The holidays are supposed to be the merriest time of the year, but they can very quickly turn ugly on your home’s plumbing system if you’re not careful!

With much of the season revolving around the preparation of fancy meals and socializing at home, it’s no surprise that most plumbing disasters strike during the holidays! If you’re hosting guests for Thanksgiving, or the annual Christmas party, it’s important to know what your plumbing system can handle….and more importantly, what it cannot! These three areas of the home can fall prey to plumbing problems, but there are some simple ways you can help to prevent them! 

Make note of this! A few simple tips to avoid plumbing disasters around your home.

The Kitchen

The kitchen is the hub of the home around the holidays, and with so many feasts being cooked up you’re sure to encounter some potential dangers for your plumbing system. 

Be aware that turkey grease, starches, and fibrous veggies are all the kiss of death for your garbage disposal. Always keep your drains clear by depositing fat or grease into a trash can. To avoid a mess you can also collect it in a jar. If not properly disposed of, grease can not only damage your garbage disposal but can clog your entire home’s pipes. The fix is a simple one, just remember that before you rinse plates or utensils, you wipe away oils, butter, or leftovers off the plates. Be sure to run cool water through the disposal after each use to ensure the pipes are free of slightly ground materials. If need be, type up a small list of items that shouldn’t be thrown down the sink and tape it somewhere visible. The list should include foods like macaroni and cheese, veggies, potatoes and potato skins, grease, and bones, coffee grounds, fruit pits, etc. That way if there are any helpful guests who offer to wash the dishes, you can put them to work with the peace of mind that they’ll know what to leave out of the sink. 

The Bathroom

When you have company in your home, the last thing you want is a plumbing issue. Clogged toilets are something both you and your guests will want to avoid at all costs. Excessive use of your home’s sinks, toilets, and showers will result in a higher chance of clogging due to the amount of hair, hygiene products, and who knows what else, that could be washed down each drain. In addition, running out of hot water for showers can be a pain, fortunately, there are simple fixes for these would-be disasters. Be sure to place trash bins in accessible areas in each bathroom to provide alternatives to flushing items like wipes and sanitary products. This will help take the pressure off the pipes. In addition, having your water heater flushed prior to the event will help to maintain hot showers for everyone in the house. Pro tip: if there are kids nearby, the only solution is keeping a watchful eye on them, many a Tonka truck has been pulled from the toilet by professional plumbers around this season!

Laundry Room

With more people, comes more laundry! Be sure that all of the hoses and connections are actively working before guests arrive. Dealing with a major leak or flood is beyond disruptive and could ruin the holiday…making your guests remember “that one Christmas when” your house flooded. Just be sure your hose connections are nice and tight.

All of these issues can be detected if plumbing maintenance is performed regularly on your system. One of the best things you can do for your home and wallet is to call in a trusted plumber and get things checked out before it’s too late. Steer clear of clogged drains, toilet backups, and freezing showers, and instead let your holiday be merry and bright! 

Are you and your home ready for guests? If not, NOW is the time! 

If you have some old PVC pipes lying around the garage, don’t throw them away! There are a few DIY projects that you can do to turn those plain boring pipes into something useful around the home.

1. Shoe Rack! Who doesn’t need one of these? If you have flats, sandals, kids’ shoes, and sneakers that always seem to pile up around the door, grab some of the larger PVC pipes, industrial glue, and decorative wallpaper. Wrap the wallpaper around the pipes to give it a modern, new feel, glue them how you want and next thing you know, you have a new shoe rack to put the piles of shoes in. 

2. Ladies! Do you have tons of washi tape or ribbon cluttering up a drawer? You will need a thin round PVC pipe for this project. Create racks and slide the ribbon, washi tape, or other items you may have and start lining them up. That way, you can see what you have, and it will stay organized. 

3. Men! Tidy up your work shed or garage with the odds and ends of your leftover PVC pipes. Screw a piece at the top of a flat board against an empty wall and one piece of pipe at the bottom. Now you have a place to put shovels, rakes, hoes, etc, neatly and easily accessible. 

