Straight TalkCan you buy your own toilet or faucet and have a plumber install it? (The honest answer)Yes. Golden Plumbing installs customer-supplied fixtures all the time: toilets, faucets, kitchen sinks, disposals, dishwashers, even a water heater bought from a big-box store or online.…Read →Straight TalkDo I really need a water softener in Louisville?Honest answer: most Louisville homes on city water don't strictly need a softener — our tap water is moderately hard, not the extreme hardness you'd fight…Read →Straight TalkDo you need a backwater valve for your Louisville basement? (The honest answer)Honest answer: not every Louisville basement needs a backwater valve, but a specific group of homes genuinely do. It's the fix for sewage backing up through…Read →Straight TalkDo you need a plumbing permit in Louisville? (What requires one, what it costs, how long it takes)Usually, yes, but it depends on the job. A repair, unclogging a drain, fixing a running toilet, swapping a faucet or disposal for a new one…Read →Straight TalkDoes insurance cover sewer backups and basement flooding? The honest answer (usually no, unless you add this)Usually, no. A standard homeowners policy pays for sudden, accidental water damage from something inside your own plumbing, like a burst pipe or a water heater…Read →Straight TalkFrozen pipes in Louisville: how to prevent them, and exactly what to do if one burstsDo two things before winter gets serious and this stays a non-event: insulate any pipe you can see running through an unheated space (crawl space, garage,…Read →Straight TalkHow long do water heaters really last? (The warning signs before it floods your basement)Honest answer: a standard tank water heater lasts about 8 to 12 years, and Louisville's hard water pushes most of them toward the low end of…Read →TimelineHow Long Does a Water Heater Replacement Actually Take?A standard 40 or 50 gallon tank swap is about half a day on site. Our pricebook bills 2.57 to 3.00 hours of labor, and the…Read →Straight TalkJust bought a Louisville home? The 10-point plumbing checklist for your first monthStart with four things in week one: find the main water shutoff and make sure it actually turns, read the real age off your water heater…Read →Straight TalkPlumbing inspections when buying or selling a Louisville home: what we check and what it saves youBuying: yes, and the sewer camera is the part that matters most. A general home inspection is a visual once-over. The inspector runs the faucets, flushes…Read →Straight TalkWater heater flushes and anode rods: what maintenance is real (and what's an upsell)Straight answer: the two maintenance jobs a tank water heater actually needs are real. A tank flush runs $100–$200 and clears out the sediment Louisville's hard…Read →Straight TalkWhat should a plumber's estimate include? (Read this before you say yes to anyone)A real estimate has five things on it before anyone touches a wrench: the price, as an actual number, not "we'll see when we get there";…Read →Straight TalkWhat size water heater do you actually need? (Gallons, GPM, and household math)For most Louisville homes the honest chart is short: 1 or 2 people do fine on a 40-gallon tank, 3 or 4 people want a 50,…Read →Straight TalkWhat you should never put down your drains or garbage disposal (from the crew that unclogs them)Skip grease and cooking fat, fibrous scraps like celery and corn husks, starchy stuff like pasta, rice, and potato peels, bones, pits, and shells, and anything…Read →Straight TalkWhen can a plumbing repair wait, and when can't it?Most plumbing problems are not emergencies, and paying after-hours rates for them is money you don't need to spend. Call right now for the short list…Read →HonestyWhen You Don't Need a Plumber: Fixes to Try FirstA lot of the calls we get are things you can fix in about five minutes for free. A running toilet, a jammed disposal, a tripped…Read →
