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Found 10 results for the keyword(s) ‘Drains, Cleaning’

  • Article

    Creating Drainage Paths Under Basement Walls

      For years we have talked about protecting the sill plate of basement walls from moisture rising up from the concrete.  This could be water in the concrete from plumbing spills, or even from under the slab from a high-water table.  The old standard ways to protect that bottom piece of wood on t...
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    Plunging a Clogged Sink: It's the UP stroke that counts!

      Disloving the problem If your sink is just suffering from a lot of face cream and shaving cream, the least expensive and most ecological solution is simply 1/2 cup of baking soda (try using a funnel to get it into the drain), followed immediately by a cup of vinegar.  Let it sit a few minutes...
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    Removing rust stains and toilet brown stains

    (See non-toxic cleaners in the last paragraph, and Do Rust Cleaners Work?) RUST ON RUGS There has always been one basic chemical available for getting rust off about anything and that was Oxalic Acid. That was the active ingredient in the old petroleum jelly that we used to clean the rust off o...
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    How do you trace drains under the basement floor?

    The most effective technique, one that can save you hundreds of dollars of erroneous digging, is to use a "sonar probe".         This gadget is often combined with a video camera designed to look inside sewer pipes.           An emitter probe is snaked into the drain line. You walk...
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    How To Remove the Drain Valve from the Hot Water Tank

    How do you remove the special hose bib valve that is on the bottom of the hot water tank? First I should answer the question as to whether it will fall out if it is unscrewed too far. The answer is NO. After 4 turns to open it, it will just spin around without moving further out while the "O" ri...
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    Keeping appliances alive.

    A viewer wrote in complaining about soap suds backing up in her sink, another complained about the suds backing up in the basement floor drain.Suds are something that drains have trouble flushing out, because they float on top of the water and tend to pile up in the pipes. First you should try t...
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    What to do with old paint and paint cans?

    Therisa Timan from Pittmetals B.C. wants to know what to do with her old paint cans. How do you handle paint waste responsibly?If you dump solvent wastes like paint and paint thinners down the street drains, they usually go straight into the lake or rivers. If you dump it down the household dra...
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    How to effectively plunge a toilet.

    First you have to have a toilet plunger. That is one that has a bulb shape, or a folded skirt inside a flat plunger. The round shape or skirt is needed to seal to the sides of the toilet bowl. A flat plunger just won't do the job.Then push down gently so as to not squirt everything all over th...
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    When I flush the toilet, water squirts up and onto the floor.

    Janice from Clarenville, Newfoundland has a toilet that has a mind of its own. Setting aside the possibility that it is not a toilet at all but rather one of those strange European bidets, my best guess on this one is a partial blockage that is interfering with one of the jets of water that serv...
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    Forming an epoxy pipe, inside an existing sewer pipe.

    Some plumbers just keep on plumbing, and some, like Phil Groves Sewer Services from Burlington, Ontario keep looking for new ways to do old things. So Phil has a sewer camera that lets you see what is blocking your sewer line. He has a scanning device that allows him to walk across the front la...
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