Home Interiors

A lot of water can be lost from dripping taps or shower roses. More than 50 litres of water a day can be lost. If it’s a hot water tap, this could cost you $200 or more a year in power bills.

Dripping taps or shower roses

The first thing you should try is to replace the tap washers. If this does not work, try reseating the tap by unscrewing it from the pipe and rescrewing it back on using plumber’s sealing tape.

If the tap still leaks, try replacing the tap head or cover unit. Before you do this check with a plumber or plumbing supplies retailer that the cover unit you require is still available in use. Otherwise it may be easier just to replace the entire tap assembly.

Some taps with ceramic washers are more complex. These taps have different replacement cartridges that can vary according to the make of the tap. Problems with ceramic taps usually result from impurities brought in from the water supply pipe.

Leaks

Leaks from the bath, shower or sink waste pipes could damage or rot your home’s timber framing, foundations & flooring. It will also cause dampness in the home from a build up of moisture on the floor or under the house.

Quite often these can be difficult to detect. Signs of leaks include a musty room, wet patches or mouldy areas appearing. 

Leaking waste pipes must be addressed at once or else permanent damage to timber framing, foundations & floorboards can be very expensive to fix.

Bath, sink & shower wastes draining slowly or clogging

Drain holes can get clogged up causing waste water to drain slowly in sinks, bath or shower. In the kitchen, this is usually due a build up of grease or food scraps in the waste & traps.

In bath or showers this is caused by the build up of hair or soap wash downs. The simplest method is remove hair build up on the floor grate on a constant basis.

In traditional plumbing systems use a rubber plunger to clean out the trap or where the trap is accessible unscrew it while placing a bucket under it to collect the gunk.  In some modern showers the trap can be lifted out & cleaned. Pouring boiling water mixed with drain cleaner detergent down the drain will also help clear it.

If the blockage still does not clear, this may indicate other issues such as sagging pipes or blocked drains or pipes under the house or further down the drainage system. Provide support under sagging pipes as necessary & ensure that pipes are falling to the gully traps.