Where Is My Main House Water Shut Off Valve?

Where is my main house water shut off valve, is a question our Sarasota plumbers get asked a lot.  During the moment of panic, when your house is flooding, the answer can not come soon enough.

Turning your water off at the main house shut off valve, should be something everyone in the house needs to know.  It’s kinda like emergency fire drills.  You hope you never need to turn it off, because of a flood, but you need to know where it is and that it works easy.  Also make sure it is easy to find and is accessible.  Just like finding your entire family, including the dog and the cat, in the safe zone, if you had an actual fire.  It’s a relief to know you had a plan.  So, where is my main house shut off valve?

Floods are the same way.  If you can limit the amount of time the water is flowing wide open, you can limit the damage that could occur.  So, where is my main house shut-off valve?

How to Shut Off Your Water

Your main house shut of valve should be above ground against the wall of your home.  Usually, somewhere straight from the water meter.  It could be on the side of your house or in the front.  Years ago, plumbers were allowed to leave them underground, because we would remember where they where.  I can’t even remember what I had for breakfast.  So that method did not work very well for people who needed to turn off their water, because they can’t find it!

If you are on a well, it should be straight from the well to the your house.  You may even have a main shut off valve at the well.  But that could be a long run out to the well when a flood is occurring.  It is best to have the valve at the house.

Once you find the main house shut off valve, you need to make sure that it operates smoothly.  And that it shuts off the water completely.

The lever handle ball valves are the easiest for anyone to turn off.  Our Sarasota plumbers highly recommend that you have a lever handle ball valve for the main shut off valve.  It may be the cheapest insurance you will ever buy. Talk about peace of mind.

Make sure your spouse and your kids know where it is and how to use it.  Turn off your water when leaving the house for extended periods of time.

If you need a plumbers help locating or replacing your main house shut off valve in the Sarasota, Bradenton or Lakewood Ranch area, Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air is the Sarasota County Plumber you need to call.  Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air has served Sarasota Plumbing needs for over forty years.

Call your Sarasota plumbers today for an estimate!

Home Inspections, Do They find Everything That’s Wrong?

Home Inspections, by home inspectors, do they find everything that is wrong?  You and your spouse have finally agreed that the house you were just shown is THE one.  You picture yourself in the dining room, having breakfast as you see the sun coming up.  The house has a large work area for your hubby, to keep him out of your hair for a while.  There is the smell of fresh paint, new cabinets, new flooring, wow, just perfect.  The kitchen has just been redone, and the color of the granite top is just what you would of picked out.

So, you both agree this is the house you should buy.  After all, everything is new!  BEWARE.   During the buying process,  the lender will require a home inspector to look over the house.  This is a good thing.  The home you are fixing to invest in for and your children needs to be looked over.  This way you can be prepared for unexpected expenses that could be thousands of dollars.

In my experience of customers that have bought homes, who had home inspections by home inspectors, they find things wrong.  Which is great.  Now you know.  But occasionally, and more often than not, especially on older homes, inspectors don’t inspect the heart of the plumbing system.  This would be the drainage and waste lines.

Sarasota Plumbers essential for Older Home Inspections

Most home inspectors are not Florida State Certified Plumbing Contractors.  They may be able to flush the water closet and it flushes.   But does that mean when a family moves in and puts heavy use on an old cast iron drainage system, that it will work then?  Or will there be main line stoppages, because the waste lines themselves were not inspected?

If you are serious about the home you are buying,  you should have a licensed master plumber camera your waste lines.  He can give you a professional opinion on how much more life is left, of the heart of your plumbing system.  He can also tell you how much it will cost to replace the waste lines if they are beyond repair.  This would be great to know before signing the dotted line.

How’s the old saying go?  A picture is worth a thousand words.

Should you considering buying a home in the Sarasota, Bradenton or Lakewood Ranch area, call Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air, 941-322-1911,  or schedule an appointment on line.

We want to help you make an informed decision before buying your dream home.

Dust Free Concrete Cutting

Cutting concrete is sometimes necessary when you are remodeling your kitchen or bath.  The only way to keep the surroundings areas dust free, is to use a dust free concrete cutting system. Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air relies on the Hilti Dustless Technology System.  This system is 99.9% dust free.  It is an electric saw that will cut 4″ concrete without using any protective covers or zip walls.  Water is Not used, so there is no concrete mud slurry.  Hilti, uses a special vacumn system that collects all the dust.

When Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air has to cut concrete dust free, in a customers home, we can assure them 100%, that 99.9% of the dust will be contained with the Hilti Dustless Technology System.

