Edmonton Plumbing Fixtures

Choosing the right plumbing fixtures for your Edmonton home can give your kitchen and bathroom a clean, modern look while helping your plumbing system work more effectively.

Edmonton plumbing fixtures (check out http://plumbers-edmonton.ca/) are the visible parts of your plumbing system connected to the supply lines. It is a non-permanent device, with a specific application and use, connected to a plumbing system to supply and drain water. The most common and important plumbing bathroom fixtures in your Edmonton home are the toilet, sink, faucet, tub and shower.

Before purchasing plumbing fixtures, familiarize yourself with the categories, styles, materials and features of plumbing fixtures (see tips below from experts at Plumbers Edmonton).

Types of Plumbing Fixtures

Plumbing fixtures need to combine quality, practicality, functionality and aesthetics. Your home’s plumbing fixtures can fall under any these categories:

A. Kitchen Plumbing Fixtures

All kitchens need sinks and faucets that function well and can withstand long years of daily use. Kitchen sinks are available in different materials and styles:

1. Kitchen Sinks

• Cast Iron Kitchen Sinks. This is one of the oldest available sink materials.  Since iron is prone to rusting, cast iron kitchen sinks have a porcelain enamel finish (a glossy and bright finish) to prevent rusting. Cast iron sinks with enamel finish are tough, do not easily scratch or stain, are also easy to clean and have good resistance to fading. This type of sink though is heavy (usually 100  pounds or more and two to three times heavier than an average stainless steel sink).
• Concrete Kitchen Sinks. Although ready-made concrete sinks are available, most of this type of kitchen sink is custom-made, allowing for unique choices in style. Concrete kitchen sinks though need regular sealing to prevent staining and moisture retention.
• Composite Kitchen Sinks. Made of 70% granite or quartz and 30% resin filler. This type of kitchen sink has the aesthetic qualities of real granite and at the same time easy to maintain, durable and does not easily stain and scratch.
• Stainless Steel Sinks. This is the least expensive type of sink and the most versatile. This type of sink is durable, but can easily scratch and is difficult to clean.

Kitchen sinks can likewise come as a single bowl sink (one basin); double bowl sink (two bowls); top mount sink (dropped into a hole of a counter top); under mount sink (mounted under the counter); or integral sinks (made of the same material as the counter top).

2. Kitchen Faucets

Kitchen faucets are both functional and aesthetic. Faucets are continuously turning on and off to wash dishes, run the garbage disposal and fill the pots to boil water. Faucets need to be tough to withstand rigorous daily use.

Kitchen faucets are available in various styles, installations and finishes:

• Faucet styles. They can either be single-hole, two-hole or wall mounted. Handle designs can either be solid levers, crosses, loops and knobs.
• Spout designs. Can either be high arc (180 degree swing) or low arc with a pullout spray wand. Two handle faucets have more spout designs because the spout is not hindered by temperature adjustment controls.
• Faucet Finishes. Faucet finishes give your kitchen the customized feel and can either come in chrome, stainless steel, bronze, nickel and a lot more.

B. Bathroom Plumbing Fixtures

The bathroom is often referred as the most important part of the home in as far as water and plumbing use is concerned. Toilets, bathtubs, showers and bathroom sinks are available in various types and styles:

• Toilets. Toilets are often made of porcelain. Most toilets use gravity or the weight and height of the water to enable a flush. A latest innovation is the vacuum-assisted flush where a vacuum is created for more force in drawing water into the tank through rim holes in the upper part of the toilet bowl. Vacuum assisted toilets are more expensive than gravity toilets. Toilets can also either be flush toilets or urinals.
• Bathtubs. Bathtubs and showers can be available as a single unit. The most common bathtub is one that is made of cast-iron with porcelain enamel finish. Molded plastic is a lighter-weight and cheaper bathtub alternative, although not as hard and tough.
• Showers.  Showers use nozzles to splash hot or cold water. The nozzle comes in different shapes to produce varied pressures and effects, but with the same concept. Showers can come as part of a bathtub or as a separate device. The most common standard home showers can either be water shower (uses the house’s water pressure to push water) and the electric shower (uses the heating system to push hot water.

C. Other Plumbing Fixtures

Plumbing fixtures not specifically classified as kitchen or bathroom fixtures include:

• Water Taps. Allows the supply of hot or cold water into a sink or bath. Taps are available in a variety of sizes and shapes. Taps are the most used plumbing fixtures in the home and also the most prone to failure.
• Valves. Valves are closed to cut the supply of water to sinks, toilets and bathtubs to prevent spills.
• Water Spigot. These are external taps where you can attach a hose.

Benefits of Choosing the Right Fixtures

In general, plumbing fixtures have long life spans. There will however come a time when you want to replace them because they are too old, they are damaged or they have gone out of style.

Choosing fixtures that are cheap but are not the right fit, will cost you more in the long run. Plumbing fixtures must be chosen based on the lifestyle and needs of the people who will be using them. When choosing plumbing fixtures, take these things into consideration:

• Quality and Durability
• Easy to Install
• Easy to Replace

When you choose the right plumbing fixtures for your home, you will be able to combine beauty and functionality. The right fixtures will also assure you of a comfortable home almost free of any plumbing failures.

Buying Plumbing Fixtures

Every experienced plumber will tell you that the best place to buy new or replacement plumbing fixtures is at a specialized plumbing store.

Most large home improvement stores do not have sales assistants that have extensive experience with how plumbing fixtures work. Large home improvement stores carry a huge variety of products and store assistants tend to know only a little about each of the products they carry. Thus, they are not able to give the best advices in so far as choosing the right plumbing fixtures you need. When you do not get enough information about a particular plumbing fixture, chances are you will only rely on the “marketing spill” found on the package. You will also tend to buy a particular type of fixture based on price.

Specialized plumbing stores on the other hand, employ sales assistants that have extensive knowledge and even experience with the different plumbing fixtures you need. Purchasing plumbing fixtures from specialized plumbing stores will give you the confidence that you are walking out of the store with products that will last longer and will limit the chances of you having plumbing nightmares.

Summary

The lines and pipes of your plumbing system connected to the main water supply line in your area, is responsible for supplying water to your home. Plumbing fixtures connect to the supply lines of your plumbing system to carry or drain water.

Your home’s plumbing fixtures include kitchen fixtures (sinks and faucets) bathroom fixtures (sinks, showers and bathtubs) and other fixtures (taps and valves).

Plumbing fixtures need to be chosen based on lifestyle, functionality and needs. In buying Edmonton plumbing fixtures, quality, as well as ease in installation and replacing must be major considerations.

Specialized plumbing stores are the best sources to purchase plumbing fixtures.