My top 10 homeowner mistakes people make with their electrical and plumbing

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[00:00:23] Eric Goranson: So in my area it is a, um, mostly a state building code, even though like the city of Portland has the ability to do. Of additional ones on top of it. But generally speaking in, uh, the states around me at least, uh, it is a state issue, uh, the East and uh, the Northeast here in the United States. Uh, definitely, uh, a state or a local issue depending on what they are.

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[00:01:11] Eric Goranson: You know, the common ones to maybe see if we can help you avoid some of those, whether or not you're the, the D Iyer or even the staff that you're hiring professionals. This list is one of those things that if we can help you, uh, well make a better project that's more successful, then that's a win for everybody.

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[00:01:44] Eric Goranson: Water. Root quencher.com. Well, today I wanted to just jump right in, uh, with our list. But first, if you have any questions on this stuff, how do you find us over at around the house online.com, and we can help you right [00:02:00] there. Well, let's talk about it. Number one on my list, and this isn't a particular order, so this isn't like, well, well, we'll call it number 10.

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[00:02:37] Eric Goranson: And you know, there's ways to do this, to do it correctly. So maybe it's not so obvious, but you can still do it. Like if it's in a wall cavity, let's say that it's in the living room and you moved a wall sconce, you know, so it was better served well, what's on the backside of the wall? Sometimes if it's like a two by four wall, you can flop that box around and maybe it's a [00:03:00] closet, maybe it's a a, uh, you know, bedroom wall where it's less obtrusive.

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[00:03:30] Eric Goranson: And these are things that, you know, are issues like that. And, uh, as well, let's, let's, let's hit the nail on the head here as well. Make sure you got covers on those boxes. You know you got it in the box, in the attic. Those covers are there to contain that and to protect that. So having a junction box without a cover, it's still like not having a junction box.

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[00:04:10] Eric Goranson: If it's a metal box, do you have it just going through there, you know, without any of the crimp connections or any of those kind of things where it actually protects the wire going through there. Those are all things that's supposed to protect the wire. Hold the wire in there so you don't get chafing or cause short.

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[00:04:49] Eric Goranson: Shark bites are great for that. Or push to connect fittings. I'm gonna use shark bites like Kleenex and bathroom tissue, facial tissue. That's kind of that. But really this is what it is. So what [00:05:00] I want you to do is make sure that you don't use those fittings now, you know I hear a lot of people, oh, if they sell 'em and they have a warranty, yeah.

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[00:05:37] Eric Goranson: So this was probably, uh, four or five years ago. A plumber back then used that. And um, now, you know, this is kind of the thing that we're seeing is good plumbers don't use these as permanent fixes. Now, what's the best way to do it? Well, if you're going from, let's say, C P V C into Pex, great. Glue on a fitting that's [00:06:00] female.

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[00:06:20] Eric Goranson: But really taking the time to get those things, you know going is great Now. In a crawl space or something if you have a, a fitting down there, sure, I get that. But never bury a shark bite or one of the push connect fittings in a wall. First off, here's why I don't like using 'em on projects as well. Let's, let's get into the nuts and bolts of it.

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[00:07:14] Eric Goranson: Don't get me wrong. But really when it comes down to it, learning how to sweat pipe is easy. It's not that hard to do, and I. It's the right way to fix these problems. And if I can learn how to sweat pipe, I know you can learn how to sweat pipe. It's not that hard to get the torch out. And so, uh, that is going to be the strongest way.

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[00:07:53] Eric Goranson: And you know, just take the time and do this right. It will save you so much time and money in the long run, and you're [00:08:00] not gonna have to worry about it. The last thing you wanna do is go, man, I got 50 bucks worth of sharp bike fittings behind the, behind the shower wall. And if I gotta tear this out again and redo the tile or go through the outside of the house or a bedroom just because, I didn't do it right.

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[00:08:40] Eric Goranson: And, uh, Jason McDaniels from Global Tile Posse, which if you remember back, that was the sledgehammer contractors, people that came in and fixed it. This job was of equal poor quality to the sledgehammer contractor, except he didn't come try to repo it. Uh, much more standup of a person after they, you know, took these [00:09:00] people's money.

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[00:09:26] Eric Goranson: For me. It was the worst bathroom I had seen as far as tile. And for Jason, he said it was as well. So I. These are things that we want to try to avoid. I'll talk a little bit more about that project. We come back just as soon as a round the house returns. Why

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[00:10:11] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the Around The House Show. This is where we hope to get the most outta your home through information and education. Thanks for joining us today. We've been talking about my, uh, top 10 electrical and plumbing mistakes that, uh, homeowners typically make. And, uh, trying to really help you, uh, dodge them yourselves, or at least think about 'em to see if it's something that you could improve your skills on.