Sarasota Plumbers Perform Dust-Free Concrete Cutting

Check out our Youtube video of our Sarasota plumbers cutting concrete dust free inside the Men’s Wearhouse, while they were open during the remodel.

Notice that we did not have to protect anything.  There was no dust.  One has to be confident to cut concrete without any protection around all of those black tuxedos.  With our Hilti Dust Free Concrete cutting system, we have the confidence.

If you have ever seen concrete being cut, you either saw an incredible cloud of dust that is so fine it gets all over everything, or you saw a slurry of concrete mud from being cut wet.  The concrete mud slurry ends up getting tracked everywhere you walk in the house.  And the wet cut is called a clean-cut.

The only way to clean cut concrete is to use the Hilti Dustless Technology system.  This truly is a dust free, clean cut way our Wimpy’s Sarasota plumbing services cut concrete in the SW Florida area.

If you want to relocate the kitchen sink, bathtub or toilet in your home, but dreaded the concrete cutting dust or mud slurry call the Sarasota plumbing team at Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air.  We will keep your home dust free, why?  We want you to love your plumber in Sarasota!

Call today for an estimate,941-322-1911.

A Plumber With Experience!

When people in Sarasota call a plumber, it is usually because they have a plumbing problem and don’t know how to fix it.  They want to rely on a professional plumber to do the job right.  They want a plumber with experience!

Customers don’t call and say, send me a helper to fix my plumbing, they want a plumber with experience!  After all, if your going to pay for a plumber, have them send you a man who at least holds a journey man’s plumbing license.  This license means they know the theory of plumbing, how waste and vent lines work together to protect the health of the nation.

Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air employs Florida State Certified licensed plumbers.  That’s what you will get when you call us to solve your plumbing problem.  We don’t send helpers to do a plumber’s job.  We send a plumber with experience!

As the owner of Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air, Bubba Butler, I grew up in the plumbing trade.  I realized the importance of knowing all phases of plumbing.  I wanted to know everything I could about plumbing.  On March 23,1979, I passed the Florida Master Plumbing exam.  This made me the youngest Master Plumber in the state of Florida, at the age of 19 years old. (Solarcraft put Bubba’s picture on a Billboard because he was the youngest Master Plumber in the State of FL)

I started plumbing with my dad, Wimpy, at the age of 7 years old.  Going to work with him on Saturdays and in the summer, I enjoyed plumbing from an early age. This was a time well before OSHA rules and child labor laws.  I vividly remember the age of seven, because one hot summer day I was carrying a ladle full of hot lead to my dad on a rough-in for a commercial building.  The ground at this stage of construction isn’t level.  I stumbled and poured the hot lead into my tennis shoe.  It was scalding hot as you can imagine the temperature of the molten lead.  I got to sit under a nice oak tree the rest of the day!

Even today, I want to learn more.  There are new things to learn every day.  I feel I am wasting my time here on earth if I don’t learn at least one new thing, every day.  Experience only comes from doing your time.  Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air has stood the test of time for forty years.  We are the Plumbers with experience!

Call Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air for your next plumbing problem. We have the experienced licensed plumbers to solve your plumbing problems.  We want you to Love Your Plumber!  Visit us at www.loveyourplumber.com or call 941-322-1911.

My House Main Water Valve Won’t Turn Off.

My house main water valve won’t turn off and I have a flood.  Many a plumber has heard that before.  Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air makes sure that  all of our customers know where to find their house main water valve to their home and that the house main water valve works properly.

Exercising the main house water valve from time to time is a great way to not only make sure that it is working, but to ingrain into the brain where it is located.

During an emergency, such as a flood, is no time to try to explain to your spouse or your children where to find the house main water valve.  This should be a game plan, like having  a fire drill.  A few minutes taken to show everyone in the house where the house main water valve is located, and show them how it works, could be priceless in an emergency.

If you are on a municipal water supply and have a flood, but can’t turn off your water, the municipality will send an emergency crew out to turn off your water.  But by the time they get the call and respond, you could end up with quite a bit of water damage.

A lot of homes today, don’t have a quality brass valve for the house main water valve.  Some of the house main water valves plumbers will put in are of not the best quality.  So over the course of a few years, the house main water valve that isn’t exercised, will freeze up or corrode up and not work when you need it the most.

Water, when and where you want it, is a wonderful thing.  Water that is flooding your home and your house main water valve that is not working is a disastrous thing.

If you are unable to locate your house main water valve or it doesn’t work, a dependable plumber in Sarasota is available 24/7 to assist you in all of your plumbing needs.  Call 941-322-1911 today!

