Home » Ask the Plumber – Handy Tips and FAQ’s

Ask the Plumber – Handy Tips and FAQ’s

Why I Love my Family Business

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I’m feeling thankful today, so I thought I would tell you all about it.

About 3 years ago I found out I had prostate cancer and colon cancer. I was still working every day, but now I needed chemotherapy every day and couldn’t work.

I am thankful for my men. Three of them are my sons and one is my son-in-law. They, with my daughters, have kept things going around here. Our daughter, Debi, takes care of the office and schedules work. She’s my youngest. My firstborn, Shari, lives in Wisconsin and has built my website. My daughter, Susan, is a local copywriter, and  works on this website with Shari. If you need a website built and customers driven to it, they can do it for you.

My wife, Dorothy, runs this business with the help of our sons and daughters – so you can see why I am thankful. I am also thankful that my cancer is under control and I will be able to start bidding jobs again when this chemo fog lifts out of the way.

If you still haven’t met my sons Steve, Danny, and Jason – or my son-in-law, Adam, give us a call. They will do a good job for you.

Customer Safety – How Do You Know it’s Us?

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When you’re having an emergency, you wait and look … and look … and drive yourself crazy looking for your plumber to pull up to your house. There is NEVER any plumber ANYWHERE that can be there fast enough for a customer’s emergency! In that case, you’re plenty aware of who is knocking at your door. But what if you are simply having routine maintenance done, or a less urgent situation? We all know it’s very easy to be distracted in the home and not really think about who is at your door. If you are already one of our valuable customers, you know us all by name. But if you are a new customer, how can you be sure it is our company at your door?

First of all, look out a near window to see if our clearly marked company vans are outside where you can see them. If you can’t see the truck, ask through the door, “Who is it?”  It is possible that while you were looking out the window our man may have walked back to the truck for something, or stepped far enough away from the door that he didn’t hear you. Our men wear shirts with “Gary’s Quality Plumbing” clearly marked on the back, and their names are on the front. If you don’t see those words, you’re not dealing with Gary’s Quality Plumbing, and you need to make an excuse to get back behind the door and lock it until you can find out if who you’re dealing with is legitimate.

Our goal is to provide you excellent products and service, safely. We want to encourage our customers to be aware of who is at their door, and to call our company to speak with Dorothy or Debi if you have any doubts whatsoever. We do our best to be easily identified by our customers, and value their safety at all times.

Spring Spuce-Up

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Polish and shine the fixtures you have, and if they still look dull and outdated, new faucet trim or fixtures will make your home sparkle again. Often those details are exactly what’s needed to pull the whole room together.

Are obnoxious odors coming from your sink drains or garbage disposer?

For fresher sink drains:

  • Pour bleach down the emergency drain slowly, using a funnel if necessary to limit the amount used. Follow with water.
  • If pouring bleach down the drain irritates the ‘green’ out of you, then try baking soda and an old toothbrush reaching as far as possible into that emergency drain without losing grip of the brush. A pipe cleaner may be necessary.

For garbage disposers:

  • Baking soda and ice while disposer is running. Use short bursts and rinse with hot water.
  • Lemon juice and baking soda with ice is also helpful, but remember NOT to put the peel through the disposal.

Remember: NEVER under any circumstances should you ever put your fingers down the disposal side of the drain.

If these tips don’t help, call your Plano plumber to clean your drain lines or replace a poorly working disposal with a newer model.

Do you have tips that have worked just as well? Share them with us!

Don’t Miss the Wildflower Festival

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Don’t miss Richardson’s Wildflower Festival! Every year the entertainment gets a little better, and the vendor booths are loaded with things you can’t find anywhere else. May 14-16 is jam packed with things to do, just off Campbell and Galatyn areas east of Central.

Friday night you’ve got Candlebox, B-52’s, and Toad the Wet Sprocket. Also, Richardson native and Berkner High School’s own Steven LaMonica performs with the Navy Band from the Great Lakes area on the Viewpoint Bank Stage. He graduated with my daughter, 2007 Berkner  Idol winner, Shaina Hamilton. I watched him perform all through high school, he’s really a treat – you don’t want to miss that show. Both these talented kids grew up to enter our Armed Services and give back before furthering their careers; very inspired that kind of patriotism is alive and well today.  They go on early at 6:15, so get your tickets now.

Saturday .38 Special will be my personal highlight, and Sunday Los Lonely Boys and Delbert McClinton will be there. There’s so much more. Between the food, entertainment, and vendors, I can’t think of a better way to spend the weekend! Follow the link below for additional information about volunteering, food donations, art guitar exhibits and more. Tickets are less expensive if you purchase for the weekend in advance.  You can purchase and print out tickets online here.

Wildflower Festival 2010

Fixing Minor Leaks Augments Energy Star

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Are your faucets a source of minor plumbing leaks?It’s tempting to shop at home improvement stores and think that energy efficient ratings are the answer to lowering your expenses. Often they are, but if you ignore minor plumbing leaks in your home around your fixtures or inside your toilet, you’ll really only increase your bills with additional monthly payments, not lower your living expenses. While efficient water heaters, washers and dishwashers are very beneficial over all, don’t make the mistake of neglecting those leaky sink handles. It will take the combined effort of Energy Star and regular maintenance before you will see significant changes to your bills.

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Have a Happy Mother’s Day

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Gary’s Quality Plumbing wishes all the mothers a very happy Mother’s Day. Know that you are valued and irreplaceable. Your investment into the lives of your children goes beyond the simple, expected maternal duties – like feeding … and band-aiding.

Yes, the nurturing, guidance and protection you provide teaches them the higher things, the things that tend to be unappreciated until much later in life. Things related to how to live, how to love, and how to laugh.

For all you do, mothers of the world, we salute you this Mother’s Day and every day because we know what you are worth to your families – and to all of us.

Thanks Mom.