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[00:10:57] Eric Goranson: They missed that part of the research [00:11:00] and, uh, took them for a ride. And, uh, Jason and I were going through and taking a look and oh my gosh, the plumbing mistakes, the tile mistakes, the siding, windows and doors framing. This whole, this is gonna be a, a project that if, uh, the homeowner had the money, they would be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix correctly.

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[00:11:46] Eric Goranson: Two, uh, I think most people would've stopped and went, wow, I'm over my skis on this and gotten some help. And, uh, none of those things happen on this project. So we're gonna try to help these people a little bit and, uh, put together something to at least, uh, help 'em get back into this house. [00:12:00] 'cause right now it is currently not livable and that's gonna be an issue for 'em.

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[00:12:25] Eric Goranson: And if a homeowner came in there first and rolled their house and has already had their hand in replacing the water heater a couple times, you could be just duplicating those mistakes that were already made. For instance, in many areas you have to have on a water heater. Building code says it has to be strapped to the wall and attached to studs.

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[00:13:13] Eric Goranson: Or even a hard copper one, depending on what you've got going on. But, uh, really it needs to be in conduit from the water heater all the way up to the box. That conduit probably needs to be attached someplace. So it's not whipping around. So you see where I'm going at here. These are the issues that we see.

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[00:13:57] Eric Goranson: And when it comes to gas, health, safety, and welfare, [00:14:00] stuff like this, or electrical, you don't wanna fire and plumbing as well, or you don't wanna get someone hurt. These are all things that, uh, should be done correctly and to your local building code. So make sure you understand your local building code and you know, unfortunately, um, every state is different.

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[00:14:41] Eric Goranson: But generally speaking in, uh, the states around me at least, uh, it is a state issue. But, uh, the, the east and uh, the northeast here in the United States, uh, definitely, uh, a state or a local issue, depending on what they are. And you could have, of course, um, [00:15:00] international building code could be grabbed in one year in like 2012 or whatever.

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[00:15:24] Eric Goranson: But as far as meeting that code, you wanna make sure you got that in there. So making sure that you understand what that code is and, uh, what you're doing, you know, and, and some of these things are, are like putting the chandelier over the top of the bathtub in the bathroom. Uh, you know, some of these things that are really kind of dangerous if you're standing in the bathtub and you're tall and you reach that chandelier.

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[00:16:03] Eric Goranson: Now the next one up here is a big one, and this is in plumbing, using the wrong materials. So this is gonna be. Number six, basically on our list using the wrong materials and plumbing. And what I'm talking about is some of the flex drain options that you can get when you're trying to, trying to repair maybe a P trap or something underneath your sink or bathroom vanity.

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[00:16:51] Eric Goranson: So make sure that you're using the right materials, which goes back to that last one, which is not following a local electrical code. [00:17:00] You know, we see this all the time. I see this in water heaters like we were talking about, where, where they, um, were mixing materials together where I've, I've seen rust coming out and I'm like, why is that rust coming from in the house?

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[00:17:35] Eric Goranson: So that is one of those two that you need to be careful with. And then I've seen plenty of times people grabbing the wrong materials and, and creating issues with their P trapps underneath the sink. So you get the wrong materials. Maybe you create an SS trap instead of a p trapp by accident because you've got the wrong plumbing fittings.

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[00:18:12] Eric Goranson: Just like, uh, can't tell you how many times I've seen people using, uh, shark bites all the way into the, uh, into the water heater as well, where that's just an issue. And, uh, Some of the messes underneath the sink and the plumbing can be quite the disaster. Alright, we got so much more. We come back of our top 10 electrical and plumbing mistakes homeowners make just as soon as about the house returns.[00:19:00]

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[00:19:27] Eric Goranson: But this is just to bring awareness to these issues. So, uh, if you're tackling a project, you can think, Hmm, maybe there's a better way of doing this, which is always a good thing because if you can do it once and fix it, right. You know, everybody wins, including you not having to go back and do it again.

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[00:20:02] Eric Goranson: The next one is, is adding too much to an electrical circuit instead of a new home run. So maybe adding a couple extra outlets. And I've seen this happen like in bathrooms. They're like, oh, well, you know, we've got, uh, two outlets, you know, just one outlet really, you know, in a bathroom. I'm gonna put another set of outlets over there.