Why is Mold Growing in My Shower?

Black mold in  a shower is something plumbers see more than they want to.  We see it in kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets and laundry rooms.  Usually the mold that is in the cabinets is from a leak that has gone undetected for a period of time.   The mold that grows in showers is sometimes caused by the bathroom not being properly ventilated.  Make sure you have proper ventilation and use a dehumidifier.

Molds are fungi.  No one knows how many species of fungi exists, but the CDC estimates tens of thousands to perhaps even three hundred thousand species exists.

Molds grow best in warm, damp and humid conditions.  They spread and reproduce by making spores.  If the source of the mold is not taken care of, such as a plumbing leak, the mold will just keep reproducing itself and become a health hazard.

Some people are more sensitive to molds than others.  Exposure to molds can cause symptoms such as nasal stuffiness, eye irritation, wheezing or skin irritations.  Others may have more severe reactions that affect their lungs.

We have been in homes to repair plumbing problems and have seen black mold in the house, and the people were not aware of why they felt sick. This is more common then one would think.  Sometimes, mold hides in places people don’t often look.

If you think you have mold growth in your home and live in the Sarasota, Bradenton area, you are in luck.  Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air can provide you a consultation to find the source of the mold in your home.  Mold is not pretty, and can be an extreme health hazard.  Wimpy’s wants to help you keep your home mold free.  Call today 941-322-1911 or schedule online at www.wimpys2022content.kinsta.cloud Wimpy’s is a forty year old family business that is available 24/7 for all of your plumbing needs.

Snake Stuck In Tub Drain

It is Thursday evening at your house. You may of lived there over twenty years. You go in the bathroom to take a shower after a hard day at work and everything is normal. Then your spouse goes in to take a shower and you hear them yell that the tub is not draining. Well it worked for you, so certainly your spouse is doing something wrong. Low and behold your spouse was right! The tub is stopped up. Your thinking I can fix this. Why pay a Sarasota plumber? Tomorrow, you will just go get a snake and unstop your tub.

It’s Friday now and you are at the hardware store shopping for a snake. You find one that looks like it should work, after all, it’s just a tub drain. You arrive home, before your spouse, to fix your tub stoppage. You pull the snake out of the box and put it into the tub drain. You start hand cranking the snake into the tub drain. You get about two feet in and it gets really hard to turn the snake. So you try harder. The snake is not going any further. So you try to pull it out and it does not want to come out. You pull harder, nothing. About this time, your spouse comes home. Now, instead of being the hero, you are asking your spouse to help you pull the snake out, that is stuck in the tub drain. Both of you are pulling with all your might, but the snake is not coming out of the tub drain.

Chances are you have kinked and knotted the small cable inside the tub ‘P’ trap or pipe. The reason snakes are referred to as snakes is because, When snakes are stored they are coiled up. These snakes, are referred to as sewer cables by the Sarasota plumbers at Wimpy’s. Sometimes, when pulling the snake from the coil, it will uncoil faster than a rattlesnake. This can be dangerous and safety precautions should be taken.

Professional Sarasota plumbers carry various sizes of snakes on their trucks. Sarasota plumbing companies who specialize in service and repairs, such as Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air, refer to a snake as an electric sewer machine. These machines are powered by an electric motor. Service Plumbers have a variety of attachments, called heads, to put on different sizes of cables to properly clear your stoppages.

Sometimes, a professional plumber may be able to remove the snake that is stuck in the tub drain. Other times, the floor must be cut and the pipe removed to get the snake out. Fortunately, if this happens to you, Wimpy’s offers piping and repiping in Sarasota as an aspect of our Sarasota plumbing repairs, so our plumbers can help you out!

Save yourself the aggravation, call Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air, before searching “plumbers near me”. You will be glad you did. Our Sarasota plumbers are available to solve your plumbing problems with drain cleaning in Sarasota. Let us take care of your clog, so you never have to deal with a plumbing snake stuck in the tub drain! Wimpy’s is proud to also offer sewer cleaning in Sarasota, which includes professional hydro jetting service!

Beware, Pig in a Poke, Know What You are Buying!

Pig in a poke, what does that mean?  When I was growing up, it was a common expression referring to not being taken when one was buying something.

Today, people are still buying houses that have been vacant and foreclosed on.  They do this do make money.  However, beware of what you want to buy.  Some of the people that fix up a home for resale, only give the house a cosmetic face lift.  So the house you are looking at may have newly painted walls, new flooring, new cabinets, plumbing fixtures,  appliances and mirrors.

