If you’re getting ready for the holidays, you might be decorating, compiling recipes and baking cookies. You’re probably scouring your house from top to bottom in preparation for guests. You may be on top of the cleaning, but have you considered the plumbing? Don’t suffer because of surprises. Use these tips to prepare your home for the holidays.
Make Your Bathroom Merry
While you’re sprucing up your home for the holidays, don’t neglect the bathroom. Make sure that it’s well-stocked with toilet paper, hand soap and towels. Provide lots of luxurious extras, such as scented holiday soaps or a sugar scrub for guests’ hands. If loved ones will be using the shower or bathtub, put enough shampoo, conditioner and body wash in there to go around. Add a hair catcher to the drain to prevent clogs.
Prevent Unpleasant Surprises
Although you don’t want to expect the worst, you should probably prepare for it. Every home should have a plunger for the holidays. Whether you have extra guests flushing mounds of toilet paper or kids exploring what happens to their new toys when they swirl around the toilet bowl, you don’t want to deal with a messy sewage disaster while eating your turkey.
If a Clog Occurs
Turn off the water by rotating the knob behind the tank. This should prevent the bowl from filling up and overflowing. Depending on the severity of the clog, the water should slowly drain. Then you can use the plunger to work the clog loose.
Warm Up Those Pipes
While we often have mild winters, ice storms and freezing temperatures can crop up out of nowhere. If your pipes freeze, you could end up dealing with leaking pipes and flooding.
Insulate outdoor spigots to protect them from the cold
Cover exposed pipes in your garage or under your crawl space
If freezing temperatures are forecasted, leave the faucets dripping
Keep Your Garbage Disposal Humming
With so much cooking and entertaining going on, someone is sure to put something inappropriate into the garbage disposal. Hard items, like the turkey wishbone, can damage the disposal. Fat clogs it up. Potato peelings can get starchy and make the equipment struggle to work optimally.
Make it easy for guests to do the right thing by putting a canister labeled “food scraps” next to the disposal. People won’t have to ask where your garbage can is, and they’ll be more likely to put their scrapings where they’re supposed to be.
Keep Your Guests Warm and Cozy
If you have overnight visitors, make sure that you have plenty of hot water to keep them comfortable in the shower. Pay attention to your water heater before it gives you problems.
Some ways to make sure that it’s functioning correctly include:
Check the temperature/pressure relief valve
Replace your anode rod
Flush the water heater tank
Consider purchasing a tankless water heater so you never have to worry about running out of hot water.
Deck the Halls
The holidays aren’t very festive if your home isn’t decked out with good cheer. In addition to all the practical maintenance that you’re doing, allow yourself to have some fun. Place candles that are scented like pine or cinnamon around the house. Hang lights outside. Put up your decorations early so that you don’t have to stress over it once your guests arrive.
With the right preparation, you can have a hassle-free holiday. Call The Plumbing Authority at (865) 238-2280 to ensure that your plumbing can handle the holiday season.