THE CARE AND FEEDING OF THE FAMILY SEPTIC TANK

I have written several well received blogs, of late, on plumbing smells as well as clogs and sewage backups so I guess now is as good a time as any to talk about the proper care and maintenance of your septic system. If you are on a septic tank, as opposed to a public sewer system you are at the mercy of a complicated process that if not maintained can ruin your day in one flush.
To properly maintain your septic tank you need a basic understanding of how it works (SEE THE DRAWING). When your home was built a large concrete tank was buried in the yard in an area of good percolation. Now don’t get confused, this has nothing to do with your morning coffee. Percolation in this case defines how fast water poured into a hole in the yard seeps or percolates down into the ground. This is very important because if the ground is not porous enough or contains too much bedrock too close to the surface then your system will not drain properly and will back up into your house. Most county health departments require a “perc” test before a building permit is issued and this test defines the best placement for your septic system. The system itself is the aforementioned tank and a drain field of lines which radiate out from near the top of the tank and out across the “drain field”. Basically waste water from sinks, bathtubs, toilets and washing machines enter the system from the drain lines installed in your home. As the water sits in the septic tank it separates, the solids going to the bottom and grease, soap and dissolved waste effluent floats to the top. Micro-organisms in the sewage continuously work to break down the solids in the bottom and when they are dissolved enough they float to the top and join the waste water on its trip out into the drain field and then percolate into the ground. Although there are enzyme treatments such as “Ridex” available to assist the breakdown of these solids the key to your system working normally is just in using it on a regular basis. If you are not a full time resident in your home, such as a vacation home then you may need to boost the tanks operation with these enzymes or by adding some dissolved live yeast to the system to kick start it. To increase the time between having to clean out your septic system avoid pouring grease down your drains as it will clump together and float to the top of the tank eventually clogging the drain lines and causing a back-up into your house. Avoid flushing non-degradable items such as feminine sanitary products, q-tips, disposable diapers, plastic items, cigarette butts (very non PC these days) paper towels and if like my home, toys, the family cat or litter from the cat box..LOL
You should avoid planting trees and shrubs close to the drain field lines on your septic system. The roots from these plants will find their way into your field lines and eventually clog the drain field causing the tank to over fill and back up into the yard or worse into your house. A failed septic system can be a major expense and put the groundwater that supplies your drinking water at risk. No matter what the cause, septic system failure is a nuisance and a health hazard that should be fixed promptly. A failure can result in pollution of wells, lakes, and streams. Using more water than the soil can absorb is also a cause for septic system failure. Over saturated soil causes the sewage to be forced to the surface or backs up into the house. This problem is often the result of one of two problems. Either the system is improperly designed if your home is new, or as the result of a change in water use habits such as an increase in the size of the family or the addition of a water-using appliance. Also surface water draining from roofs, driveways, and roads onto the soil absorption field area can put an extra load on the system. If the soil is saturated with clean water, even seasonally, it cannot accept any more wastewater. The untreated wastewater will either rise to the surface or back up. Driving, paving, or building on top of a drain field can damage it. Pipes can shift or be crushed and the soil compacted. Damage of this sort can make it difficult to locate the septic tank and prevents access for regular pumping.
If you ever experience a septic system failure you will subscribe to the principle that the septic tank should be pumped about every 3 to 5 years to remove the sludge and scum retained in the tank and prevent clogging of the soil absorption field. More frequent pumping is needed if a garbage disposal is used in the home. It doesn’t take but that one bout of sewage backed up in your basement, bathtub or dishwasher to make you a believer. In theory it will back up into the lowest point of the plumbing system and further depending on how much resistance it encounters along the way. Not a pretty picture. So treat you septic tank well and feed it regularly.

