Questions About Plumbing? This Should Help You!
Nowadays the need for effective home plumbing is on the rise. The demand for products and equipment leads to some very innovative techniques that you can do yourself. Now is your chance to find something that works for your plumbing system. Here are some tips that you can use to get you started with doing your own plumbing.
Before starting any plumbing project on your own be sure to do a great deal of research. There are many resources available to assist you in understanding your plumbing system and help you to avoid many common mistakes made by do-it-yourself novices. Reading about other people's mistakes can make the difference of saving or losing money.
To avoid having your outdoor faucets freeze up in the winter, detach all hoses before the first freeze. Also, close the shutoff valve that leads to the outdoor faucets, then turn on the outdoor faucets to let any remaining water in the lines drain. Once temperatures warm up in the spring, you can reverse the process.
Make sure that you disconnect all hoses outside your house when the fall season hits. This is important to reduce the chance of freezing, which can cause damage to the connecting pipes. Disconnect all of your water hoses and store them safely to put your family in the best position for the fall.
DIY plumbing jobs will require that you understand how to solder copper for the lines for the water supply. You can practice this skill so that you will be able to run your lines without worrying about it leaking. Search online for video tutorials that can help you get a handle on how to go about soldering.
Cover pipes that are outside or in cool areas. Use heat tape to make sure that the pipes are completely covered and insulated. This will prevent frozen pipes in the winter, which can be an expensive problem. Check outdoor pipes for other problems such as leaks and cracks which are better to catch early.
Make sure that any exposed pipes in your home are insulated, especially those found in crawl spaces on the outside walls of your home. This will help keep them from freezing and causing you tons of problems. Frozen pipes can often be more info devastating and leave you with problems that are expensive to fix and no water in the middle of winter.
As you have read, there are many different ways to deal with and maintain your own plumbing. You need to find the treatment that works for you. There is a ton of information that can help you get started. By following these tips, you are well on your way to doing your own plumbing like a pro.
First female plumbing lecturer at Southern Regional College
One of Northern Ireland's biggest further and higher education colleges has announced the appointment of its first female plumbing lecturer.
Colleen Rafferty will train students at Southern Regional College (SRC) in Newry, County Down.
Women are still very much under-represented in the plumbing industry and the SRC said her appointment "leads the way for women in construction".
"Misconceptions about gender-specific roles are gradually diminishing with a growing number of women choosing a career in construction," the college said.
Ms Rafferty said although she was often the only woman working on building sites, she always found the industry very welcoming and supportive.
'Boilers and things'
The 22-year-old from Ballymartin, County Down, is well used to standing out because of her gender.
Having grown up as the only girl in a family with four older brothers, she told BBC News NI that "being in a male-dominated area isn't something that's new to me".
When she left school in 2016, she was the only female student to study SRC's plumbing and heating training course, even though there were about 30 students in her year group.
In fact, she was the only female plumbing student throughout her entire four-year apprenticeship.
Her interest in the industry was sparked by her eldest brother Blaine, who runs his own plumbing firm, and by their grandfather, who works in the heating industry.