In today’s world of instant knowledge through the Internet, DIY (Do It Yourself) projects have become the norm. It can save you a lot of money and some problems are quick and easy to deal with yourself. There are a greater number of projects, however, that you shouldn’t tackle yourself.
Some plumbing problems can even appear incredibly easy to fix at first glance, but once you start, it can rapidly spiral out of control—even when it comes to drain cleaning. There are many reasons why you shouldn’t tackle certain plumbing issues, and these are just a few:
Potential Risks
This is not about the potential risk of doing something wrong, but the potential risk to you physically. Often we don’t realize just how risky something can be. Something as simple as cleaning your drains could have potential negative outcomes.
Chemical drain cleaners use incredibly powerful and harmful chemicals you might not know enough about. It’s very easy to accidentally give yourself a chemical burn and then perhaps mistreat it (for example water can actually be more harmful with some chemicals).
It’s not just chemicals, either—there are other risks such as breathing in harmful substances like mold spores. The point is, without the training a plumber is given you can’t be aware of all the potential risks involved.
Legal Requirements
This doesn’t necessarily apply to replace a faucet, but when it comes to construction and perhaps remodeling a bathroom, you could encounter legal complications. Ontario and its provincial municipalities all have laws surrounding plumbing and your home, and the City of Toronto is no different. You might not be aware of these laws, but if you start putting in some new pipes and run into a problem, you might find yourself discovering a series of legal problems as well.
Required Training
In addition to being aware of potential dangers and laws when it comes to plumbing, plumbers have technical knowledge. They know how everything is supposed to work, they understand how a city’s plumbing and your plumbing co-exist, and how they affect each other. A plumber has the training and skills that all kinds of problems demand.
What might seem like a simple drain cleaning could be a blockage caused by overgrown tree roots? A professional tradesman can do a better job of investigating the cause of your plumbing problems than any YouTube video could provide you.
Satisfactory Results
Getting something to work when you don’t know what you’re doing can be surprisingly difficult. You may have step-by-step instructions to follow, but like an IKEA dresser—it just doesn’t make sense. Things are slightly different than what it says when you take it apart, and all too often it leads to disastrous results. Duct-tape is quickly brought to help the problem along with other useful (but not usually effective) aids. You might be able to fix one issue, but chances are you’re not treating the actual problem—just a result of said problem. You might even be making it worse.
When it comes down it, plumbers in Toronto are employed in this advanced technological age—not because no-one else wants to do it, but because it requires a specific set of skills, training, and passion. The role of the plumber is often shrugged off casually, and in this age of DIY everything, it’s easy to forget why you actually shouldn’t do your own drain cleaning Toronto plumbers normally do.
