Sump pump hose reattachment
There is a black hose where the sump pump water exits the house to guide the water away from the foundation on houses with a basement. To keep it from freezing in the winter you probably removed this hose. Now that the risk of freezing is over you should reattach this hose.
Washing machine hoses
I heard last week about someone who had the original rubber hoses on a washing machine that had been there over ten years. These hoses get brittle over time and unless you turn the water off after each washing, they fail by splitting. When this happens, it is like you turned on a fire hose in you laundry room. This can do tens of thousands of dollars in damage to your house.
The solution is to replace these rubber hoses with braided steel hoses. These are available in any big box or hardware store.
Dryer vent cleaning
Have you been having your dryer vent cleaned on a regular basis? Failure to do this can cost you money by taking longer to dry clothes and worse case can cause a house fire. If you cannot do this yourself there are several vendors who advertise in the Lifestyles magazine.
Question: While installing new shelves in my laundry room closet, we hit a pvc pipe located about chest high running vertical. It is 2 1/2 inches in diameter. We have a hole in it from the drill. We have run all the water in the house including DW and washing machine and no drips yet. Do you know what that pipe would be for? Any opinions greatly appreciated.
Answer: The pipe is a sink vent pipe. You should seal the drilled hole with an epoxy sealer. This will prevent sewer gas leaking in.
It is not a sprinkler pipe. Only N34 has fire sprinklers and the pipes are one-inch tubing.