CAVEAT EMPTOR

As many of you are aware, I am a retired accountant who specialized in startups and turnarounds. If you didn’t know you should spend a few moments to read my profile. I had, I think, one of the most interesting careers that an accountant could have. I have written and funded 22 projects for startup businesses and taken over 10 companies in financial trouble and turned them around to profitability. One of the things that you must do when considering a business to startup or when examining a business as to its ability to be successful is the pricing analysis of your market. Every on going business, to better survive and to know its market, must constantly know that it’s pricing is fair to both themselves and to their customer. A business that charges too little for its product can soon go under for lack of profit regardless of how much product it sells. The old analogy that you can make it up in volume does not work if you’re losing money on every sale. Inversely if you charge too much so as to make a profit you can still lose by not being able to sell enough. In this day and age when every knowledgeable consumer can go online and check pricing and order a product without ever speaking to a live person it becomes even more important that a business knows that it’s pricing is right and that the business does everything it can to educate the consumer as to the benefits of it’s business over the competition.
To this end I’ve spent the last couple of days doing some pricing analysis of the online plumbing fixtures market so as to better understand the pricing situation and to know what I can do to help educate the potential customer, my reader, so that they can make the best buying decision and to buy with confidence. The following are points that I see that are significant in the market today:
1. Most businesses offer some sort of price guarantee. If you can prove that a vendor beats your price then they will match or better it. This harkens back to the original principle of HD when it offered to match plus 10% on any product from a competitor. Obviously if a business is out of touch on both its own and its competition’s pricing they can soon lead to absolute failure by giving away a lot of merchandise at too low a price.
2. Secondly, especially on Ebay, the costs of shipping become a very integral part of price consideration. An Ebay merchant can offer to sell something very cheaply but when they steer you in they make their profit by charging exorbitant shipping and handling fees. Many times the customer is baited, hooked and reeled in before they know what these fees are. The same applies in the online plumbing business where freight and handling charges can be very high. A customer goes online simply looking for the best price, makes the decision to buy, loads his cart and then finds out that his shipping costs have made the price far higher than other merchants offered. Without some careful analysis before pushing that button to buy can this pitfall be avoided. This is what the devious merchant is hoping , you’ve fallen in love with his product, his web site and are tired of the chase so you forget what better pricing other sites offered.
3. Customer service is a major factor to consider. You may buy at a great price but what happens when the sale goes wrong? A part is missing? The product isn’t what you thought it would be? Does the vendor offer an easy return operation? Are you gigged with high restocking fees even on something that is their fault? I read a complaint in a forum last week where an online merchant charged a 15% restocking fee plus return freight on an item that was missing parts or offered to sell the customer the parts that were missing. Now that’s a way to make a profit! Charge the customer twice for the product or get your profit by service charge and never have to sell the product plus make a profit on marked up freight, that’s a whole new slant on inventory control.
4. Lastly you have the merchant who offers a product at a low price, gets the customer’s attention and gets the order, then pops the news that that the product is out of stock and can’t be delivered for some interminable amount of time. A good price on an item that you needed day before yesterday that won’t ship for 6 weeks is not a bargain, especially if you are on a construction schedule and the lack of the product holds up the rest of the work. A good merchant will show you his product availability before you push the buy button and will give you a good promised delivery date. Absent of this, a good price is not always the best price.

What does all this lead too? After doing my pricing analysis of some of the online plumbing supply businesses I find most guilty of all or most of the above problems, especially one of the vendors who is offered in many forums as the leader in the business and whose name most often shows up in product searches and paid advertising. Their initial pricing was the lowest but when you get to check out you find that the freight charges of $50 to $75 per order soon raises the price far above anyone else in the market. The availability, in the vast number of products reads “call for availability” which leads to finding that the low priced item is out of stock and an effort to up sell to another item presents itself. This is a smart move for the vendor but unfair to the customer. After all of that , the customer finds that the overpriced freight charges are based on the speed of a home loving snail and you will get your product in a few weeks as opposed to a few days or sooner. In other words they are not shipping by the fastest method while charging for it. I can only guess what their customer service would be like with the above things already in their modus operandi.
In summation, CAVEAT EMPTOR (buyer beware), becomes the phrase of the day. You have the ability to shop for the best pricing availability and shipping at your finger tips online. Take the time to examine your choices and don’t hesitate to “empty that shopping cart” before you become victim to one of these online tricks.
A reminder, as I have discussed before, National Builder Supply offers the following without equivocation:
1. Low price guarantees
2. Free freight on any order (to the contiguous 48 states) over $100, shipped promptly
3. Availability on each item up front and a vast inventory of stocked items as opposed to relying on drop shipments from secondary sources.
4. World class customer service backed up in writing from satisfied customers.
DON’T FALL VICTIM TO ONLINE PRICING TRICKERY, SHOP WITH CONFIDENCE AT NBS

