The era has come! The era where it is fair to say that owning a house in the Greater Toronto Area is considered a luxury nowadays. With prices skyrocketing and reaching all-time high, it is quite difficult to afford paying triple, quadruple and maybe even more, compared to what our parents paid for their houses. A house is the vast majority's largest investment of their lifetime. That being said, we want to make sure that property is being treated and protected the right way.
That's why we created this list of 5 things every home owner must follow to maintain their plumbing and prevent a devastating insurance claims, costly repairs and lots of headaches.
1. Winterize your Hose Bibs (aka. Outside Tap)
Toronto, and its surrounding areas, are situated on the upper half of the Northern Hemisphere. This fact means that our winters are well below zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), which could easily cause major damage to any outdoor plumbing. Every house has at least one hose bib (outside tap) which is used primarily to water the lawn, garden, and plants and fill up the swimming pool in the summer (if you are even more fortunate). That hose bib is made from metal, such as brass, and is not designed to to withstand such extreme cold temperatures. The pipe connected to it going into the house, typically copper, isn't either.
Every year, many basements are flooded and/or have water damage due to a leak in the burst copper pipe. The water damage often brings with it mildew and mold, if left untreated or is hidden behind drywall, which could become costly to fix.
There is a simple and short procedure that is done, and if skipped, may cause damage to the inside of your house. This process, called Winterizing your hose bibs, is basically a way to cut off the supply of water to the hose bib from inside of the house - where its warm and temperature controlled all year round. According to the Ontario Plumbing Code, a hose bib must have a valve that can be turned on/off thereby allowing water to flow or cease from going to the outside. This valve can be typically found behind the ceiling drywall and should have an access panel or door to it.
See below photos of a real repair of such valve. Click on the arrow on the right side of the photo to continue to the next:
After turning that valve off, you want to go outside and open the hose bib, leaving it in the open position for the entire duration of the winter. Then, coming back inside, grab a disposable cup, hold it below the valve, and open the drain port on the valve by unscrewing it to drain out any residual water that's left in the pipe. Once all the water is out the pipe, you can go ahead and screw that drain port cap back on - be careful not to over tighten. And you're all done! your hose bib now is frost free and ready to withstand the upcoming winter.
When spring comes, all you have to do in order to restore the operation of the hose bib to normal is to turn that indoor valve back on and you'll have water flowing out of the hose bib in no time!
2. - COMING SOON
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