So You're Buying/Building A New Home and...

Heffner Plumbing

July, 2010

My apologies to all who expected to see a Heffner Plumbing newsletter in June. June was the busiest month that I have had in 2 years. I'm not sure if it is the economy picking up, all of the rain that we have had or some new business strategies that have been implemented, but I'm not going to spend a lot of time trying to figure out why. Thanks to all of my faithful customers and friends for your continued support and referrals.

The prime season has begun for buying, selling and building homes. This newsletter will discuss some plumbing pointers when buying or building a home.

Plumbing Tips For Building A New Home

Track home builders tend to not be as flexible about changes/requests that go beyond the scope of existing plans. Your best luck with this list may be with a custom home builder, but it doesn't hurt to try requesting some of these things from a track home company:

Place the water heater and furnace in the basement. If there isn't going to be a basement, place the furnace and water heater on the main floor of the house. Have the water heater placed in an aluminum drain pan with the drain pan plumbed to the sanitary sewer.
If there is a basement, have the water heater, water softener, furnace, sump pit, sewage ejector pit, main water shut-off valve and sewer connection all in the same corner. Ryland likes to place their mechanical rooms in the middle of the basement which just doesn't make a lot of sense.
If you are building on a crawlspace, have a main water shut-off valve plumbed into the living space of the house. Most homes on a crawl have the shut-off valve down below where they are generally inaccessible or not convenient to get to in an emergency.
Even if you are not getting a water softener, have the house plumbed for one, especially if this is going to be a slab home. This can be a selling feature down the road or allow for an easier installation of a water softener after the house has been built.
Have the sump pump discharge line plumbed to the storm sewer or to an area away from the house.

Plumbing Tips When Buying An Existing Home

When purchasing an existing home, here are some things to look at or consider:

How old is the water heater and is it the original one to when the house was built?
How old is the sump pump and is there a battery back-up system installed?
If the house is on city water, what is the incoming water pressure? If it is above 80 PSI, you will need to have a pressure reducing valve installed.
If the house is on a well, how old is the pump and pressure tank?
What condition is the garbage disposal in?
Water softener or not? If not, all of the appliances (water heater, dishwasher, clothes washer) will have a shorter life because of hard water.