DECISIONS, DECISIONS......DECISIONS

I’m going OT, for you uninformed that means “off topic”, today. I’m going to veer from my usual home improvement subjects and blog today about what I consider a “life improvement” subject. DECISIONS, and how your inability to make good quick decisions can paralyze your personal and business life. In these days of bad economy, world turmoil and general confusion it becomes harder and harder for all of us to know where to turn next. Should we spend money and help improve the economy or continue to hide what little we have in the mattress or in the famous hermetically sealed mayonnaise jar on “Funk & Wagnall’s front porch, in deference to the late Johnny Carson. For you who don’t know who Johnny Carson is well maybe I'm preaching to the wrong audience.
Let me start out by relating my favorite personal story about a person who couldn’t make a decision despite himself. I went to school with a guy named Pete Picci. One night a bunch of us in the dorm were going to go to McDonald’s and asked Pete of he wanted to go…”sure I’ll go, no…no I’ve got homework to do I’ll stay here bring me something back, NO never mind I’ll go…no I’d better not spend the money you go on without me… Yeah Yeah I’m going wait on me….No go on without me. Well needless to say the 5 of us that wanted to go were tired of waiting and so we just left and went on without him. We were gone for maybe 30 minutes got what we wanted came back and continued with our homework and as I passed Pete’s room I could hear coming from inside….No, No you all go ahead without me…Hey guys wait I’m going. We had been gone and back and poor Pete was still arguing with himself trying to make the simple decision as to whether to go or not and in the meantime he lost his chance. How many times in life and in business do you miss an opportunity because you just could not make a decision? Or worse is you business or life suffering because you are paralyzed with fear as to what to do these days because of the state of affairs? My guess is, like my friend Pete, many of you are doing the same thing…arguing with yourself trying to decide what to do next, spending sleepless nights with your mind racing with thoughts about what if I do the wrong thing, literally causing problems with your family, friends, employees or your employer because you are stuck on the fence of indecision. Now of all times is not the time to fall into that trap. Its time to do some quick self reflection, decide what it takes to come up with a plan of action you can agree with yourself on and dive in. Yes I know I said “decide”…there’s that word again so let me just tell you what to do and take the “decide” out of the equation.
After 30+ years of having to make some difficult decisions the one thing that I know is ME and what I need to satisfy myself that I have enough information to make a good decision. This is where most people fail from the starting line. They keep on gathering more and more information to help themselves make the decision when in reality the more information they gather the more confused they get. Depending on the given situation when faced with a question I immediately decide in my mind the simplest yet most important things that I need to know to make a good decision and set forth to ask questions do research and analyze the situation to satisfy myself that I have those questions answered. I do not allow myself the luxury of grass growing beneath my feet in getting these answers then proceed to say Yea or Nay and then I’m on to the next thing on my agenda. You will not find me sitting 30 minutes later saying….YES…..NO….YES….MAYBE….NO,NO, I am not Pete Picci. I’m am going to make the decision and lead my family, my employees, my friends, or if going it alone, take myself merrily on down the road to success or failure, BUT I AM GOING TO DO SOMETHING. I'm not going to be sitting aside twiddling my thumbs letting the world and opportunity leave us behind for the lack of a decision. In reality the true secret is twofold and is not rocket science.
1. I know myself and have self confidence. After 61 years of life and 30 some odd years in business I know what I need to make a decision and I am confident in my abilities. This is where most people stumble from the beginning, they fear failure or lack the self confidence in their own abilities to carry out a plan of action. In the face of that fear of failure they, instead, don’t
make a decision or wait too long and miss the boat completely. In doing so they have become a self fulfilling prophecy .
2. To over come any of the points in #1, here’s the Warren Theory. SHHHHHHH! Not a word to anyone else, this will be just our secret. When faced with the dilemma of making a decision you think “what’s the worst thing that can happen if I’m wrong?” Plan for that eventuality, a plan B so to speak, and how you will correct your Plan A if it fails. With this plan of action in place you will have the confidence in yourself to proceed forward. You will not have to fear the unknown of “What If” that paralyzes so many folks. You will already have that answer in place and have nothing to fear.

Over simplified? Not at all. It is that simple. Most people can’t make decisions because they lack self confidence in their own abilities. The more decisions that you make that can be deemed to be successful the more confident you will become. Until the time that you have a few under your belt build your self confidence by simply always having your plan B in place and you will look and feel self confident. The biggest mistake you can make is to miss an opportunity because you did nothing. Don’t be a Pete Picci and go to bed hungry, join the crowd and go on to McDonald’s. Or in real life step out in faith and self confidence and do SOMETHING to better your business or your family as opposed to being paralyzed with fear and indecision.

