The other day I was reading the Wall Street Journal (Article Here) about all of the water leak insurance claims going on. The writer advises people to keep a closer eye on their plumbing, especially the hoses and connectors to plumbing fixtures i.e. clothes washers, toilets, sinks, and faucets. Which is good advice but doesn’t go far enough.
It is also necessary to have competent plumbers doing your work, not guy’s working as a handyman but illegally claiming to be a plumber. The writer also talks about all of the old homes that are around now.
Yes, correct again, however, he is looking at the home as one unit. In other words, a building is made up of various systems, approximately 50 in total. Plumbing leaks are the result of an improperly maintained plumbing system, not an old roof, worn out siding or broken electrical wires.
The various infrastructure systems In a building all age on different time frames. It is inaccurate to lump all of the systems together and say the building is old, therefore all systems are old and ready to malfunction.
I know the writer was doing the best he could to understand and write about the topic. However, it is clear he was out of his element.
Which is totally understandable. We can not all be proficient in everything. But what I’ve noticed is that there is an assumption, I used to think the same way before I earned my plumbing engineering degree, that the construction trades are very simple things to learn. The logic goes on to conclude that since they are easy to learn, anybody can do it, including all of these not too bright looking people I see doing plumbing.
That assumption is spread far and wide in our society. So much so that guess who showed up to major in plumbing engineering, a whole bunch of not too bright looking guys. Imagine our surprise when, on the first day of the first class, the professor handed out a math test!
As it turns out, to know plumbing involves understanding the engineering, the science and the law of plumbing. There is so much more to it then a not so bright guy with a snake and some rusty tools.
Of the 70 or so guys in class on the first day, only 6 finished the degree program. Three of those 6 work at Mr. Fix It Plumbing.
