Custom Plumbing & Hardware

11/25/2022

Today is the day for my Save Scout sale.

Scout is at Vergi animal hospital suffering from IMHA, where her immune system destroys her red blood cells.

Everything will be my cost or less - including all Dixie Belle Acrylic Paint, our Plumbing 101 and furniture painting classes. (Great Christmas presents).

All displays and in stock inventory. Tubs, toilets, sinks, kitchen faucets and sinks, bar faucets and sinks, bath accessories, door and cabinet hardware, mirrors, furniture and so much more

Custom Plumbing & Hardware
7020 Portwest, Suite 150, Houston, Texas 77024

10-4 today

This is Scout at Vergi today.
Currently
BP was at 20 yesterday but 140 this morning.
Temperature still elevated at 103.
Red blood count has gone from 5 to 20 after 3 transfusions and a lot of meds.

11/06/2021

Whether you want to buy locally or online, count on us to guide you so you can get it done right .. thr first time.

02/24/2021

I do wish we sold pipe and fittings to help everyone right now.

However, these are suppliers in Houston who do. Please think of Custom Plumbing & Hardware when you are building or remodeling and need the valves and pretty things on the other side of the wall.

Here are the usual suspects plus several others who few know. I have worked with many of these companies, but I am not affiliated with any of them. Most of these have multiple locations. I’ve only listed one.

I, personally, only buy pipes and fittings made in the USA unless I am desperate and plan to replace. I will share an article below when I have a break.

Please comment with other suppliers I have missed and your experiences with these suppliers.

Morrison Supply
6867 Wynnwood 77008
713-861-2343

Coburn’s
5910 Gardendale 77092
713-812-1093

Moore Supply
1545 Campbell 77055
713-468-8399

Turner Hardware
(My favorite hardware store - worth a visit)
11730 Hempstead 77092
713-662-5021

Texas Plumbing Supply
14025 FM 529 77041
281-858-8833

Universal Plumbing Supply
2301 Congress 77003
713-225-2800

AC Plumbing Supply
7106 Atwell 77081
713-668-3060

AC Plumbing Supply
11206 Jones Road West 77065
281-890-8646

National Wholesale Supply
5333 Werner 77022
713-955-4310

Action Plumbing Supply
10205 Okanella 77041
713-466-1966

Ferguson
220 W 28th 77008
713-869-3261

Northside Plumbing
9605 Kirkton 77095
713-699-5499

Others to check:
Ace

02/18/2021

We are under a boil water notice. Sorry, this is long and repetitive. My fingers are frozen - 60 hours without power. I’ll edit it when it’s a little warmer and the sun is out.

For those who didn’t turn off the water to the house and drain it before it got bad:

People who didn’t turn off the water and drain the house either dripped or didn’t drip. When the pressure is super low, dripping isn’t much better than not. The City of Austin experienced record water usage of 300 gallons/day.

Dripping often works when there is decent pressure and when the deep freeze doesn’t last as long and up north where there is much better insulation. Dripping also works well if your furnace is running. Typically, we just drip overnight ... and we rarely lose our heat.

If you have no water, it’s primarily because over 2 million people dripped their faucets and the groundwater pumps (since we don’t have raised water tower tanks in Houston like most municipalities do) couldn’t keep up for 3 days of this freeze (so far) with reduced power. They likely couldn’t have kept up if there was power. The loss of pressure was exacerbated by burst pipes.

Your water in your pipes likely is frozen. That doesn’t necessarily mean your pipes will break.

So now what?

If you have power, leave it at 68 or lower. Do not use blow dryers or artificial heat (other than room temp) to thaw the pipes. I have a mini candle-powered space heater under my north facing sink since we are at 60 hours without power with a sweet 7 hour pause of warmth.

Leave the cabinet doors open. Get anything of value or that will be heavy when wet off the floors.

Turn off the water to the house. The shut off usually is at the corner of your home closest to the water meter. Often, there is a spigot there too.

Turn on each faucet to be sure the verticals are drained. Flush the toilets. Turn on the outside spigots. They’re the lowest plumbing outlet.

Leave everything turned on until we have a nice sunny warmer day and your power is back on ... and the City says the pressure is back. This will allow anything frozen to melt and drip out the faucets.

You might be lucky and not have damage.

Before you turn the water back on, turn off all the sink faucets BUT leave the tub faucets and outdoor spigots turned on. There will be debris in the water when it comes back. Water pressure is 35-60 psi and will knock deposits from the lining of your pipes. Let it go down the tub drain or to the yard where there are no aerators to clog.

Give the pipes time to thaw on their own before turning the water back on. A good measure of time is to wait until power is back and it’s warmer to turn on the water.

Have someone turn it on while someone else watches for leaks. The person watching for leaks should have a loud voice (or a whistle or cow bell or drum!) so the person who turns on the water can quickly turn it off. (Keep your windows open so you can hear.)

Wait for the water to cough and spit as it exits through your tub and the air is pressed out of the pipes. It never hurts to remove aerators when turning on faucets for the first time too.

Wishing you (and me as I type this under candlelight) warmer days ahead.

PS. We filled several buckets with rain water off the roof today. These will be used to pour into the toilets when they need to flush. I already had fresh water stored for cooking and drinking.

12/24/2020

Did you know your bathtub may have a birthday? This is the tub from the ranch house I am remodeling. It was born on 1/17/1930. It had 90 years of paint layers that I had sandblasted off. Watch for further updates as we discover what else we find under the layers of this 1930 farmhouse.

12/14/2020

What you’ll never see in a bathroom supplied by Custom Plumbing & Hardware. 😂

11/28/2020

This is why so many faucets you see online and at big box stores are inexpensive. They look ok until you wash them, and then the finish washes off.

Ask us about our new construction consulting division that will guide you to buy online — and not make expensive mistakes.

11/14/2020

An early gravity flush.

10/16/2020

10/16/2020

For the perfect contemporary door. No visible hinges. Commercial or residential and for doors up to 600 lbs.