As a homeowner, there comes a time when you have to do it yourself. Whether it’s unblocking a clogged toilet or a leaky faucet, plumbing problems are inevitable. This is especially if you use hard water. Speaking of hard water, it might be time to acquire a water softener system for your home. The many water softener system reviews you have read online have probably warmed you up to the idea of buying such a system. If not yet convinced consider how expensive it will be to have to call a plumber every time your faucet develops a leak. To avoid calling a plumber every other time you have a problem, there are certain appliances you should have. These appliances will help you resolve any plumbing problems that may come up.

Hacksaw

One of the most important and versatile appliances you should have is a hacksaw. This type of saw is loved by plumbers and DIY enthusiasts like yourself for its versatility. This saw can be used to cut through metal pipes, bolts, screws and even plastic pipes. Ideally, buy a hacksaw whose blade is tense in the frame. This type of hacksaw will help you cut through tough pipes and other metallic objects. A hacksaw will come in handy when you need to cut off a pipe that has been damaged by scale build up.

Metal file

While a hacksaw comes in handy when you want to cut a metal or plastic pipe, a metal file comes in handy when you need to smoothen the edges of a pipe after a cut. For emergencies, it is advisable to have two files on standby. The first is one with both rounded and flat surfaces while the second is one with a round and tapered surface. A metal file is used with a hacksaw and having both tools will make work easier. This is especially when you need to fix a corroded pipe or need to replace a corroded pipe with another.

Pipe wrench

A pipe wrench is great for tightening or loosening threaded pipes, which are found in your home’s plumbing. Despite them being large and heavy, pipe wrenches are important for any DIY project. The reason being that they are used to tighten loose pipes. The serrated teeth of a wrench are useful for gripping. However, these teeth can damage the finish of your pipes. It is therefore recommended that you wrap a cloth around the teeth. Additionally, it is recommended that you buy two wrenches. One will be for gripping and holding while the other will be for turning.

Tubbing cutter

Another cutting appliance that you will need to have is the tubing cutter. The latter is a c-shaped cutter that is used for cutting copper pipe. Pipes made of copper are common in most homes and the tubing cutter is the fastest and cleanest way of cutting these pipes. There are two kinds of tubing cutters you can get, a standard sized and a close quarter mini-cutter. The first will be useful when you need to cut a copper pipe that is easy to access. On the other hand, the close quarter mini-cutter will come in handy when you need to cut a pipe in close and tight spaces.

Apart from the above four appliances, there are many other appliances that you can use for a DIY plumbing repair project. One of the most common appliances is the plunger. This indispensable appliance is the best tool for unclogging sinks or toilets. More often than not using hard water will result in a clog due to scale build up. When this happens, you will need to deal with the clog quickly. With the plunger, you are able to get to work within seconds. The plunger works by vacuuming the clog out. For toilet clogs that the plunger cannot handle, the closet auger will be useful. This appliance comes with a long steel cable that can push through the most stubborn of clogs. Overall, these appliances will be necessary if you have hard water problems. But if you want to rid yourself of these problems you will have to get a water softener system. A water softener system is designed to eliminate water hardness and prevent scale build up.

In this day and age, it is easy to get caught up the hassles and bustles of daily life. It is even easy to forget to keep your home organized and tidy. Unfortunately, an unorganized and untidy home will cause you headaches. Therefore, it is crucial that you figure out how to balance your daily schedule with your homes demands. It always feels nice and relaxing when you get back to an organized and tidy house after a long day. There are several things you can do to ensure your home is always organized and tidy. And all that is required is to find a little bit of time each day to dedicate to the tidiness of your home. Below are some of the things to keep in mind.

The laundry

One of the things that can make your home look disorganized is unclean laundry. It is therefore important to dedicate some few minutes to cleaning laundry. Try and do one load of laundry every day. To accomplish this, throw your load into the washer in the morning. In the evening start the washer and remove the laundry for drying before sitting down for dinner. This will go a long way in minimizing the laundry load in your home.

Priorities

Keeping your home tidy and organized entails ensuring that most of your utensils and appliances and clean. However, you cannot clean all your appliances at a go, given the limited time you have. As such, it is wise to prioritize what to clean. Some appliances are more important than others. Identify these appliances and ensure they are clean.

The bathroom

After taking a shower it is important that you clean the bathroom. This will entail wiping away any hard water rings or hair particles from the sinks and countertops. Wiping away these particles will not only ensure your home is organized by preventing clogging. Accumulation of such particles in sinks can lead to clogging, which in turn leads to damaged plumbing. Wiping the bathroom floor will also be important. Wiping the floor and removing any particles will take you a few minutes. This is, therefore, a task you can accomplish before you get started on your day.

Unloading the dishwasher

After breakfast, lunch, and dinner you probably throw the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. This is good as it prevents the build of dirty dishes in your sink. After dinner, try and unload the dishwasher before going to bed. This is to ensure you have utensils to use the following morning. It is a great way to prepare yourself for the following day’s activities.

There are many things you can do to keep your home organized such as cleaning the kitchen countertops. The countertops are some of the most visible parts of your home and cleaning them regularly will give your home an organized look. Also, if it is possible cleaning the utensils you are using as you cook can reduce your workload. This will also ensure that you do not have a huge load of dirty dishes laying around.

As you probably have figured out hard water can be a nuisance. While this type of water is rich in minerals such as calcium and magnesium, it is not good for home use. There are plenty of reasons why hard water is not good for home use. First, it leads to damage of your home’s plumbing and secondly it leaves a white residue on your utensils. Like you I have had to deal with hard water issues in my home. However, I have dealt with these issues and below are some of the steps I took in my quest to rid myself of hard water.

Testing the water hardness

The first thing I did was to test the hardness of the water I use. This entailed using a water hardness test kit. Similar to many other test kits, the one I used measured water hardness in grains per gallon. According to statistics, the average home uses 100 gallons of water a day. In my case I found the water hardness to be 9 per gallon. The purpose of measuring the hardness of the water was to know the kind of softener I needed.

Buying the water softener

To find the right softener to use, I multiplied the water hardness rate per gallon by the number of gallons I use in a day. This gave me the number of grains that a softener needs to soften per day. In my case, the water consumption stood at 300 gallons per day. When multiplied by 9 the result was 2700 grains per day. This meant that I had to get a water softener that was in the 2700 grain range.

Type of softener

The next step was to choose the right water softener type to buy. Softeners come in two categories salt based and non-salt based. For purposes of efficiency, I always go for salt-based softeners that add sodium or potassium ion into the water. Based on research I settled on sodium chloride softener. The benefits of sodium chloride softeners is that they are more common and efficient that potassium softeners. This type of ion exchange softeners adds a little bit of salt into the water, which replaces the calcium and magnesium ions that cause water hardness. It is important to note that potassium ion exchange softeners are not safe to use for everyone. People with kidney problems should not consume potassium. Also, there are certain medications that do not go well with intake of potassium.

Conclusion

There are all kinds of water softeners out there. However, I settled on one that refills automatically. This softener is better since it ensures that hard water does not get you off guard. My advice to anyone looking to buy a water softener is to check the softener’s information or details. The information that manufacturers provide on the packaging of these tools will help you know if it is the right one for you. There are some softeners that can be set at specific times of the week. Irregardless of the type of softener you select, it is important to get one that is suited to your water hardness issue