4. Now, this one will take a bit more pieces, but if you got them, this will be worth making. You can make a drying rack for towels, bathing suits, clothes, and toys after a day of playing in the water. That way, you can keep your hardwood floors and carpets nice and dry. 

5. Declutter your workspace. This DIY only requires pieces, and they don’t have to be all the same size. Glue the pieces together so they lay on the desk evenly, paint if desired, and then you can put scissors, pens, sharpies, paperclips, erasers, and whatever else into the slots where it will stay organized and decluttered. 

6. Create a garden hose holder! Attach small PVC pipes together, creating a rack that will stand up, and if you are feeling fancy, you can even attach two wheels for easier use. That way, your hose is off the ground and accessible the next time you are ready to use it. 

Drain Backing Up Into Your Tub? Slow Draining Pipes? We’ve Got The Cure!

We will clear or unclog any slow or clogged drain to restore flow for $83—and if we can’t unclog it, we won’t charge you.

Each member of the Rooter-Med X™ team is a continually trained and certified Rooterologist™, and we dispatch them to your home “Absolutely FREE!” F.H. Furr will send out our Rooterologists™ to diagnose your sewer or water line issue and give you an exact upfront price for repair or replacement. 

With so many drain cleaning, drain rooter plumbing, sewer repair, and water line replacement companies in Northern Virginia, who do you call? You call “Absolutely the Best” of course. In fact, we have implemented an entire division that focuses on nothing but water and sewer line issues. We call this division Rooter-Med X™!

What Is A Rooterologist™?

They’re the S.W.A.T. team of drain rooter and drain cleaning services!

A Rooterologist™ is the top of the line when it comes to drain rooter and sewer cleaning technicians. Each Rooterologist™ is handpicked by F.H. Furr himself, and just to qualify, they MUST be a certified MASTER PLUMBER. The Rooterologist™ is equipped in a fully stocked truck which enables them to diagnose and fix your sewer issues and clogged drains.

Every Rooterologist™ is a Master Plumber, but every Master Plumber is not a Rooterologist™, because of the extreme training on sewer and main drain problems, drain rooter issues, and clogged drains. — F.H. Furr

So when you are at your wit’s end with a slow-draining toilet or sink, and you’ve exhausted every home remedy known to man, call in “Absolutely The Best” drain rooter team in Northern Virginia.

Drain Rooter Specialists

From small clogged drains to complete sewer line replacements, Rooter-MedX is ready to handle all of your home’s issues. Our goal is 100% satisfaction on all of our services, and if we haven’t achieved that goal, then our job is not done.

Our Drain Rooter Services Include:

Clogged Toilets

Unfortunately, toilets clog for many different reasons, and many homeowners are convinced that it’s ok to flush paper towels, excessive toilet paper, goldfish, or baby alligators; however, these things build up and ultimately create clogs. Add that to older toilets that have been worn down over time, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Clogged Drains

Our Rooterologists™ come prepared to tackle any drain, any size, any time. From a kitchen or bathroom drain to a garage drain or downspout drain, no drain is too big or too small for our team of professional drain cleaners. And once the clog is cleaned, we offer several maintenance plans and products that will help keep your sewer drain clear for many years to come. 

Sewer Hydro jetting

Using extremely high water pressure, Hydro-jetting blasts away years of long-term buildup of paper, solid waste, and food grease and flushes the debris to the sanitary main. Hydro jets are also used to wash the insides of the pipe after any repair, clog, or replacement. Short of an entire replacement of sewer pipes, our hydro jetting is the best way to clear pipes of blockages without damage to your yard and home.

Sewer Snake

The sewer snake (drain snake, drain rooter, or drain auger) is the common tool used to unclog drains and sewer lines. It is inserted into a drain and displaces or “chews” away at whatever is in its way in a circular motion, kind of like a drill. The head of the sewer snake can be a blade for root intrusion, a cleaning for grease clogs, or a retrieval attachment for common things like paper towels.

