We are so excited …. ok I am so excited….you can listen for us on Houston Real Estate Radio with Shannon Register on NewsRadio 740 KTRH.
Check out our radio presence… https://soundcloud.com/shannon-register/bears-plumbing-promo
I think the ad speaks for itself……Call Bear : )
Leading question isn’t it? Chances are if the plumber you use is paid by commission or a fluctuating pay scale they are trained in sales more than plumbing. Don’t get me wrong all plumbers in the state of Texas are required to take continuing education every year. This is yet another awesome reason to live in the great state of Texas. You are required to hold a plumbing license in order to perform residential and commercial plumbing installation and repair.
In order to run a plumbing company you have to have one person on payroll that holds a Master Plumbing License. It is your right as a home owner to ask to see the license of the plumber working at your home. There are three levels of licensing Master, Journeyman & Tradesmen. In best cases you would have a journeyman plumber and a helper or apprentice working at your home. A helper is learning under the supervision of the licensed plumber. If you suspect that plumbing work is being done by a person that is not licensed you can check their first and last name at the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners website, the regulatory body for the plumbing industry.
In many cases remodeling companies will contract out the plumbing work to a licensed plumber, if they do not have one on staff. In some cases they try to do the work themselves. This sometimes can cause more harm due to the fact that when something malfunctions or breaks a licensed plumber will have to be called to fix the problem. This can end up costing more and taking longer for the project than if it would have been done right the first time with a licensed plumber. I wrote about this a while back of past customer examples here https://theplumbersbride.com/2012/03/16/tile-shower/
There are also some high schools that offer a work study program called a co-op where they can work in a trade for the last 1 or 2 hours of their school day. Bear actually did this back in 1990, and learned from the very best. Our plumbers and apprentices are paid by the hour, not commission. Bear has high standards and even higher expectations for his guys.
I love the Christmas song Baby its cold outside…So now that it is really getting cold outside make sure your pipes are ready for the next couple of days. You don’t have to be a professional to wrap your pipes. I remember as a young girl my mom asked me to help her wrap the pipes. All we used was a bath towel. Sure you can go buy special insulating material to wrap your pipes. It is not necessary. I decided to tell Bear I would take care of the pipes today. He of course didn’t let me tackle this task all on my own : ) however we all know that I could have. Let me know what you think.
First we removed the water hoses from the hose bib.
Then we wrapped the hose bib with a bath towel. Bear was not too keen on the towels I 
selected : ) We needed a bungee or twine to keep the towel wrapped around the pipe. The main thing he said is to keep the pipes protected from the wind.
We moved to the back of the house to the other hose bib. Removed the hose and wrapped it with a towel. 
Finally we went to the sprinkler system pipe. The last freeze we had this is what broke and had water spraying everywhere. First Bear turned the water off to the system. Then he opened the pipe to drain the water out. Last we wrapped the exposed pipe with another towel. There are a few other things that you can do if you are worried about the pipes in your house. You can leave the faucet with a slow drip, make sure you drip hot and cold at the same time. If the drip stops, then the line may be frozen. Leave the faucet open so when the pipe thaws out it can relieve pressure through the faucet. This is usually how pipes split because there is nowhere for the pressure to go once the pipe thaws. The other thing you can do is to open your attic door along with your cabinet doors to allow heat to get into where your pipes are. Good luck and stay warm.
What is sludge? It is the buildup of algae in the AC drain in every home in Houston and the surrounding areas. This is caused by the condensation of the AC unit. We are getting many calls this summer due to sinks backing up and AC pans overflowing due to this sludge build up. Here are some indicators that you may have this problem
Here are some things you can do to prevent having to call us out to unstop your AC drain. You may need to go through these steps once or twice a year.
If your drain is already clogged please DO NOT perform these steps. Give us a call to get on the schedule.
