What can go wrong with plumbing in a newer home

What can go wrong with plumbing in a newer home

You love the thought of a new home. New kitchen. Open floor plan. The office with a view. The yard with so much potential!

Perhaps you’re getting ready to leave your current home behind, or you’ve purchased a new house and you’re excited to settle in.

Once-upon-a-time we covered what can go wrong with plumbing in older homes. Unfortunately, even though a new home seems like a fairy tale dream come true, things can still go awry.

Here are 5 plumbing issues that can occur in new homes—even Camelot.

  1. Roots: You heard us. Even new builds can have root issues in pipes. Roots can enter your sewer line in two ways: through the normal, healthy joints or through or through a break in the line. While we hope there are no breaks in the sewer line of your new home, it’s possible that on a new build, the ground can adjust and cause a line to separate. If you have a sewer back up, we can clean and camera the line to make sure it is clear AND that there are no problems with the sewer line itself.In Colorado, our long periods of drought mean plants get powerfully thirsty. So, it doesn’t take much for new plants to seek out the available water in a home’s sewer lines. While we’re on the topic, some trees and shrubs have particularly aggressive roots, so it’s important to think about what types of trees and shrubs you will plant around your new home, if you have a choice. Poplars, elms, oaks and juniper shrubs can cause particular issues. Remember that a new tree will have a root system that extends 2-3 times farther than the crown of your tree. Think of what those roots will do to plumbing while planning your landscaping.
  1. Blocked drains: During construction, builders sometimes aren’t careful about ensuring construction debris stays away from plumbing. Building “leftovers” can make their way into your plumbing and partially or entirely block drains, creating headaches for future homeowners.
  1. Leaky faucets: When you move into a new home, check each sink, shower, tub and outdoor faucet to ensure they aren’t leaking. You may have broken fixtures or need new washers or fittings. Even tiny leaks can add up to big water loss over time.
  1. Running toilets: Toilets that make noise when you aren’t in the room are sad, unhealthy toilets. Wish you could test your toilets for leaks? You can! Do the blue dye test in as little as 15 minutes to see if your toilets need the help of a professional. We’ve put together a short video to show you how.
  1. Inspection protection: Want peace of mind? Be proactive. Ensure all of the afore-mentioned issues don’t become your issues when you move into a new home. Call a friendly, reputable company like Garvin’s to do a sewer inspection and a professional walkthrough. We can perform any needed maintenance and help ensure your new home is in great shape when you move in.

Whether you’re dreaming of moving into a castle with a five car garage, or downsizing to a townhome with a smaller yard, Garvin’s Sewer Service in Englewood can help you with all of your plumbing and sewer service needs. We proudly serve homeowners in the greater Denver and Boulder areas and are excited to be expanding more in the north, serving Brighton, Broomfield and Evans, Colorado. Our services are speedy and priced right and our technicians are top-notch. Call 303-571-5114 today, or contact us for a quote.

The Miracle of Modern Plumbing

The Miracle of Modern Plumbing

We hope you had a restful Labor Day! Perhaps you even went camping? There’s nothing like a fun stint in the woods with family and friends to celebrate the holiday. 

Until you encounter a pit toilet or a “Luggable Loo” and then, suddenly, you really appreciate home and… plumbing. 

In honor of this time of year when we take a rest from toil, let’s quickly survey the history of one of our most incredible labor-saving systems—modern plumbing. 

Before we begin, if you play Scrabble, take notes. The story of plumbing is full of cool words that might just pump up your score.

Persia

Ancient Iranians or Persians built Qanats or Kariz to supply their communities with fresh water. Qanats were constructed of vertical channels dug from the surface of hillsides deep into the earth and connected to a horizontal channel engineered to carry water where it was most needed. The Persians connected the qanats to Ab Abnars or big, tower-like cisterns to hold water. Many quanats are still in use today.

Ancient Iranians understood that removing waste water from their communities helped their people to thrive. They conceived systems for sanitation in the city of Zabol which is on the border of modern Afghanistan.

China

The Chinese are known for inventing paper and noodles. But, few people know that the Chinese dug deep, complicated wells for drinking water up to 7000 years ago! 

