Trouble Signs

Start with what the water is doing

You do not need to know whether the trouble is a trap arm, a flapper or a pressure-reducing valve. You need to know what you saw: a tub that holds two inches of grey water after a shower, a toilet hissing through the night, a floor grate breathing sewer air, a copper line that bangs when the washer shuts off. Each sheet on this board takes one of those symptoms and walks it back to the usual parts behind it.

How we use these sheets on the truck

The same logic is how a plumber works through a call. We start at the fixture, then the trap, then the branch line, then the stack, then the building drain and the sewer lateral out to the property line. On the supply side it runs the other way: the tap, the stop valve under it, the line in the wall, the pressure-reducing valve and the main shut-off by the meter. Knowing which end of that chain to open first saves a lot of drywall.

Drain-side symptoms

• Slow sinks, tubs and showers, usually hair, soap and grease in the trap or the first few feet of pipe.
• Sewer smells downstairs, usually an evaporated trap seal or a wax ring that has let go.
• Gurgling and several fixtures backing up together, which points at the main line.

Supply-side symptoms

• Pressure that dropped at one tap or the whole house.
• Banging and hammering when a valve snaps shut.
• A toilet that refills on its own because the flapper no longer seals.

When to stop reading and phone

Sewage on the floor, water through a ceiling, a hot water tank sitting in its own puddle or a pipe that has split: shut the main valve and ring the shop. These sheets are for the slow problems, not the ones that are filling a basement.