CEILING FANS...GOING GREEN CAN BE A BREEZE

In my continuing discussion of ways to “go green”, an important addition to your home can be ceiling fans. Ceiling fans are similar in function to any other electric fans their main use is to generate air movement to improve the ventilation of a room. They are simply electric fans that are hanging from the ceiling. Most folks prefer to install ceiling fans rather than put traditional electric fans in the room because of the significant amount of space that is saved, as well as being a permanent fixture that is both decorative and out of the way. Most newer homes have these installed as a standard feature but the proper use of ceiling fans is what increases their value to you in comfort and savings on your heating and air conditioning costs and are a valuable retrofit in the older home. This is easily done by simply replacing a ceiling light fixture with a ceiling fan with a light kit attached. The fan and lights are then controlled by the existing light switch on the wall and fan and light controls on the fan itself. If you want the convenience of wall control, switches are available that fit in the existing box and are split to control the light and fan separately and are easily installed. The primary benefits ceiling fans give is the benefit of increased air circulation. Ceiling fans are proven to make people in a room feel four degrees cooler in the summer and provide an alternative for the air conditioner, when the heat is not too bad, and they are less costly in electricity. Most ceiling fans use only about as much power as a 100 watt light bulb. When used properly, ceiling fans can save you money in utility bills in both the winter and summer months.
Benefits in Winter Months. Each room has layers of air with varying degrees of temperature, the warmest lightest air near the ceiling. In the winter months, run your fan at a low speed in a clockwise direction which pushes the warm air up against the ceiling and then down the walls, recirculating warm air through the room without causing a chilling breeze. This technique has been proven to lower home or office heating costs by as much as 10% by offsetting the work load of your heating system.
Benefits in Summer Months. In the summer months, your ceiling fan offers the greatest energy saving benefits when run in a counter-clockwise direction. While a ceiling fan does not necessarily lower the temperature, it does make the room feel cooler by providing a circulatory breeze. If the outside temperature is not too high, you might be able to achieve a comfortable environment by turning off you’re A/C altogether, and opening a few windows allowing the ceiling fan pull air through the windows and create the breeze effect which can make you feel up to 8 degrees cooler, and reduce air conditioning bills by up to 40%.
Energy Star Ceiling Fans. As we have discussed in other blogs the best value from a “green” basis and maximum energy saving benefits, you should purchase an Energy Star appliances and ceiling fans are no exception. Make sure you look for the energy star branding. These fans circulate an average of 15% more air than other ceiling fans, without sacrificing style or attractiveness. Energy Star ceiling fans are 60% more efficient than the non branded variety.

Installation of Ceiling Fans for Optimal Efficiency. In order to reap the optimal energy saving benefits from your fans it's important to install several throughout your home placed in key locations in all of the most frequently used rooms. For optimal performance, the blades of your ceiling fan should be between 7-9 feet above the floor, and 10-12 inches below the ceiling. This adjustment is facilitated by style of the fan (ceiling hugger or hanging) and differing lengths of down rods. If the blades of your fan are too close to the ceiling, you will not be able to make use of the winter time benefits, and may be 40% less efficient even in the summer time. Finally, the blades should be at least 18 inches from the nearest wall.
In summation ceiling fans can do a lot of good for your home at a kow cost. It may not be as effective at lowering room temperature as an air conditioner, but it does help make a room a lot cooler in the summer and can assist in keeping your home warmer by recirculating warm air in the room during the winter.
National Builder Supply carries a full line of beautiful reasonably priced fans and light kits from PROGRESS LIGHTING as well as a full line of over 1700 light fixtures for your every need.

Check their website at http://nationalbuildersupply.com

What is that Smell? Episode 2

Of all the articles that I have written the one titled “What’s that Smell?” has been the most popular. I cross publish some of my articles on some Ezine (that’s internet magazine slang) sites for further exposure and the chance to help more folks. This article consistently gets the most reads and comments and the problem is still one of the most frequently discussed in the chat rooms and forums. Now at my house the problem probably stems from too much fiber in my diet and I handle it with an industrial strength air freshener but most everyone else has septic or sewer gas (methane) seeping in to the house as I discussed in the aforementioned article. There is another offending problem, the rotten egg smell in the water not in the room is caused from sulfur dioxide. This rotten egg smell happens mostly to people who have well water. The reason this smell happens is because of the iron in the well water and from iron leeching from old cast iron piping in older homes. Water heaters do not tolerate this iron content. The odor happens when the iron in the water comes in contact with the aluminum anode rod in the tank, the purpose of the anode rod is to act as a sacrificial catcher of the impurities entering the tank and as it does that, it slowly dissolves. This rod needs to be replaced with one made of magnesium. The rod is located on the top of the tank usually behind and between the hot and cold water supply and looks like a big nut. A new magnesium anode will cost about $25 and to change it you will only need a socket set or wrench. The follow are the simple steps to facilitate this replacement:
Step1 Turn your gas control valve to the pilot position or trip the circuit breaker to turn the power off to the water heater. Turn the water supply off to the tank. Drain your tank completely. There should be a hose bib connection at the bottom of the heater on which you can connect a garden hose and drain to the closest drain or run outside. To be safe from a scalding danger let the heater cool off before draining.
Step 2 Remove the aluminum anode rod by loosening the old rod from the top with a socket of the appropriate size or with a wrench and replace it with the magnesium rod.
Step 3 The warranty on your water heater is based on the thickness of the anode rod, on a 6 year warranty the anode rod is dissolved in the 5th year, on a 9 year tank in the 8th year and so on. If you read the manual in some cases it states that if you remove the rod your warranty is voided. Regardless choose a rod of the thickness that will correspond with the age of the tank so that the dissolving will coordinate with the life expectancy of the tank. If you only have 5 years left on the tank there is no need to install an 8 year rod.
Step 4 Once you accomplished the removal and replacement of the rod it’s time to flush the tank. With the boiler drain valve at the bottom of the tank open, turn the water on in short spurts to flush as much of the iron sediment out of the bottom of the tank. You may have to repeat this numerous times so as to flush as much as you can to clear the tank.
Step 5 Now you should be ready to fill the tank. Shut the bottom boiler drain. Open the pressure relief valve to allow air to escape and turn the water supply back on. Turn on at least one hot water faucet in the house so your water pipes don’t fill with air which will cause your faucet to sputter and can contribute to water hammer. Shut your pressure relief valve the minute you see water and then turn off the faucet.
Step 6 (optional) To limit the amount of iron from entering your plumbing in the future install a sediment filter at the entry point of your water supply. Average cost should be $40.00. This will also help to keep your faucet aerators clean and increase your water pressure if it is inhibited by clogged aerators.
Step 7 Now you are ready to set your gas valve back to the on position or turn the circuit breaker back on.