The ancient Chinese not only knew how to establish long-lasting sources of water, they knew they needed to take care of them. The I-Ching, an important Chinese text written in 1000 BCE, advises readers how to maintain and protect sources of drinking water. Archaeologists found evidence of plumbing from the first imperial dynasty which dates to 221 BCE.

Pakistan and Northern India

Modern-day Pakistan and Northern India comprised the Indus Valley in ancient times. In the city of Lothal in the valley, people had their own indoor covered toilets which were routinely emptied and cleaned as early as 2350 BCE. Nearby cities contained bath houses which were emptied into pipes that flowed into common drains. 

In what is now Pakistan, houses drew water from wells and drained waste water into covered drains in the street.

Greece

Travel to Knossos today on the Island of Crete and you can still see the ruins of the ancient Minoan civilization. The paintings etched on the walls there look slightly Egyptian and their colors are still vivid.  Minoans were some of the first people to use underground clay pipes for carrying and eliminating waste water. Later, Cretans engineered some of the first flush toilets on Earth. 

A Greek inventor named Heron invented a system in 62 ACE to put water under pressure and use it to fight fires in Alexandria, Greece, a city of over 5 million people desperately in need of such ingenuity.

Rome

The ancient Romans built an incredible system for sanitation called the Cloaca Maxima which drained overflow water around Rome into the Tiber River. They built public toilets (from photos, they look like stone, open-air pit toilets) over the Cloaca Maxima and the sewage was carried away by the river. 

The Romans also developed a huge, intricate system of aqua ducts that carried water into the city from the nearby mountains. Parts of the aqua ducts and associated piping were constructed from clay, stone and lead. In fact, our modern word “plumbing” comes from the Latin word for “lead,” plumbum

Some historians theorized that the fall of the Roman Empire started after much of the city was retrofit with lead pipes. However recent scientists think that the Roman water was so full of calcium it formed a protective layer inside the pipes and the Roman water was never in full contact with lead.

Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages, cleanliness rituals were often tied to religious or philosophical practices. In Nepal, constructing a drinking fountain for others to use was considered a virtuous act. The Nepalese built a drinking water system made of hiti, or stone fountains that funneled water from deep underground sources, as early as 550 ACE. 

As far back as the 7th century, Islamic purity practices required ritual washing and bathing which fostered an entire industry to build bath houses throughout nations that practiced Islam.

Europeans in the Middle Ages were not as concerned with cleanliness or hygiene. Waste water sometimes ran in open channels down the middle of streets. This lack of fastidiousness and poor sanitation led to the spread of the Black Plague. The first closed European sewer wasn’t constructed until 1370 ACE. 

In the 16th century, Sir John Harington of England invented his version of the flush toilet for Queen Elizabeth I and waste from the device sluiced into a cesspool. Lucky Sir John—many people in the English speaking world still refer to him when Mother Nature calls.

Modern Era

By the year 1535, politicians began to enact legislation in England to keep the central river in London, the Thames, free of waste. The legislation was ignored and construction of an actual sewer system didn’t begin until the mid-to late-1800’s, meanwhile cholera ravaged London in a series of epidemics.

By the end of the 19th century, many large cities in Europe and the U.S. established underground sewer systems. Studies in the UK and Germany led to an understanding that disease could be transmitted by contaminated water and eliminated by water treatment and filtration.

Today modern water and sewage pipes are made not from wood, stone and lead, but of steel, copper and plastic. The modern materials are more durable and easier to install than their ancient counterparts. 

Galvanized steel pipe can last up to 50 years though it can sometimes corrode. Copper pipe is clean and efficient, but extremely expensive today. Plastic piping comes in seven different varieties for various uses from PVC to PEX-AI-PEX which contains a layer of aluminum between layers of plastic. 

In the United States, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates sewer utilities and monitors the safety of drinking water. Our nation passed the Clean Water Act in 1972 which improved the treatment of waste and began to protect our natural water resources. We passed the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974 to monitor major contaminants in our drinking water. 

At Garvins, we care about you, your water and your sewer system. We do sewer cleaning, drain cleaning, sewer camera inspection and preventative maintenance. Contact us today for a Speedy Fast Quote or call us anytime.


Sources:

History of water supply and sanitation – Wikipedia
https://www.hydratelife.org/the-qanat-an-ancient-technology-still-delivering-water-today/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumbing
Water supply and sanitation in the United States – Wikipedia