Sewer Video Inspection

Sewer video camera inspection service is commonly provided to our customers by our Rooterologists™ with the most knowledge of your sewer main drain lines. Most sewer camera inspections take about one hour and are recorded to give you peace of mind that the proper repair or replacement is taken care of in your sewer lines.

Smoke Testing

Bad smell throughout your home, but have no clue where it’s from? If so, you need a smoke test. Smoke testing in sewer and drain repair is used to pinpoint where noxious sewer gases are entering your home. A controlled non-toxic, odorless smoke is flooded into your home’s sewer or main drain line; as it pushes through the sewer line, the rooterologist can see exactly where the odor is coming in from. 

Sewer Line Locating

Our sewer line locating service not only nails the direction but the depth of your sewer pipe as well. Usually, this service is used when a damaged sewer main drain line is present or if a homeowner is doing a major remodel of his home or yard (Adding a pool, koi pond, additional bathroom, or driveway).

Trenchless Pipe Bursting

Trenchless pipe bursting technology allows the replacement of Orangeburg, clay, cast iron, and many other pipes with a new main line of the same, if not larger, size for sewer lines. Replacing a partially collapsed main drain line without major excavations (trenchless pipe bursting only uses two holes or access points) saves time, which saves money. 

Trenchless Lining Spot Repair

With today’s technology and our Rooterologists™’ ongoing training, Trenchless Lining Spot Repair provides a permanent, convenient alternative method for repairs on sewer lines. Installed internally, the trenchless system is primarily used for repairs ranging from 2’ to 4’ in length. Using trenchless lining systems speeds up the process of the work and significantly brings down the cost of the sewer work by eliminating the need for excavation. 

Trenchless Water Line Replacement

The trenchless sewer pipe replacement process is becoming more and more of an option because of distinct advantages such as: reducing the cost of replacing a main drain water line and installing a superior sewer product in the ground than the traditional procedures. This process eliminates the need for digging long and deep trenches that destroy your yard, but it does require experience in trenchless sewer replacements to use the existing sewer lateral’s position in the ground as a guide for the new replacement pipe.

Sewer Line Maintenance Programs

With periodic sewer line maintenance, you can save money on replacement costs and extend the life of your sewer exponentially whether or not you have a clogged sewer line. Annual service & maintenance keeps your sewer main drain lines root and debris free, which helps you flush with confidence.

Give us a call to get your clogged drains cleared today!

Our sewer video inspection service is the only true way to find out what’s going on with your sewer drain…and our Rooterologist™ are “Absolutely The Best” plumbers to use it!

It takes out all of the guess work, sewer video inspection service enters your drain and lets you see what is causing your clogs. It is recommended to have a sewer video inspection when you have constant clogs, and after you have ANY drain work to make sure everything is taken care of.

How Does A Sewer Video Inspection Work?

Our skilled, professionally trained Rooterologist™ inserts a bendable rod with a specially made waterproof, high-resolution video camera on its tip into your drain pipe. The bendable rod allows the sewer video camera to travel through the drain pipe. The sewer video inspection sends a real time image transmission to the Rooterologist™, giving him the insight  to determine the condition of the drain.

What Other Uses, Besides Clogged Drains, Does A Sewer Video Inspection Have?

A sewer video inspection  is good for a lot of things but not limited to:

• Tree Root Intrusion
• Lost Toys
• Collapsed Pipes
• Lost Jewelry 

Sewer video inspections are also a good idea before you purchase a home to make sure that the sewer drain lines are free of problems that can cause expensive repairs later on.

If you have lost something down the drain that is important to you or your drains just aren’t working like they should, give us a call immediately! We can help!

Your dishwasher is one of the best appliances in your home….but do you really know your dishwasher?

Here are four dishwasher facts that may make you see your appliance in a different light.

Synopsis of the Above Infographic

1. Run your dishwasher at night to save money.
2. A dishwasher typically uses less water than washing dishes by hand.
3. Using white vinegar in your dishwasher can help rejuvenate the sparkle on your dishes and help with the smell.
4. Use your dishwasher to help disinfect baby toys, just be sure not to use the heat dry option.