Please note that you can burn your heating elements up in a hot water heater by turning it back on with no water in it, so make sure it has completely refilled before restarting.

Hopefully this will eliminate your smell problem with the water. If the smell is coming from a drain or you smell it in a room when you walk in, please refer back to my original article mentioned at the beginning.

WHO DO I BUY FROM AND WHY?

Although the discussion rooms and DIY forums struggle to prevent “spamming” (blatant commercialism in favor of a particular dealer), there is still plenty of opportunity to gauge the reputation of a dealer by reading these forums carefully. I admit a certain amount of prejudice towards NBS but it is based on personal experience not by a paycheck and by the feedback that I have received and that I am privy too from the customer service department. There was an article over the weekend about a cruise line giving away cruises and perks to passengers and bloggers to tout their cruises. I think if someone has a good experience with ANY online vendor of ANY product then they should share it. There are websites that do nothing but allow a forum for complaints and praises on various merchants and professionals and this allows for a real opportunity for us all to learn who the good and bad are but these opinions should be honest and not because of any compensation or ulterior motive. If I didn’t believe in my friends at NBS I wouldn’t promote them. There is one particular online plumbing vendor which I have run across on MANY forums and the bad references outweigh the good 10 to 1 so when I see a reference to this vendor I warn CAVEAT EMPTOR (buyer beware) and caution that they research that vendor. I can honestly say that in reading some 30+ forums per day I have yet to see a negative mention of NBS. Are there other vendor s with good reputations ? Yes, and this allows that with some research you should be able to make an educated decision on from whom to buy from the viewpoint of a personal recommendation. These endorsements are probably the primary source of buying decisions in most people.
There are other things to consider. Price is always a factor but pricing can be misleading and you can buy something at a good price and never get the product or not get it on time. So you must add to your criteria some sense of how dependable the vendor is at on time shipping and whether or not they actually have the product you want in stock. Another factor of pricing is the old apples to apples analogy. Are you receiving the same product and service with the lower priced item? Many online dealers will lure you in with low pricing but you have to pay the freight or you find that what they are selling is a trimmed down version that is missing certain parts that you will have to buy separately.
Finally how do you feel about how you were treated in the transaction? Did you get answers promptly and in a friendly manner? Did you feel that you are indeed going to get what you ordered when promised? Why is that important? If something does go wrong you will be dealing with the same people and the same corporate philosophy. If you were treated badly or haphazardly during the sale how do you think you will be treated if you have a problem?
In summation and in preference to National Builder Supply you can expect the following:
1. Fair pricing with a price matching guarantee.
2. Pricing which offers free freight if the order is over $100 and a reasonable flat rate freight charge otherwise.
3. Pricing which includes a guarantee that you will get all that you need with the product. No short cuts. No side trips to the local "Big Box Store" for parts and pieces.
4. NBS maintains a large inventory of the merchandise its sells and rarely depends on second party to ship your purchase. This allows that if you are told the product is in stock and that it will ship tomorrow you can bank on it. This is not the cheapest way to do business. Most vendors don’t stock anything. They depend on secondary distribution sources to fulfill their orders thus losing control of your order the moment it’s placed. They have to depend on someone else to enforce their promises.
5. Fast, friendly customer service whether you are buying, inquiring or, in the unlikely event that there is a problem.
6. Lastly study the forums and the internet, “google” dealers and look for problems and compliments.
I am certain you will be satisfied with your experience with my friends at NBS.
I’m confident that if you compare these items to any other online vendor of building supplies you will see that NBS is at least one to consider. I would not be conceited enough, nor would they, to say they are the only one and I know my friends well enough to know that they don’t think for a minute that you don’t have a choice…you do and that’s why they try so hard to never let you down.

Toilet on the Patio? Now thats convenient!

