Put together an emergency plumbing kit with these with these simple tips and you can prepare yourself for most minor plumbing problems. Keeping essential plumbing tools on hand is great for times when a sink overflows, a pipe starts to leak or a sink or toilet clogs. You can prevent a big plumbing emergency from becoming even bigger by using your tools to help control a situation until your plumber arrives to help. Here are some tips for what should be included in your plumbing emergency kit
The most common and essential tool for plumbing is a plunger. Ideally, you want a cup style plunger. This type of plunger is good for sinks and tubs. It also works on toilets, but if you can, get a ball plunger as well. This is a good tool for plunging out more severe toilet clogs.
But, for really bad clogs in the toilet, keep a bellows plunger around. At the very least an ordinary plunger is fine to keep in your tool area or right in the bathroom area in a linen closet so that it stays within handy reach.
There are a few types of pliers you want in your plumbing kit. Locking pliers and needle- nosed pliers help with several emergency repairs and get around all kinds of pipes and small parts. Plumbers tape or teflon tape is also something handy to keep around your home. This tape is also referred to as PTFE tape. Use it around joints and pipe threads. It can be useful to seal off certain areas in and around a sink or faucet. The tape is also good to have for regular plumbing jobs like putting it on a shower head or a faucet supply line.
Plumbers putty is the stuff you will want to have plenty of for emergency leaks. This will seal up unpressured joints in sink drains and creates waterproof seals which can save a plumbing problem from getting much worse while you wait for a plumber to arrive to fix something. Have a basin wrench in your plumbing tool kit. It gets around places under sinks that are very hard to reach otherwise. Augers are another handy tool to have available. Useful for tackling sink clogs, one type of auger is made like a rounded drum which can get rid of the debris that is causing the clog. Toilet clogs are handled better by a different type of auger called a closet auger. Sometimes these augers are sold as toilet augers. Be sure to have the two different kinds around because the toilet auger does not help with sink or bathtub clogs.
Keep a few caulking guns around. These are great for redoing the caulking as needed in the house, but they are also good for quick but temporary repairs in emergencies. Your plumbing tool kit is a great thing to reach for when a clog or leak starts serious trouble. You can place a call to your local plumbing company and while you wait for them to arrive you can get the situation under better control. Besides lessening the damages, you also may lessen the cost of the emergency repair.