This all may look great, but what is the age of the house?  If the house has cast iron plumbing waste lines under the floor, it is old.

The plumbing is the heart of the home.  If those new toilets keep stopping up after you move in,  it may be because they took out the old toilets that used three to seven gallons of water to flush and put in the new 1.6 gallon water saver toilets.  This may actually create stoppages.

The reason this may be happening, is because over time, cast iron pipe will rust and scale up.  Especially, if the house sits vacant.  The waste pipes dry out. The scale and rust start impeding the flow of the paper and waste.  Paper starts catching, solids start building up and before you know it, your dream home that was given a cosmetic face lift, has become a plumbing nightmare.

This could all be prevented if you camera the waste lines, before you buy.  The technology available today, allows professional plumbers to view the condition of the drain lines under the concrete floor.

Considering the investment you are about to make in your new home, hiring a Florida State Certified Plumbing Contractor to camera your waste lines is a very smart way to spend your money, so you don’t end up buying a Pig in a Poke!

If you would like to schedule a Plumber in Sarasota or Bradenton to camera your waste and sewer lines, call Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air.  We have the latest technology available in cameras.  If you can’t be around when we camera the lines, we can e-mail you the video results.  We want you to love your new home and your plumber.

We are a 40 year old family owned and operated Plumbing company. Schedule online at www.LoveYourPlumber.com or call us at 941-322-1911.

Help, I Hear Water Running, But Don’t Know Where!

If you are laying in bed and everything is quiet except for a gentle breeze blowing through the trees outside, this is good.

If you are laying in bed and everything is quiet, then you hear the sound of water running and no one is using water, this is not good.

How to find a leak

The first thing you would want to check yourself, before searching for a “Sarasota plumber near me” to find your leak, is to check and make sure that none of your toilets are running.  This will save you money. A common cause of the toilet running is the flapper no longer seals. This will cause the toilet to run.  Hopefully, you can replace the flapper and your problem is solved.

If you find the toilets are not running, then make sure all of your outside hoses are turned off.  Perhaps you left the hose running to fill the pool or water the grass or those new bushes that you just planted.

Now that you have checked these common things and nothing was left on and running, you may want to schedule a consultation with a Sarasota plumber.  Go ahead and make the call so you can get an appointment as soon as possible.  Because if you are hearing water running, that means the county utility water department is billing you for this water that you are not using.  Depending on the size of the leak, your next water and sewer bill could easily triple.

So you have checked the common things that would cause you to hear water running.  Next, go out to the water meter and look at it.There will be a smaller dial inside the face, called a leak indicator.  This leak indicator will spin with even the smallest amount of water running.  If the leak indicator is spinning and you don’t see any puddles of water on the ground between the house and the water meter, you are going to need a professional Sarasota plumber to determine what your problem is.

Running Water Help from Sarasota Plumbers

The Sarasota plumbers from Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air are available to help give you the best options available to solve your running water problem. Reach out to us when you have a plumbing emergency or when you need a reliable plumber in Sarasota!

Call Now for Plumbing Help!

Wet Cabinets Under Kitchen Sink – Sarasota Kitchen Plumbing Problems

How many times to you reach for something under the kitchen sink and never really look at the bottom of your sink cabinet.  Some people don’t pay attention to small stains in their cabinets caused by kitchen plumbing in Sarasota. You should pay attention. Little stains can turn into big problems. By just inspecting under the kitchen sink every once and a while, you may be able to prevent bigger problems.

• The pull-out spray kitchen faucets can sometimes be the culprit of water stains.  The spray head can come loose and when you turn on the faucet, water will leak down the inside of the valve and onto the floor of your cabinet.  Sometimes this will be a big leak or it can start out small and you really don’t notice it, until the damage to the cabinet is done. Another thing to check is the pull-out hose.  This hose can rupture or split inside the metal housing and cause water to leak into your cabinet every time you turn on your kitchen faucet.
• Faucets that leak around the base of the spout when you turn them on, need repaired or replaced.  The leak can find its way under the deck of the faucet and drip onto the bottom of your cabinet and ruin your cabinets over time.
• Take a look at your Sarasota kitchen plumbing pipes too. If they are metal pipes, they should be free of corrosion. If they are plastic pipes, they should be clean with no signs of gunk around the nuts or connections.

If you make it a habit to just look around for stains or corrosion, you can nip Sarasota kitchen plumbing problems in the bud. So just keep a watchful eye under your kitchen sink for water or a stain.  If you need help in pinpointing what the problem is, Wimpy’s Plumbing & Air is always available to solve your plumbing problems.