My work is always interesting and I try my best to give good answers and to interject some humor to brighten my day if no one elses. A few months back I wrote a blog about the new toilet arriving and sitting in the garage...what now? Well I guess the guy that posted the question below either left his on the patio instead of in the garage or we all now know what he did with the old one. Believe me folks I'm good but not good enough to make up these questions....it's very real from a DIY forum today:

Question:
Before you ask why I would even consider this, I need to mention that it is someone else who intends doing this. I think it is inadvisable. Do you agree that it's not a good idea to re-install a toilet that has been left outside, on the patio, all winter?
My Answer:
There are a few things that could happen to a toilet left outside for the winter, freezing water could have caused a break or crack in the tank or bowl, the flushing mechanism could become corroded or otherwise corrupted or on the far side something could have made a home for itself causing a clog....could make for an exciting "ground hog day" if thats where he's hiding, but in the long run toilets are pretty tough and if checked over well and any of the above problems are not present I see no reason why it couldn't be installed. But where will people sit on the patio with the toilet gone?

Now I will admit that I could have gotten this from Jeff Foxworthy or from my middle son. He is the one that Jeff Foxworthy patterned his redneck jokes after. My son measures his whole net worth based on the number of old cars he has in the yard, he does watch TV on a set sitting ontop of a set ontop of a set and I'm sure if his porch fell it would crush at least 3 dogs and a couple of cats. With this said I dont think Ive seen a toilet on his patio but once when I needed one for a renovation he was able to come up with one from somewhere on his 4 acres of land and it looked like it had been sitting out for several winters before we cleaned it up. S0 I knew how to answer the above question...no problem, and YES it worked just fine.

The moral of the story, if there is one, is that if you need a new toilet and don't have one on the patio or somewhere in your yard, try National Builder Supply. They specialize in TOTO toilets undoubtedly the best on the market.

DESIGN BY GROHE

When I first met with Heath Hyneman, one of the owners National Builder Supply, he quickly set out to show me the difference between low cost and premium faucets. He simply handed me a Grohe faucet and a low cost brand for my examination. The difference was immediately evident. The Grohe faucet was heavier, more well made and distinctly different from a design standpoint. I was SOLD and from then on wanted nothing else. The faucet market, today, is dominated by imports as is the rule in most things. The largest segment of the import products are from China. Grohe is an import brand but hails from Germany and this adds an even more evident quality. I attribute my support of the Grohe product line to a simple yet maybe shallow statement…”I have a Mercedes in the driveway and want Grohe in my house.” From a press release dated February 16, 2009, Grohe explains it’s design process and philosophy.

The GROHE Design Team

GROHE products are typified by aspirational designs which are created by an in-house team of international designers. Design is a key pillar of the GROHE product strategy under which the design team strives to strike the perfect balance of quality, technology and design. In doing so, the team stimulates creativity and open-minded thinking throughout the organisation at all levels, across all geographies and across disciplines from engineering to marketing, thereby laying the foundation for a “creative osmosis”. The head of the 14-strong international design team reports directly to the CEO. This unique position affords the design team an exemplary level of freedom to innovate. The international designers draw on their culturally diverse backgrounds when creating products for the global market. In April 2008, the team relocated to the new Design Studio at the company’s new head office designed by world renowned architect Richard Meier in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel, Germany. Designed by the in-house team, the studio mirrors the creative process. This inspiring environment is open and transparent to allow for cross-fertilisation of ideas and ensure all products radiate the core values of GROHE.

The Design Philosophy

The GROHE design team is committed to a straightforward consumer-centric design philosophy based on the belief that good design should surpass form and function in order to connect with users on an emotional level and surprise and delight the user throughout its entire life cycle. The GROHE products and even the newly designed website show that this philosophy is successful. They reflect the care and attention to every detail and resonate the passion and creativity from which they were created. The success of this philosophy is not least proven by the many design awards won by the design team both nationally and internationally. These awards underline the success of the world class GROHE design team. Apart from the "red dot: best of the best" and the "Good Design Award", the team was credited in the “Leading Designers of the World” directory. The European Centre of Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies has included Paul Flowers, Senior Vice President of Design at GROHE, in its prestigious "Europe 40 under 40" list which recognises the top 40 European creative talents under the age of 40.The

GROHE Design Studio – the creative heart of the company.

Visit the National Builder Supply website http://nationalbuildersupply.com to view an inventory of approximately 1000 Grohe faucets and fixtures and experience the Grohe design and quality for yourself at a guaranteed low price.

Why is My Hot Water Heater Leaking?

I answered this question a couple of times over this weekend on 2 different forums and in the process realized how few people really know what the basics of a hot water heater are as well as the many things that can go wrong. In reality a hot water heater is made to last for many years and shouldn't leak as far as the tank is concerned. One forum questioner stated that his water heater looked new so he couldn't understand why it would leak. What you see of your heater is just a protective shell which holds insulation around the actual tank which you can not see. If a hot water heater is safely and dryly stored inside it should look new. What would cause it to age?


