Generic plumbing maintenance advice is written for nowhere in particular. This one is written for here, where the relevant conditions are occasional hard freezes, expansive clay soil, mineral-rich water, and lot sizes that make irrigation a significant share of water use.
None of this takes long. The freeze preparation section is the part that pays for itself most dramatically.
Do this once, whenever you get to it
Find your main water shut-off and confirm it turns. This is the single most valuable five minutes in the list. In most homes here it is in a valve box near the street boundary, at an exterior wall toward the front of the house, or in a utility space. A valve that has not moved in fifteen years sometimes will not move when you need it to, and discovering that during a burst pipe is a bad time.
Locate the water heater shut-off. The cold inlet valve on top of the tank isolates the whole hot water system. Useful when a leak is on the hot side only.
Note where the sewer cleanout is. Usually a capped pipe at ground level outside. A plumber will ask, and knowing saves time on a call-out.
Check your water pressure. A pressure gauge that screws onto a hose bibb costs very little. Pressure above the range recommended for residential systems accelerates wear on everything, including buried lines you cannot inspect. If it is high, a pressure reducing valve is the fix.
Autumn: before the first freeze warning
North Texas does not get many hard freezes, and homes here are not built with the freeze protection that colder climates take for granted. The February 2021 winter storm demonstrated across the state what happens when that assumption is tested. The vulnerable points are consistent: attic runs, garage walls, exterior walls, and hose bibbs.
Disconnect every garden hose. A hose left attached traps water in the bibb where it can freeze and split the pipe behind the wall. This is the most common freeze failure and the easiest to prevent.
Fit insulated covers on outdoor faucets. They cost a few dollars each.
Insulate exposed pipe in the attic and garage. Foam sleeves on any accessible run.
Know which cabinets to open. Sinks on exterior walls benefit from open cabinet doors during a freeze so household heat reaches the pipes.
When a hard freeze is actually forecast, let a tap drip. Moving water is far less likely to freeze than still water. Pick a fixture at the far end of the run from where the supply enters.
Worth knowing: freeze damage frequently reveals itself on the thaw rather than during the freeze. The pipe splits while frozen, but nothing escapes until the ice melts. If you have had a hard freeze, pay attention for a day or two afterwards.
Spring: after the freeze risk passes
Check hose bibbs for splits. Turn each one on with a finger over the outlet. If you can block the flow completely, there is a leak behind the wall.
Check the irrigation system. Run each zone and look for heads that are broken, sunken, misaligned or not sealing. Irrigation faults are a common explanation for a high water bill with no indoor symptom, and a stuck valve can waste a lot of water quietly.
Run the meter test. Turn off everything that uses water, then watch the meter for an hour. If it moves, something is leaking. Then close the irrigation shut-off and repeat, which separates indoor from outdoor immediately.
Test the toilets. A few drops of food colouring in each tank, left fifteen minutes without flushing. Colour in the bowl means a leaking flapper.
Summer: the high usage season
Watch the bill for a step change. Compare with the same month last year rather than last month, since irrigation makes summer bills naturally higher.
Listen for running water at night. With the house quiet and everything off, a faint continuous rushing sound is worth investigating. It is one of the more reliable early signals of a slab leak.
Check for damp or warm spots on the floor. Same reason.
Clean tub and shower drain screens. Hair catchers are the cheapest preventive item in the house and they head off most bathroom drain problems.
Autumn again: the annual service items
Have the water heater flushed. Mineral content in the water here means sediment accumulates faster than in soft water regions. Flushing removes it, restores capacity and reduces the rumbling noise that indicates the burner is heating sediment rather than water.
For a tankless unit, have it descaled. Same underlying cause, different mechanism. Scale in a heat exchanger restricts flow and cuts efficiency. If isolation valves were fitted at installation, this is straightforward.
Check the water heater pan and drain. Standing water in the pan means something is already leaking. A pan drain that terminates into attic insulation is not a drain.
Look at the anode rod. In a tank heater this is a sacrificial component that corrodes so the tank does not. Once it is consumed, the tank starts corroding. Replacing it is far cheaper than replacing the tank.
Habits that prevent the common problems
- Cooled grease goes in the bin, never down the sink
- Only toilet paper down the toilet, whatever the packet on the wipes says
- Hair catchers in every tub and shower
- Run water briefly in rarely used fixtures so trap seals do not dry out and let sewer gas through
- Do not use caustic drain chemicals, particularly on older pipe
The things worth watching for between checks
Any of these justify a closer look rather than waiting for the next seasonal pass:
- Water pressure dropping across the house
- Discoloured water, particularly on the hot side only
- More than one drain running slowly at the same time
- Gurgling from a fixture when you drain another
- A water bill that has jumped with no explanation
- New damp patches, staining or a musty smell
- Water heater noise that has changed character
What belongs to a professional
Anything involving gas, the water heater’s relief valve or venting, sewer line work, work under the slab, or anything requiring a permit. Plumbing licensing in Texas is administered by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, and asking a company for its licence number is a normal question.
If something on this list turns up a problem, the leak detection, drain cleaning and water heater repair pages cover what happens next. To get someone out to look at it, send a request.