The domestic water under your street is arriving at your house at 75-125 PSI - that is too high for your house and causes stress to your plumbing. Your AC regulator, takes that pressure down to 60-80 depending on your preference. (Pressure that’s too low makes getting shampoo out of your hair difficult for the ladies.) This device is arguably one of the most important and sadly overlooked and neglected instruments in your house. We see homes with pressures at 120 or higher which if left unchecked is an accident waiting to happen.

This angle stop is old school. To turn on or off the water to a toilet or sink, it requires turning the handle repeatedly until the valve is closed. This puts incredible wear on the interior of the valve and causes failure over time. These need to be replaced ASAP. When this goes from a leak to a full-blown failure, you can be looking at enough water to fill a bathtub every hour. Update your angle stops - this is not a recommendation, it’s a prescription.

This angle stop is a 1/4 turn angle stop. To turn on or off water under your sink or toilet, you simply turn it 90-degrees. Aside from being easier, it puts less wear on the interior valve and makes the valve last longer - they are also better built.

OK…This is super boring, but super important. On all exterior sides of your house you have a weep screed. It is a vapor component that allows your interior wall to exhaust or “Weep” any moisture that is inside the wall. Oftentimes, the soil level at the plants gets too high and covers this gapped area and does not allow the walls to breathe. One good rainstorm and the water coming off your roof above will pond at the weep screed and it’s like a red carpet for water to enter your home. Routine maintenance prevents this. It’s a cheap fix and drastically reduces flood risk.

On your counters in your house and anywhere near water, you should have your electricity protect by a GFCI - Ground Fault Current Interruptor. It senses the current flowing through the outlet when when it senses too much electricity flowing, it shuts itself off in 1/1000th of a second. Your pool lights BETTER BE protected by one of these so your swim party guests don’t get an unpleasant shock - this will also protect your pool guy from accidental shock - which is really good for you. We change ours once a year. It’s a $30 part - can’t overstate its importance.

9 times out of 10, when your AC goes down it’s because your capacitor fried. This is a relatively cheap part ($75 installed) and it boosts the power to the AC motor. When it fails, you get no air. I like replacing these annually. Is that overkill? Yes, but it will go out when you want it to least - aside from avoiding an inconvenient AC outage, it will also help your unit run more efficiently.

And “NO”….They don’t last forever. 6 hours a day, your pool is in filter mode and it is constantly cycling water from the pool, to your pool filter, then back to your pool. Your pool filters needs to be cleaned 4-6 times a year to remove the sand, muck and hair. It’s a messy affair. But if left uncleaned, the PSI will skyrocket at your pool filter, your waterfall will be reduced to a trickle and you’ll be looking at buying a new pool filter canister which will set you back $2,300. It’s overkill, but I like to see the above filters replaced every two years.

The mold abatement industry is ripe with predators. You call them because your roof leaked during a storm and you think you can see a discoloration on the ceiling - next thing, these guys are donning the hazmat suits and giving you an estimate of $15,000 to get it corrected. Mold is everywhere and yes, we have it in the desert. The kind of mold you need to worry about comes from a consistent source of water like a slow leak under a sink or behind your dishwasher or wash machine -or a sprinkler that consistently hits the side of the house. If caught early, mold is an easy fix and despite popular opinion, does NOT metastasize through the house. It should be evaluated on a case by case basis, but in the hands of a solid contractor, can usually be remedied inexpensively. When it goes unchecked and it creeps behind cabinets, that’s when the price goes up. Keep your eye on your plumbing, replace your angle stops and you’ll minimize your exposure to this event MASSIVELY.