As I said most tanks are made to last for many years and leaks are rare early on. Instead of a leak it is more frequently the T&P (temperature and pressure relief valve) doing its job. This valve is installed to avoid an explosion of the tank if it overheats. By code in most areas the T&P valve should be piped out of the house for drainage outside so that the water blown out will not damage the house. I have seen some installations where the tank was in a location in the house where a drain line was not easily installed and a simple pipe down the side of the heater carried the overflow down to a catch pan under the tank. In some sloppy careless installations this pipe just runs out onto the floor which, of course, then looks like a leak and obviously can cause some major damage to the home if not caught soon enough.

Regardless there is still a problem if the valve discharges. It can be a faulty valve, which should be replaced if it every time it goes off, but usually is caused by the tank overheating. Overheating can be caused by a faulty thermostat or in the case of an electric heater can be caused by a heating element overheating in the process of burning out. The fix for these problems is replacement of the offending part.

If a tank is really leaking it is usually because it has corroded or rusted out or because the anode in the bottom of the tank has corroded and is leaking. Either way the entire water heater will need to be replaced. If replacing your hot water heater, it's a perfect time to consider a more efficient way to heat water. There are many alternatives today. The best, in my opinion would be to install one of the new generation of tankless, instant hot water systems. Although these are more expensive, initially, the money saved in heating costs repays this initial expense quickly. Another choice can be solar collector systems which pipe water through collector cells and store it for later use. If nothing else shop wisely when replacing your existing hot water heater to get the most efficient model available.

LETS TALK CLOGS

I think its time to discuss plumbing clogs again because the hot topic on ALL of the DIY discussion forums of late has been clogs. The one that I see more than most is the one that leaves me absolutely incredulous. I am a FIRM believer in DIY forums but for the life of me this one floors me….”HELP!!!! my toilet is over flowing and I don’t know what to do…somebody help me quick!!!!”. Well my friends isn’t the answer pretty obvious? Shut the damn water off, look under the toilet and find the shut off valve and turn it. Don’t have a shut off valve? Where were you 3 months ago when I cautioned everyone about having them on every fixture? Well then go and shut off the main water connection. Oh, I guess if you don’t know how to stop the toilet from overflowing you haven’t bothered to find the main shut off valve or maybe didn’t know you had one. In either case even if I tell you how to fix the clog its not likely you will be able to handle the high tech super declogger device (plunger, see picture above) that I recommend that everyone have close by. FOR GOODNESS SAKE CALL A PLUMBER! Don’t wait for your house to be two feet deep in water and toilet effluent. Seriously there are three basic reasons why a toilet overflows.
One reason is that you have a teenage son like mind that only goes to the bathroom, for bowel functions, say once a month, is in their for a couple of hours of which I’m not always sure is devoted to the original task and when he is through the toilet is clogged and the smell takes care of the idea that any insects could be alive in there. Or maybe you have a small child or as in my case, the beloved grandson, who can do not wrong, who has learned how to flush all sorts of things down the toilet including the family cat. The cat wasn’t happy, by the way, but the scratches will heal and both the cat and the grandbaby have learned to avoid one another. The quick way to know that this is a localized toilet clog is that all the rest of the toilets and drains in the house are clearing properly. You would not believe how many people immediately assume that if one toilet is clogged they all are. Either way, try to free the obvious material and use a plunger. If this doesn’t work try a short snake device inserted from the toilet. If this doesn’t work a longer snake inserted through the clean out opening in your drain system should clear it.

The second cause can be very subtle and sometimes completely overlooked. Every drain in the house is linked to a vent stack. The vent stack allows air into the system so that no vacuum is created and water can flow freely out through the lowest point on the system, the main drain. If your vent stack becomes clogged, usually with leaves and debris, some times with a bird or animal builds a nest in it, then your system can’t breathe and drain properly. Like the first clog, the vent can be a simple thing to clear of you have a snake or high pressure garden hose and feel adept at navigating your roof. Every vent exits the house through your roof and can be cleared by simply blowing it out or snaking it. The exception to this rule is when you discover that the bird that has built it’s nest is a rare endangered species which is protected by law or that your next door neighbor is the local president of PETA and mounts a protest group in your yard because you are trying to harm some small animal. In either case it’s time to call the local “port-a-potty” company and be prepared to wait for the hatching or leaving of the nest. Maybe you could learn to navigate the roof under the cover of darkness so as to escape discovery?

