If owning a home has become synonymous with the American dream, plumbing problems are the nightmare that go hand-in-hand with it.  It's scary knowing that your home's invisible architecture could turn on you at any minute.  To ease the fear, we share with you below a few plumbing nightmares and what you can do to prevent them.

Check Your Pump:

In Manasa, Wisconsin, a homeowner named Kirby took pride in his fully furnished man-cave.  Kirby was a responsible homeowner, but neglected to test the sump pump quarterly or flip on the switch every month to ensure it was up and functional.  It wasn't.

Kirby discovered this after the first heavy rain of spring, when his subterranean escape involuntarily became a natatorium. At least an inch of standing water was present in the laundry area, going all the way into the home theater. It would be weeks and thousands of dollars before Kirby could enjoy the comfort of his media fortress again.

Moral of the story: Activate your sump pump once a month by switching it on and making sure it will run when needed. Every 3-4 months, pour a bucket of water down it when it is on to make sure it is able to pump the water out of the basement in the case of a flood.

Casino Do's and Don'ts:

A few years back, a casino in Arizona reported complaints of a backed-up sewer line.  Plumbers arrived to find a clog that was so bad that whatever foreign object was the source of the clogging had been pushed into the main sewer line, threatening to spill raw sewage over the entire casino.  A combination of frantic digging and sawing saved the day, leading to the discovery of an unlikely culprit: not one, but four Thomas the Tank Engine toys that had been flushed down the toilet of the casino's day care.

Moral of the story #1: When your kids outgrow their toys, just take them to Goodwill.  It's for a good cause and it'll save you a really unpleasant inconvenience—not to mention thousands of dollars—in the long run.

Moral of the story #2: Casinos and kids don't mix, maybe consider a babysitter for the next time you go bring down the house!

Toilet Woes:

Steve Ferguson, owner of Mr. Rooter plumbing franchises in Oakland and Berkley, California recalls: "We once had a toilet stoppage that we cleared by shoveling and vacuuming out wheat that the customer had dumped into the toilet. Turns out she tried to stuff a full 10-pound bag down the pipes."

The moral of the story, of course, is whether it's Thomas the Tank Engine, wheat, or, really anything else that has no business being in a toilet, look for alternate methods of disposal (the trash is often a good place to start).

Ferguson also recounts another story of another call for a clogged toilet: "One time we had an upstairs toilet clog job, which we ended up clearing by going through the pipes from the roof. To our surprise, we pulled back a dead raccoon from the drain through a 4-inch plumbing vent stack."

The lesson: when you have a raccoon that's this determined, sometimes it's out of your hands.  Seriously, 4 inches?!  Was this raccoon made of Terminator-style liquid metal?

If you're confronted by any of these or other, less horrifying, plumbing problems call the experts at Benjamin Franklin Plumbing. We will get you back to relaxing and resting easy in no time!

Benjamin Franklin Plumbing Little Rock serves the greater Little Rock cities of Beebe, Benton, Bryant, Cabot, Conway, Jacksonville, Little Rock, Maumelle, North Little Rock, Searcy, Sherwood and surrounding areas with a team of certified plumbers. In addition to emergency plumbing repair, some of the plumbing services provided by the company include faucet repair, drain services, toilet repair, plumbing fixture installations, tub and shower installations, kitchen sink repair, faucet installation, water heater repair/replacement, and garbage disposal replacement. Call us today at (501) 238-6293 to schedule an appointment!