Stories from under the floorboards.
Editorial index for the Phend journal — how-tos, neighborhood stories, and the occasional repair post-mortem from our crew in Mesa, Gilbert, and across the East Valley.
Pros and Cons of Water Softeners
Are you experiencing the unpleasantness of Arizona’s hard water and thinking of installing a water softener? Read these pros and cons of water softeners as you make your decision. Then call Phend to install it!
Types of Toilet Seats
Toilets may be the most underappreciated innovation of all time. Only those who camp a lot or who have lived with an outhouse can understand how great plumbing truly is, and what a luxury a comfortable toilet seat is, too.
Ask Pete: How Do You Unclog A Toilet?
A clogged toilet can be a total nightmare. If you have ever seen it, you know there aren’t many things as terrifying as the moment you realize your toilet is clogging. You flush the toilet but then, nothing! You lift the cover to find It swirls strangely...
How to Install a Toilet Seat
Sometimes you are moving into a place with terrible toilet seats, sometimes you realize you’ve lived a very long time with the same toilet and the seats are not what they used to be and sometimes they break, slip, or slide. Whatever the reason, if you’ve...
Why Does My Toilet Keep Clogging?
Why does my toilet keep clogging? If you’ve ever wondered if your toilet is possessed or just want to know why it keeps clogging, here’s why and what you can do about it.
Copper versus PEX Pipes [Video]
Is PEX Pipe Better Than Copper Pipe? You may have heard lots of hardware-store hype on this topic but the question isn’t whether one type of pipe is better than the other, it’s a question of which is better for a given application. The most common...
Low Versus High Pressure Shower Heads
In our complicated modern lives, bathrooms have become the inner sanctum of our home sanctuary. We want our showers to be perfect and when they aren’t we need to fix that right away. Do you need a new shower head to make it perfect? Or are you looking to...
Hose Bib Repair: Fixing A Leaky Hose Bib
So if you know what a hose bib is, you are already way ahead of the game. Most of us just call it “that tap outside that house that I attach the hose to or get water from”. Not graceful at all, so when you need help fixing a leaky hose bib it helps to …
Connecting A Natural Gas Grill To Stub-Out
Summertime gets us in the mood for home grilled food and pool parties, so we have some tips to get your summer fired up by connecting your natural gas grill to your home’s stub-out.
How To Check Your Home’s Plumbing
Homeownership is rewarding in so many ways, but dealing with plumbing issues isn’t one of those ways. If you know how to check your home’s plumbing you will be one step ahead of any problems that would otherwise ruin the harmony and pleasure of our...
Got a plumbing question we should answer?
Email the crew or call us — if it is a question your neighbors are asking, we will write it up.