That brings me to the third type of clog and that is the main drain. This happens for several reasons. A major clog from one toilet has migrated to the main drain and stopped it up, a simple short snake or sometimes a serious plunging still should take care of it. By the way, toilets are not the only offender. I once caused a major main drain clog by peeling potatoes, for Christmas dinner, and trying to dispose of the peelings through the garbage disposal. A second common cause can be that your main drain has become impinged by roots growing through. This doesn’t happen over night and you should have noticed that all the household drains have become increasingly slower. Thirdly your septic system can be full or the drain field has become compromised, again not a sudden problem. If you are not on a septic system you local sewer system can be backed up because of a simple grease trap clogged or maybe due to its own inadequacy after a rainstorm. All of these non localized clogs will require more serious plumbing expertise than most are capable of. I’m pretty DIY adept and could handle a 25’ snake with the best of them, as long as its not the teenagers Burmese python, which would allow me to clear the average main drain clog. But if you have a septic tank problem its time to call a septic system specialist. If it’s a sewer problem call your county/city provider. It is their responsibility to unclog it. This main drain clog can become, quickly, more serious than just a clogged toilet. A clogged main has to go somewhere and that is usually up and through the lowest point in your house. This can be a drain in the basement, a tub on the first floor and so on. This is a very unpleasant experience because it can be more than just your sewage that comes back into your home. If you are down hill from others on a sewer system you can have everyone up hill from you dumping their every flush into your house.
The best way to avoid any of these situations is to be alert watch how your drains are clearing, eat lots of fiber…LOL, listen for gurgling noises which might indicate an on coming clog either from the previously mentions vent stack or main drain not clearing. As to preparing yourself for the inevitable clog, keep a good plunger nearby, invest in a 25’ manual plumbing snake, locate your shut off valves, both for each fixture and the entire house, find your clean out access, look at where the vent stacks come out through your roof and keep a good local plumber’s phone number close by, possibly tattooed to the back of your right hand. Last but not least you don’t have time to wait for one of us in the forums to give you an answer.

The Bathrooms of My Life

Ever wonder why I have a seeming fascination with bathrooms? I write blogs about nearly every aspect of bathrooms. My thoughts today were triggered by a forum post that I read where the question centered around how to effectively conceal a person in a glassed in shower. This question caused me to think of all of the bathrooms or lack thereof that I have owned and experienced in my life and I will close with the one that I believe is the best answer for the forum question. First lets talk about why I’ve had so many and a little about some of the ones that stick in my mind. I have lived in many homes in my lifetime, mostly due to a career which took me all over the country.
Probably my first was the one in the old family home, in the Atlanta area, in which the front 2 rooms were built in 1842. Although there were no out houses in my generation you would have to know that there had been at one time. In my time there the old house had 3 bathrooms that were still in probably the second or third phase of their existence. Not totally currently up to date, i.e. this was the fifties and we had no pink and gray or aqua tile, tubs, sink or toilet but we didn’t have a claw foot tub either. My grandparent’s home did have the only one of those in my life experience. Although the old family home did not provide me with the “outhouse” experience it did not keep me from having it any way although mine would not have been of the Sears catalog or corn cob variety. Growing up my family had a small cabin in the North Georgia mountains where we spent wonderful weekends and vacations. The cabin’s answer to running water and refrigeration was a very cold mountain stream outside the back door and an out house on the side of the hill many feet away from the cabin. What made this out house special was my father’s desire to keep my Mom happy. It was fully tiled inside, had a nice toilet seat with a lid, real toilet paper and holder, no corn cobs for us, and a magazine rack for the proper reading materials.
Other bathrooms of my life came by way of building and designing several homes along the way including state of the art, as it was at that time, bathrooms. Yes this means I have owned bathtubs and toilets in most every color possible in the past 40 years. Add to this the many other homes I’ve owned or occupied during my life that I didn’t build but bought and lived with as they were or remodeled to bring them up to the latest trend. One of the more significant homes I have owned was a circa 1928 Spanish styled 10,000 sq. ft mansion that I had the privilege to own in Los Angeles and although the house had been modernized in many ways, state of the art kitchen etc, the bathrooms had been untouched and were still in their original Art Deco style. I have had at least 2 houses with actual separate Jacuzzi styled hot tubs in the bathroom not just a whirlpool tub. I have had glass shower door, no shower doors, shower curtains and at one brief time lived in an office situation with no shower or bath and had to bathe at friends homes. I have lived in a motor home and had to squeeze my size 54 body into a size 36 bathroom. I have had 2 company planes one with no bathroom but with a tube which allowed you to at least pee in mid air and another that even though it had a “head” I couldn’t get into it.
Now, for the bathroom that caused this whole stream of thought for today. When I first moved to Los Angeles in 1981 the first house I bought was what we referred to as the $50,000 house with the $200.000 view. This was a small house, only 1400 sq. ft. on a 40’ x 60’ lot in the Hollywood hills. This lot afforded beautiful views all the way to downtown L.A. and to the ocean. Because it was build on a steep hillside it was multiple levels down the slope with each level all glass with the view. The most significant view was in the shower in the master bedroom which had a glass wall tub to ceiling end to end. As you stood in the shower you had an unimpeded view and of course anyone that happened to be around the canyon or had a telescope or binoculars had a view of you. One of my first guests to see the house immediately commented on the shower and their concern about people seeing me in the buff. My answer was simple….they would only look once!!

If its time to build yourself a new bathroom or renovate the one you have there is no better place than National Builder Supply to seek help with your planning as well as to purchase the latest in plumbing fixtures of every variety, style and cost.