Irrigation is cheap pipe in an open trench. It is also, retrofitted under a finished patio, one of the more expensive things you can do to a backyard. Same pipe. The entire difference is when it goes in. The one rule Every line that will ever cross under a hard surface goes in before that surface, in a sleeve, and gets photographed before it is buried. That is the whole post, really. The rest is what it means in practice. What a sleeve is and why it is not the same as pipe A

Somewhere between your water meter and your sprinklers there is an assembly whose only job is to make sure water that has been in the irrigation system can never travel back into the water you drink. It is the least interesting piece of hardware in the yard and the one with the most serious reason to exist. Why backflow happens at all Water systems are pressurized, and pressure normally pushes water one direction. But pressure can drop — a main break, heavy fire-fighting draw

An irrigation leak is one of the few plumbing problems that can run for months without anyone noticing, because the water goes into the ground and the ground is supposed to be wet. The first sign is usually the bill. The second is a patch of lawn that is greener than everything around it, or a soft area that never dries out. The good news is that a buried system gives up its secrets in a fairly orderly way, if you work through it before you dig. Step one: is it the irrigation

Here is the failure we get called about. A new fire feature was installed, and the flame is weak. Or it is fine until the pool heater cycles on, and then it drops. Or the furnace kicks in on a cool night and the fire pit goes out. It is almost never the fire feature. It is the gas supply, and the problem was created before the trench was backfilled. Gas sizing is about the whole house, not the appliance A gas piping system is sized for the total connected load on the meter an

Don't be a DIW...(Do It Worselfer)... At some point, even the most serious professional needs help, it's construction after all, and construction is not something that it's done alone. It's much worse for a DIYer. In bathroom remodels, there are some simple DIYer tasks that can be done by yourself and sometimes relying on little help from your spouse, kids, friends, and neighbors... ...but the fact is that you will run into situations in which a Pro could solve easily. The F

Did you know that plumbing systems can be dangerous in unexpected ways? Most of the people that I talk to, have no idea that a simple sewer pipe can really explode if it is not installed correctly and, on a best case-scenario, can collapse all the underground pipes, and on a worst-case-scenario it can set the entire building on fire. That is why it is important to hire professionals that know what they are doing in the first place. Some items when done outside the building c

This blog post explains how slow hot water happens in the first place and how to prevent it from happening if you are building or fix it .

Did you know that as much as 80,000 gallons of water can be wasted each year by an undetected toilet tank leak? It makes economic and environmental sense to occasionally check the toilets around your home. Even for older ballcock/flush ball toilet tank valves, a full line of replacement parts is still widely available. Or, you can install modern plastic devices instead of repairing the original parts. The basic working parts of the old-style ballcock/flush valve toilet tank (

Our professionals have the proper equipment and expertise necessary to handle the most extensive losses. No job is too big or too small – we are always ready to help. Prompt action by experienced restorers makes a true difference you can notice in mitigating structural property damage. The Ultimate Handyman’s technicians concentrate on industry guidelines for your safety by drying, deodorizing and disinfecting the areas flooded or damaged using only time-tested procedures. De

Each time you flush the toilet or wash something down the drain, you create sewage, also known as wastewater. It contains all the deject you see as well as all the harmful bacteria that you don’t. Human waste naturally contains coliform bacteria – for example, E. coli – and other bacteria that can cause diseases. Once water becomes infected with these bacteria, it becomes a health hazard. It contains suspended solids and chemicals that affect the environment and can be very h

Is your shower stall leaking to the room underneath? Forget about caulking, applying sealant to the grout or even re-grouting, the problem is in your shower pan. We are able to resolve the problem in a couple of days. We remove some rolls of tile, demolish all the way to the sub-floor, re-apply a new shower pan, rebuild all the layers and lay new tiles. This is easy as pie. We have installed so many shower pans that we lost count. Here you will find schematics for some of the

Re-plumbing old houses. You just want the best solution. You want a water supply piping system that doesn’t corrode or develop pinhole leaks, is chlorine- and scale-resistant, and has fewer fittings, connections, and elbows than rigid plastic and metallic pipe. Think it’s impossible? We can make it simple for you with cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) for your water supply piping installation. PEX is a high-temperature, flexible plastic (polymer) pipe. The cross-linking raises

Tired of mopping up after a rainstorm? Let The Ultimate Handyman install, maintain, or repair your sump pumps. Water generally seeps into the basement because of pressure built up around your foundation – water naturally seeks the path of least resistance and enters through cracks in your walls or floors. And if it stays wet you may see unhealthy black mold growing. If this sounds like a familiar problem, we can design a way to collect this water through a series of pipes tha

Are you tired of that old bathtub? Do you want a hot tub instead? Is your kitchen sink old? Do you want a farm sink instead? How about replacing that pedestal basin for an under-mount built-in basin? Most often a replacement of such a big plumbing fixture requires more than just a plumber. Many times you need a rough framer, a fine carpenter, an electrician, a tile person, a marble specialist, etc…. We are the solution to such problems that specialty plumbing contractors do n

There are many lessons to learn in the building contracting business, even if you think that you have already learned all of them, there will always be a new one lurking around the corner. This job is going well as planned, we are building some partition walls, installing hospital-style track for curtains, installing one door and one window. It all seems simple and straight forward enough, so when we drew the work agreement and had the client sign it, we never thought that, s

Did you know…? –It is estimated that one pool in every 20 has a leak. –A pinhole-sized leak in a pool plumbing system with 40-pound pressure (psi) will lose approximately 970 gallons of water in a 24-hour period. This comes to about 30,000 gallons a month or 360,000 gallons per year. That’s enough to drain and refill the average residential swimming pool more than a dozen times. But if you have an automatic refilling float, you will not notice. Warning signs of leaks include:

Whether you’re growing flowers to win prizes in your 11-acre state or just trying to keep a window flowerbed looking good year round, we have the irrigation solution for you. Yes… Irrigation is a way to transport water to provide water to places that would not otherwise sustain some species of plants. Moreover irrigation system is the technical name to your sprinkler system; therefore, when we say irrigation, make a mental image of a sprinkler system, that works for urban pla

We have had calls about smells, mysterious vibrations, bleeding shower heads, strange noises that turned out to be plumbing-related, and more. Some of the calls we have received are downright weird, so don’t worry – we have heard it all. And we usually discover that a perceived poltergeist phenomenon turns out to be a water supply issue. Cold or Scorching Shower? No one wants a cold shower, or a scorching-hot one! Lack of cold water is usually caused by a defective pressure-b

Drainage Is Important! Most of the foundation problems are caused by drainage deficiencies. Water pooling by a downspout is not as inoffensive as it looks. It most likely is causing long-term irreparable problems. As water penetrates the soil, its pressure, flow and other physical properties, can undermine certain areas, wash away essential support from under your foundation, push and pull in subtle ways that will be noticed only when it is too late! Keep water away from any