Yesterday, when walking through our kitchen, I noticed my wife pulling something like cookie dough out of the oven. It wasn’t cookie dough in color though. It was an interesting swirl of sky blue, white and tan. She was quickly stirring the weird batter in a bowl and then she spooned it out in a baking dish, spreading it to to an even consistency, like […]

One of today’s hottest plumbing topics is backflow prevention. It’s critical to maintaining a clean public water supply. “Backflow” happens when our drinking water becomes co-mingled with waste water or polluted water.  According to Wikipedia, “In water supply systems, water is normally maintained at a significant pressure to enable water to flow from the tap, shower etc. When pressure fails or is reduced, (e.g., when […]

Gas lines can be tricky 🙁 If you have the smallest question – Call Ray. Dear Ray, I recently bought a vintage home that is connected to city gas. The kitchen is all-electric; I’d like to switch out the electric range for gas – it’s less expensive, provides better cooking control as well as a more even distribution of heat. Is it hard to run […]

While cleaning the quarterly buildup of hair, soap gunk and who-knows-what-else out of the shower drain this weekend, two thoughts came to mind: 1. Yay! No more standing in water while taking a shower. 2. Hairy traps are disgusting. Blech. Common Clogs Indoor running water is a miracle of modern plumbing. Even more important, however, is a fully functioning drain that sends used water outside […]