Your sewer lines may need to be replaced at some point in time. If they are old – twenty years or more – the wear and tear may be just too much. Or, roots may have worked their way through the joints of the sewer pipes where they are no longer airtight. If you have had a backup, or numerous backups, then you must have your sewer lines replaced. Schuelke Plumbing can do a camera inspection to determine what the best solution is for your particular situation.

To minimize digging in your yard and driveway, the plumbers at Schuelke may recommend a pipe bursting method known as trenchless sewer replacement and pipe lining. This can be done quickly and easily, with almost no disruption to your routine.

Two small holes are dug at each end of the section that needs to be replaced A steel cable, connected to a high pressure hydraulic pump pulls the cutting head of the high density polyethylene pipe, and your sewer lines are replaced. The existing pipe is destroyed from

Clogged and blocked drains can ruin your plumbing system very quickly. Calling in the plumbers will give you the help you need, but this can be very expensive. They have the latest technology available, but that is not always what is necessary to unclog your drains and blockages to your plumbing system. Your goal may just be to unclog the drains without using harsh or dangerous chemicals. Remember that the professionals are there to help. However, many people prefer to try to unclog and unblock their own drains first, before calling in the experts.

It may seem like your drains in the kitchen and bathroom get clogged on a regular basis. We can recommend some green ways to keep your drains open, without using powerful industrial chemicals that can be harmful to the environment. These industrial products usually contain acid, lye, or other chemicals, and can be dangerous in many ways – including your wastewater system, the PVC pipes, as well as to your health.

You may want to use a more gentle and natural approach to keeping your drains from getting clogged. Many health food stores now carry natural cleaners that are bacteria based enzyme cleaners. Pouring a cup of baking soda down your drain will also work in many cases, if followed by pouring three or four cups of boiling water down the drain immediately afterwards. This works as long as water has not yet begun to back up in your drain. This is effective because the

Your home’s sewer and drain lines have probably been there since your home was built. With the average age of a home in the greater Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley area currently at 43 years old, it is just a matter of time before your sewer line breaks.

When a sewer line breaks, the leaking sewage is a hotbed of disease, hazardous chemicals, and rat infestation. You must have it repaired immediately, and Schuelke Plumbing, based in Sherman Oaks, in the plumbing company of choice by many homeowners.

The older neighborhoods in Los Angeles and the Valley often have combination sewers which collect both sewage and stormwater. The stormwater can cause the system to overflow, releasing raw sewage into local waterways.

Breaks in sewer lines commonly occur at the connection to the branch lateral at the curb line, or at the transition point from cast iron at the house to clay or cement pipe, located about five feet from your home.

Property owners are responsible for breaks between the house and the curb, including the sidewalk and parking strip located in the right-of-way. Call the

Avoiding plumbing problems before they start is one of the ways you can save money during a recession. Instead of letting your plumbing system go, spend the time to learn how to care for your home or commercial properties so that you can avoid costly repairs.

To keep from clogging up your drains, adhere to these plumbing suggestions:

• pour a pot of boiling water down all drains about once a month
• add about a half a cup of baking soda to boiling water to pour down your garbage disposal
• never pour grease down your kitchen drain
• always use a screen or filter in your bathroom to snag hair before it clogs your sink or shower drain
• never pour paint or chemicals down your drains, or you will risk ruining your pipes

These are just a few suggestions for getting starting with a preventative plumbing maintenance. Schuelke Plumbing is ready to serve you for all of your Los Angeles plumbing repairs.

There are many older sections of Los Angeles, so if you are evaluating your older faucets or shower heads to see what your GPM (gallons per minute) rate is, here is a way to quickly determine it. You may not realize that the Federal Energy Policy Act of 1992 required all faucet and shower fixtures made in the United States to have a flow rate of no more than 2.2 GPM at 60 PSI. If your fixture is more than 2.2 GPM, it is probably time to replace it with a new one that will be code compliant for water efficiency.

Here is how you can quickly determine the flow rate for a specific faucet or shower head in your home:

1) turn the fixture on to its normal position

2) place a container under the fixture and collect the water for about 10 seconds

3) measure the quantity of water in the container and then convert it to gallons

4) multiply the measured quantity of water by 6 to calculate the flow rate in gallons per minute – example – if you have a half gallon of water flowing it would be .5 x 6 = 3 GPM

Call the plumbers

When your sewer lines are clogged, this becomes your main focus until your plumbing and sewer repair specialists can be on the scene. In properties that are considered to be older construction, more than about twenty years old, there are three main causes for clogged sewers. These are:

~ excessive mortar left at soil pipe joints

~ root intrusion from trees and plants

~ broken or burst pipes

A broken pipe or pipe that has burst will allow foreign matter to enter the drainage system, leading to clogging. In newer construction, clogged sewers may be the result of poor design or construction. If the wrong fittings were used, or too little slope in the drain run was allowed, the result can be serious clogging.

Schuelke Plumbing will come to your residential or commercial property immediately and let you know what the problem is with

When you have a leaky faucet that needs to be repaired, you want a plumber to come out right away to fix it now. That is exactly what we do here at Schuelke Plumbing.

A dripping faucet is the most common plumbing problem as well as one of the easiest to repair. Then why do so many people ignore it and leave the dripping faucet unrepaired? A steady drip can waste thirty dollars or more in water in a short time. If you have more than one leaky faucet in your home, you can see how much of your money is literally going down the drain. The waste from a dripping hot water faucet is even more because you’re also paying to heat the water before it goes down the drain.

So what’s the solution? A drip is caused by seepage from the water supply. Remember the water supply comes into your home under pressure, so there must be a watertight seal holding back the incoming water when the faucet handle is in the off position. That seal is usually created by a washer, pressed tightly against the faucet seat. Obviously, when the washer or the seat is not functioning properly, a little water can seep through and drip out of the faucet spout. Most of the time you can stop the drip by simply replacind the washer or repair the faucet seat.

The first thing you will want to do when fixing a faucet drip is to turn off the water supply. You should be able to turn off the supply at a nearby shutoff, but if your house is not equipped with shutoff valves for individual fixtures, you’ll have to go to the

When your toilet is clogged you must act quickly to get it repaired. Once you have tried everything you know, like using a coat hanger to unclog the paper, giving it some time to drain on its own, or pouring some type of liquid down the toilet, you may want to call the experts at Schuelke Plumbing to get it taken care of right away. They will repair a clogged toilet quickly and easily.

Each time you flush your toilet you are creating something called sewage, also known as wastewater. This human waste sewage not only smells bad, but also contains harmful bacteria. One type of bacteria found in sewage is coliform bacteria, E. coli, for example, and this can cause disease. Once the water in your pipes becomes infected with this bacteria it becomes a health hazard.

From this you can see that a

If you experience rusty water or other corrosion problems with your home’s water supply, there’s a good chance that your home could benefit from a copper repipe. If it is an older home, like most of the ones in Los Angeles, you may still have the galvanized pipes that were installed when the home was originally built. Repiping your property with copper pipe can be a wise decision that in the long run will save you money and headaches, and it’s an upgrade that can add to the resale value you your home by making it attractive to more potential buyers.

The low water pressure you feel is actually due to a low volume of water. As galvanized pipes get older, the rust and corrosion cause the inside diameter of the pipe to close off, slowing down the flow of water. At the same time the reduced volume of water in the system is not sufficient to supply multiple fixtures at one time. The rust within the pipes is also transferred to your drinking water, along with your other water supply. Eventually the rust will