It is extremely important to have the right, qualified and in some cases, even over-qualified personnel, to work on your home’s delicate and intricate plumbing system.

Recently, a new customer called into our office. She was visibly upset with the events from the night before.

A few weeks prior to this night, she hired an unlicensed and unqualified person to install a toilet handle on her toilet. This task appears as a very simple and easy task to undertake. After all, there are typically 2 pieces to the handle, a nut and a rod.

Surely the person at the home center or hardware store would tell you that it would not or will not work with your toilet. There is 1 slight problem with this and that is the sales person at the hardware store and home center are not qualified plumbers. Handles are typically located on the front of the toilet tank or the side of the tank. There are short handles, long handles, push buttons and levers.

Her toilet had the handle located at a slight angle, not quite located on the front or side. It is a 5-sided (or pentagon-shaped) tank and the lever purchased was a long lever. The home owner flushed the toilet late at night. The lever became stuck on the front of the tank and would not allow the flapper to seal. The customer was not feeling well and stopped up the toilet bowl. The water kept flowing into the bowl and overflowed, spilling onto the floor.

By the time the customer woke up in the morning, over half the home was flooded with fecal bacteria water all due to an unqualified person installing the wrong product.

As a rule of thumb, it is better to spend more than you thought, then less than you should, and it’s better to hire an over-qualified person than an under-qualified person when it comes to your home’s plumbing needs.

Don’t let this happen to you! If you have a plumbing issue that needs repair, don’t call an unqualified person to take care of your plumbing needs, call Bill The Plumber, your local Sarasota Plumbing experts, today by dialing (941) 845-6711.