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[00:20:40] Eric Goranson: Some people, it's really hard to get that electrical there. So these are all issues that you have to kind of take a look at and say, okay, what's it gonna take to make it happen? And so I really wanna make sure that we've got those things addressed. So make sure that you're not overloading a circuit. And that's, that's a big one.

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[00:21:16] Eric Goranson: So we used to have big problems with electrical. That we'd have, uh, you know, lighting circuits almost be cooking off because you had too many on there these days, not the case. Uh, but still it's those electrical outlets that you have to be careful with that. Uh, you know, for instance, I, in my house, um, if you're running, um, I.

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[00:21:55] Eric Goranson: And that's an important one. So make sure that you've got that. And if you've got a G F C I outlet [00:22:00] or something that is not working correctly, don't forget those are about a 10 year lifespan. So maybe you need to swap out and put a fresh one in there because they do eventually wear out. But, uh, making sure that you're not overloading a circuit is a big one.

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[00:22:33] Eric Goranson: Uh, and that's maybe another episode, but, uh, whew. Be careful guys. I wanna see Burn Our House down. Now, the next one on my list here is a big one, and it's one of the mistakes that many homeowners make and even contractors, uh, can make. Not paying attention to warning signs of failure. Now, great example. I have a neighbor over here that is a, uh, that moved out.

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[00:23:14] Eric Goranson: So now they're doing two bathrooms in a kitchen as well as a lot of other renovations. Problem is, how did you not know that you had water damage in those? Did you have high humidity? I'm sure there were signs that were missed. Rarely. Do you have a problem there? You know, that that gets skipped, you know?

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[00:23:54] Eric Goranson: Monitoring that, making sure that you don't have any leaks. And then paying attention to the warning [00:24:00] signs of of a, of a spongy floor or a warped hardwood floor or discoloration under vinyl flooring or anything like that. Or warning signs of much bigger things that are going on. And if you're keeping an eye on things like, you know, I always recommend having mold tests done every few years to see what's going on.

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[00:24:42] Eric Goranson: I can feel the floor just flux a little bit to, okay, I have to get the plunger out all the time. What's going on with this? So there's a lot of warning signs. Be in tune with your house so you understand what those warning signs are and be on the lookout of them because if you can catch it early, it's always [00:25:00] gonna cost you less money to repair than it is if you catch it way on down the road.

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[00:25:26] Eric Goranson: So that's a big one. Now, next up here that I wanna talk about is a big one. Ignoring root damage to your sewer line or storm drain system. So we have two different systems here. We're talking about your, your sewer line, which is where it comes out from your house, you know, inside your house, out to the street.

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[00:26:04] Eric Goranson: If you're in the forest like me, it could be a couple years. You want that free flowing, so you're good to go. So make sure you've got that dialed in. And then every few years, even if you have gutter guards, spend the time to get that thing cleaned out. You know, if, if you don't have gutter guards and you've got trees, maybe two or three years, if you've got gutter guards and then they're working well maybe every four or five years, but that should get you there.

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[00:26:48] Eric Goranson: So be careful of that. And in my area here, if you buy a house, you have to, uh, have a, uh, sewer, you know, [00:27:00] uh, inspection done as part of that to make sure that that works correctly. That's part of the process of purchasing a house, just like when they test for radon, that's another one. Depending on your area, what the issues are.

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[00:27:29] Eric Goranson: Mine goes right out my house drops right down into that. So it's a pretty short run. So it's a, it's an easy one for me, but some people have a hundred feet or more and you wanna make sure that, that is good when you purchase the place. So that's another tip right there. So making sure that you don't have trees or damage to that or breaks, making sure that's working correctly, that's one that, um, is a mistake that's happening, is not paying attention to that sewer system.

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[00:28:14] Eric Goranson: Uh, they love to get it around there, and that's where you get those issues and that's where maybe doing a relining job is gonna be making sense for you. And there's some great new technology with that, that you don't have to dig things up. So that's another good option there. Alrighty guys, if you want more information, head over to around the house.

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[00:29:06] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to Around the House. Show this where we hope you get the most outta your home through Information Education. Thanks for joining me today. Hey, if you want more information about us, head over to, uh, Facebook and join our, uh, around the House Show page. Over there, you'll see around the House Show.

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[00:29:40] Eric Goranson: Lemme do a recap. I. Number 10, not using junction boxes and electrical. Number nine, using chart bike fittings as a permanent fix. Number eight, not following local electrical and plumbing code. Number seven, using the wrong materials and plumbing, talking the fluxx strains and all that stuff you don't wanna be using.

