One of our first homes was a small but lovely post-World War II single-family dwelling in our hometown. There were three bedrooms, a bath, a kitchen with a dining area and an attached one-car garage. It was simple, but more than adequate.
Once the furniture was in and we had gotten settled, our thoughts turned to remodeling. The bathroom was our first target. How could we personalize the bathroom and not spend a lot of money? We knew exactly what to do. A new vanity and top accompanied by a new faucet and a fancier mirror... one with a frame around it. Big time, eh?
Within a week everything was in and fully operational. How nice it was to enjoy the fruits of our labor. All shiny and new. Not long after we began to enjoy our newly remodeled bathroom, we were in for a surprise.
In the middle of the night we experienced a most unusual weather condition. The climate in our community has always been dry... even arid. But on this night it was humid... extremely so. It was time to bounce out of bed and investigate. A few steps down the hall was all it took to discover that the weather conditions we were experiencing didn't have anything to do with Mother Nature and everything to do with a faulty plumbing job.
A plumbing connection had exploded and our home was under two inches of hot water. Thank goodness for homeowner's insurance.
What we learned 30 years ago was that a poor water connection inside a home can be devastating. It is no wonder that folks have become acutely aware of the measures that can be taken to prevent in-home floods.
Investigate the places where water is used. Sinks, tubs, showers and toilets are the most obvious ones. With these fixtures the presence of water is obvious. Unfortunately, there is one appliance that uses more water than a sink or a toilet that often gets forgotten... the clothes washer. This is one appliance that you don't want to overlook.
Our sink connection burst at the flexible water line located between the wall shutoff valve and the faucet. With a washing machine a similar kind of connection exists between the wall and the washing machine... usually, in the form of a couple of black rubber hoses. Flexible hoses are good for making tough connections easier to assemble, but their flexibility comes with an inherent problem. As the rubber gets older it becomes brittle and will not hold as much pressure. Eventually, even a slight bit of movement can cause an old rubber hose to crack or crumble.
With flexible hoses, the big danger is that the hose can burst. To reduce the potential for "hose explosion," change the type of hose at your washing machine, and at sinks throughout your home. We suggest a new type of hose wrapped in braided stainless steel. Here you still have the flexibility that you need to make a tough connection, plus the strength of stainless steel... the best of both worlds. These hoses are not expensive, they are not a gimmick, and installing them at the various plumbing fixtures throughout your home could prevent an experience like the one we had.
It wouldn't hurt to install a quick shutoff valve as well. With only one lever to operate, water can be shut of with the flick of a wrist.
When changing your old washing machine hoses for new ones, you will want to make sure to replace the filter screens that are at the hose inlet ports on the back of the machine. Here you kill two birds with one stone.
Finally, it doesn't make any difference what type hoses are used to make the connections in your home. When you go on vacation, turn the water off at the wall. Once a hose bursts it will run until shutoff. If you will be gone for a week, that could mean encountering serious flood damage on your return.
