BASIC Plumbing Repairs & Maintenance LLC

This is a test:
It is only a test, not my work, I just cleared the drain that is in the return air box.

I think you understand

It's always best to check with your plumber before you start a project. This kitchen counter/sink change almost didn't work out, but fortunately I found an ABS trap adapter and it all lined up, barely.

Gap, no gap, you're welcome!

Guy calls about a stopped up drain, this was at the end of the roller coaster. Unfortunately he didn't want me to fix the problem, just un stop it.
I see a lot of wrong plumbing here in Tangipahoa parish.

Customer calls about a leaking drain on his kitchen sink. After sorting through the mess of wtf under the sink, I tracked it down to a leaking cpvc pipe in the attic that's been running down the wall for quite some time. Apparently the last 2 people were unable to find it and one said he didn't do that. According to the customer.
I'm hoping the guy calls me back to get rid of the sloppy cpvc reroute but it's "fixed" for now.

There are worse things to do on a rainy day, but hauling a 50 gallon water heater into an attic, almost literally by myself, is not my favorite. At least it's winter time and I'm not the one making all the wet spots.

This is just something I found in an attic where I was replacing a water heater. That's a bolted coupling on a vent.

I don't usually promote brands, but.... I bought one of these "unbreakable" shovels about 20 years ago. I have a problem with breaking shovels. The first one split worse than this one, after about 2yrs of abuse. I replaced the head and gave that one to a friend after I 'used' his shovel. I then bought 3 more spade and other styles over the years.
One saved me from being electrocuted by an unprotected service line laid on top of a sewer pipe, blasted a hole in the tip of the shovel.
The last one purchased was more than 10 years ago and I save the heads from other people's broken shovels, because that's the only weakness of these things.
This one is my around the house shovel and it finally gave up digging out this stump. I'll weld it up and get back to work.

Look closely at the foot marks.
This can be catastrophic.
My first tape reel from many years ago, I only used it for estimates until I noticed the problem on a job that I had to use it, instead of my tape measure.
I had it stored away in a box and figured it might make a good point for anyone else in the industry.

This got deep quick, was quite difficult to locate. Only about 15 feet but shot down a foot into some very hard packed earth. From around 16" to 30"
While I was digging, the customer asked what I was hitting, I said, the dirt.
The largest root there is around 5 inches, don't want to kill the tree. I was racing the rain, so not as nice of a backfill. About 11 hours total. Added a clean out because the original one is under the bushes. Didn't have time to photo new pipe, had to cover it before the rain filled my ditch.

40 plus feet of dry, hard ground full of roots, had to tunnel under some big roots and the sidewalk.
New 3/4" pex from meter to house, new galvanized steel riser with union and brass ball valve, insulated.
Pictures are roughly in order, no before photos.

I thank God this was mostly in the shade. I still got cooked, but got it done. There should be a law against burying that thin wall irrigation pipe.
20ft of 6" sdr and an 18" basin in a gravel walkway, @ 2 days, 1 man.

Toilet was leaking, rebuilt the tank, then found a crack. Customer ordered a new toilet, replaced the toilet and PVC fl**ge.

Can you see the crack.?

This is how I install a PVC closet fl**ge.
Tap con, concrete screws. Measure and set fl**ge, let glue dry, drill holes, anchor (gently).

This was in a customer's air conditioner drain and pan, left over after several a/c techs attempted to fix the problem. This is more common than you may think.

My family and I recently moved to Hammond, la from Baton Rouge.
One major difference I've noticed is the water.
Baton Rouge has a higher chlorine content, at least by smell and taste. And Hammond seems to have more minerals.
There's a growing trend in the plumbing world associated with tankless water heaters. The white residue on your sink and dishes is calcium. Calcium is what builds up inside water heaters and faster in tankless systems due to the rapid heating.
So if you're considering going tankless, on top of the higher cost of the unit and service requirements, also include the cost of a filter system installation and maintenance, just to protect your investment.
More later.

Did you know; a plunger is not designed to push, but to pull. Or actually to agitate, by causing undulated movement in the trapped water. Like rocking a boat or driving back and forth to get unstuck.

So my son says to me, you can't kill water. I say, not in any conventional way. You can pollute it and make it bad, which is essentially killing it, but water, thankfully is resilient. We humans can filter out the harmful substances but mother nature does a really good job for us, all day, every day.
One thing we all take for granted is fresh, clean water. The number one job of a plumber is to ensure that.

People have asked me for years why I didn't work for myself and other than the fear of starting a new business, the rules made it difficult.
But here I am now, ready to serve the community without the pressure and high prices of corporate style, money hungry companies.
All companies have expenses and plumbing isn't cheap but instead of paying for people you don't see, or an office to house then in, it's just me.
Give me a call and let's see what we can do.