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[00:30:33] Eric Goranson: Now what this can be is this can be sitting there and you have a septic tank and you're not maintaining it. You're driving over the top of your drain field. You are just not doing what needed to be done with that and always refer to your local expert in this, but really, Three to five years is where they say, in most cases, that needs to be pumped out.

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[00:31:12] Eric Goranson: And I'm talking about, I don't like garbage disposal going down there. I don't like flushable wipes. Those are all things that don't break up. And shouldn't be going into a septic system 'cause it's gonna get expensive. And what I mean by expensive is if you've got an old system in there. Now when you go to replace it, you might need to have a different style system depending on where you live.

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[00:32:07] Eric Goranson: So, Rule number one, don't flush things down there that you don't want to. Two, I'm not a big fan of two of like, draining your, um, your, uh, if you have hard water, draining that into your septic tank can be problematic. Putting all that salt in there, that can be an issue. Uh, and also making sure that you're just not putting solids in there that don't need to go in there.

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[00:32:53] Eric Goranson: My favorite is, uh, when I'm gonna do an electrical panel on my house. I called in my friends over at Rose [00:33:00] City Electric to come do the panel. Because they are gonna be up to code. I wanted to make sure that the permits were filed, everything was inspected, it was beautiful, ready to go. That's exactly what I did, because I wanted to make sure that my old panel, which was gonna be complex to change out and, and here's why.

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[00:33:42] Eric Goranson: So these are things you gotta be very careful with. And of course, here's where the, the, the bad part was, is that to upgrade my panel, I had to also move where the panel was gonna be because it didn't meet current code in that. That panel and my overhead [00:34:00] needed to move about 20 feet from where it was to meet current building code.

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[00:34:23] Eric Goranson: That saved me a ton of time and, uh, it was done correctly. Now, plumbing, for instance, uh, I bring in the pros when I wanna water jet something, when I want to clean out Hydro Jett out, uh, my, I bring in the pros. They have the tools, it's easier, and, uh, they have the high pressure stuff to knock that out, which is good.

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[00:35:06] Eric Goranson: And then you have to bring the pro in. And when you do that on an emergency basis, it'll always cost you more money every single time. So just understanding where that is, is a key. And when in doubt, bring in that licensed plumber, bring in that licensed electrician, and make sure that they're following building code and they're doing all the right stuff.

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[00:35:47] Eric Goranson: Things are sketchy on the pricing out there. But we still have to maintain our homes and for many people it's really hard. It's especially living paycheck to paycheck. So I get it. So you need to do the [00:36:00] best you can for your investment. What I don't want you to see is to do something where you could have spent.

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[00:36:26] Eric Goranson: I get it. Just know that down the road, that's not gonna last long. You need to go put in the right one later. But if it gets you by and you know you're trying to keep food on the table and the kids in school and all that stuff, I totally get it. So just make sure you can do the best you can and when you can't get it there to put something quality in there and you're doing it as a D I Y project, just make sure that you go back.

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[00:37:06] Eric Goranson: It held up for 15 minutes of testing, but how is that thing after a year? I have no idea. It was made cheaply, but, um, felt quality. But really you have to have the expectation that a $20 faucet isn't going to last long and you're never gonna get repair parts. Good. Really? What, like, great example, water heaters.

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[00:37:40] Eric Goranson: I get that. That happens. You're just not gonna get the lifespan that you get out of a more expensive one. And does it probably cost you more money? Yeah, you can get lucky. It's really depending on your situation. Sometimes that water heater, if you buy the cheap one, it's gonna last. Right? There's not too many things with it.

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[00:38:10] Eric Goranson: But, uh, just make sure that you're doing the best you can with picking the cheapest stuff versus the longest lasting stuff. You can do it once. Nobody likes doing a D I Y project twice. Alright, everybody. That's my top 10 electrical and plumbing mistakes that, uh, people make around their house. Now there's a ton more.

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[00:38:46] Eric Goranson: We're gonna talk about tricks to keep your house cool and my home security list of things to do for fall. Things that you can be doing around your house to make sure that, uh, as the daylight gets shorter here in the United States, what do we do to make sure that, uh, [00:39:00] um, you know, many of us haven't been outside of the dark a lot just because.

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[00:39:23] Eric Goranson: Alright everybody, we'll jump over to hour number two. Don't go anywhere around the house. We'll be right back. Have these important messages.