty smell coming from your sink drain.

How do we stop the sink drain from smelling? You should always run cold water down your drain. Every couple of weeks or once a month, depending on how much you use your sink, you need to clean your sink drain with baking soda and vinegar. Another reason your sink drain might smell could be caused by having incorrectly installed waste lines, causing your P-Trap to not hold water to prevent sewer gasses from exiting. Finally, it could be a clogged-up vent pipe. For your kitchen sink to work the way it should, you need your drains and vents to work correctly. If you have maintain your sink drain and it still has a bad smell, contact a plumber. They will check your waste lines and vent pipes.

If you keep your sink drain clean and clear, and properly maintained, there shouldn’t be any reason for your kitchen sink drain to smell bad. 

What Doesn’t Belong Down the Drain:

·       Oil

·       Butter

·       Bones

·       Peels

·       Vegetables

·       Fruits

·       Seeds

·       Plastic

·       Metal

·       Glass

What Belongs Down the Drain:

·       Water

·       Dirty Water

·       Dirty Soapy Water

·       …..that’s it!!!!

How to Maintain a Good Smelling Sink?

Vinegar, Baking Soda and Lemon Juice. ½ cup of vinegar, ½ a cup of baking soda. Pour it down the drain, let it sit for 30 minutes. After squeeze 1 lemon down the drain, let it sit there for another 30 minutes. Followed by cold running water to wash everything down. Your drain will smell great.

Garbage Disposal:

Vinegar & Baking Soda, ½ cup of vinegar and ½ cup of baking soda down garbage disposal. Let it sit there for 30 minutes, then flush out with cold water. Follow it with fresh squeezed lemon juice and ice, turn on garbage disposal.

Freeze lemon wedges in ice cube trays, place ice cubes down garbage disposal every couple of weeks if you regularly use garbage disposal.

Now you should have a GREAT smelling kitchen sink. If you need help or would love to have one of our plumbers check out your kitchen sink drain, give us a call. We are always happy to help you.

-Kevin Szabo Jr Plumbing Team

708-845-7922

Tips To Select Right Plumbing Services!

Tips to Select Right Plumbing Services!

When you need a plumber, what do you do? You take out your mobile phone and call a service searching provider? Or call your neighbour and ask them about the company with whom they have worked before? These are quick and good ways to find a plumbing service provider for the plumbing problems in your house. But the problem arises when you have to select between many companies. How do you choose from them?

Choosing the right plumber will help you to get all the things fixed without even worrying about being charged for unnecessary add-ons and paying inflated rates for something which is not required.

How to find out the best plumbing service? 

Licenses

Most of the states require the plumbers to hold a license.  Here, you will have to talk to the service provider and ask them about their licenses. If they are licensed, then you should work with them as they will provide the best services. They will make sure that the problem does not occur again. While someone who does not have the license to work will be in a hurry to get the work done and leave the place. They will not provide the maintenance if the problem arises again. Also, the ones who are licensed, also have an insurance. This will work if there is an accident taking place in the working area, the insurance will cover everything and the homeowner would not have to worry about it. 

Experience matters when you choose the right plumber

Ask the plumbing services provider about the time the company has been working in the business. The company which is an experienced in the sector will have plumbers with years of experience. But you should still ask them. This will tell you about the company and their services. Having an experience means that they have a proven track record of quality work.

Good communication

You might tell anyone immediately about the service provider after you have spoken to the over a call. If the person treated you well and spoke to you in a polite way will tell you a lot of things about them. It is a good sign of customer service and that will tell you a lot about the company.  When you talk to them, they should treat you as a priority and be always ready to work for you at your given time. This is a good sign of professionalism.

Pricing can be negotiated before you employ the plumber for your work

The plumber will always know what the work is and should be able to provide you with an estimate accurately. If there are any major tasks included, he should tell you without any problems. You can get two or three estimates from different plumbing service providers and then decide whom to choose from them. Your selection should depend upon the pricing and the quality of the services which they provide. If a particular estimate is lower than the others, then you can make out that the plumber is cutting costs by using inferior parts. When you call a local plumber, you can get rid of all the excess costs related to transportation. But when you hire the plumbers for large-scale projects, and they have to come a long way, then additional charges will be incurred.

All plumbing services providers should always guarantee their work. This shall include all the parts which are included as well as the service of the serviceman. Many of the warranties cover the plumber’s work for up to one year. If the plumber refuses to guarantee his work then you can easily make out that he is not a good option. You can then search for someone else and work with them.

Guest Contributor, Amelie Lawrence

Stop! Who's Installing Your Water Heater?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water Heater Installation or Repair

Every day, I start my morning off by enjoying a cup of coffee and reading through my emails and scrolling through social media (don’t lie, you do the same). News, friend’s posts, funny stuff, world travel, latest gossip and local group pages. The local handy man group pages always have people looking for plumbers, and thankfully our community is lucky enough to have several licensed plumbers in the area. When the post is recent, I try my best to answer questions or offer my number for advice. What I’m shocked by, is when people need a water heater installed or repaired, I see non-licensed plumbers offering to install or repair it. Do people not know that only a licensed plumber can install or repair a water heater?

A water heater is the most dangerous appliance in a building.

In most ordinances homeowners are allowed to install their own water heaters, but if you’re hiring a contractor it has to be a licensed plumber that installs your water heater. Yes you have the internet to walk you step by step on how to install a water heater. Youtube videos, group pages, forums, and so on. Do you have all the tools needed? Did you connect the right pipes? Temperature Relief valve? Gas line? Dielectric Unions? After spending all Saturday afternoon going back and forth calling Johnny down the street asking for advice, you finally decide to call your local licensed plumber. Frustrated you explain to your licensed plumber what’s going on. If only you would have listened to your wife and called the plumber in the first place (Never admit she was right).

When a water heater is installed correctly, you could go back to enjoying hot showers and having hot water on demand. But, if improperly done, it could be your worst nightmare. If a water heater explodes, it could cause your entire house to blow up. The explosion can be compared to many sticks of dynamite. It’s not worth risking your family’s life or your neighbors. Plus, I don’t know if your home insurance will cover the accident. It’s not worth it. Let your licensed plumber do the job.

Your time is precious, think of all the things you could be doing instead of installing a water heater:

•               Taking a nap
•               Watching March Madness
•               Reading blog posts
•               Exercising
•               Enjoying a drink
•               Learning a new language
•               Cooking
•               Eating
•               Playing with your kids
•               Shopping for stuff you don’t need on the internet
•               Tagging your spouse in everything you want for your birthday that you don’t  need
•               Texting your friends
•               Mowing the lawn
•               Finally working on things around the house that you’ve been putting off
•               Pretending to do work in the garage while drinking a beer
•               Watching funny videos
•               Catching up with work

In conclusion, if you want to install your own water heater, we wish you all the best. If hiring someone to install your new water heater or repairing your old one, it must be a licensed plumber. Give us a call if you have any questions. We are always here to help. 

Kevin Szabo Jr Plumbing

708-845-7922