This was such an interesting article I thought I would share it with all of you.
http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20130428/LIFESTYLE/304270304?nclick_check=1
Did you know you should have your temperature relief valve checked every year? I didn’t!!!Do you 
know where the temperature relief valve is? This device is on your water heater and is a safety device to keep your water heater from exploding. Ok that scares me and I am sure I can’t be the only one. Bear!!!!!! Is there anything I can do???!!??? I know I have spoken about this before. The possibility of a gas explosion terrifies me. Knowing that it can explode, shoooot I don’t even want to try and take a look at it.
So I made Bear go into the attic with me to check out the temperature relief valve. Once he showed it to me, I asked what it is supposed to look like or what I can do to test it. He said lift that knob. So I go to do it and he said WAIT don’t do it now. : ) If it fails I would have to fix it. : ( See he is already off the clock. So I ask what would happen. Would it explode, would it flood the house? No, if it works it will release water to the outside of the house via a pipe. The problem happens when you try to switch the valve back it may fail. By fail it may not shut off when you release the spring loaded handle. This is a common problem with these valves. Bear said they never get used, so they tend to not work properly when needed.
Have you seen the Allstate commercials?
It is very important that you keep this device in good working condition. We would be glad to put you on a reminder list to call once a year to check this out. Give us a call and let us know if we can help you out.
Well summer is fast approaching. Are you ready for those back yard festivities? Bear and I are in the minority as we prefer charcoal to gas grills. Then you have the fireplace. Only I am in the minority. I prefer real wood fires and he would love to put gas logs in. We do have gas at the fire place which I love the easy start with gas as opposed to all the paper I had to use when I was young and lived at home.
Ok sorry I got side tracked with the indoors and I meant to write about the outdoors. Do you prefer to use charcoal, propane or a gas grill in your back yard? If you would like to install a gas grill Bear can set you up with running the gas. If you want to install an outdoor kitchen he can take care of the sink and gas for the grill.
How about a fire pit? On those cool summer evenings…LOL 
…..well ….we have cool winter evenings that you could use a fire pit. Bear can run the gas for that too.
Just curious what it would cost, give Bear a call 832-287-5180. He can swing by take a look and get you a quote. You just might be surprised
Recently I watched a webcast on the subject of marketing and growing your business. I had to stop watching it in the middle because it just wasn’t settling with me. Ok you all know I have no back ground in plumbing. Bear does, 24 years to be exact. Neither of us have a background in sales, but we do know what we want for our company. We want to build a relationship with our customers. We want to service all of our customers equally the same for a fair price; fair for the customer and fair for us. We provide good quality repair for residential and commercial customers. The whole point of the presentation was to up sale customers and only market towards the exclusive high end area. That just is not our thing. Why should anyone be sold something they do not need? I don’t like going to get my oil changed for the same reason. I don’t know what I need and I am trusting that the mechanic will do the right thing. That is why we know our mechanic by his first name. Thanks Bob!!! : ) Put your trust in us.
Just today I ran into a dear friend of the family. It had been years since I have seen her. What wonderful memories our families shared. I was telling her about this webcast. She said something that meant the world to me. Bear is so personable which makes a difference. You know what she is right. It makes all the difference in the world. Bear is a great guy and I am one lucky woman. You are all lucky too if you call him your plumber and by his first name. : )
I still believe 
Keep sharing our name and number with your friends and family.
We hope you all have a blessed Easter!!!! 
This is a loaded question. What type of shower do you prefer, is a better question. You will not believe all of the different options out there.
So many, you really need to know what you like;
if it is rustic and simple…..
…..or high end and unique
a lot of pressure…..
…. or very little pressure
I assure you there is something for each and every one of us. If you are curious about options and pricing, we can help you find what fits your budget.
Shower discussions came up the other day which led us to thinking and talking about when our two little ones get into high school. I can see it now; long showers are in our future. Bear then brought up the shut off valve system that we have in our home. These systems are installed in newer homes. Bear said that he was looking forward to playing a prank on our son when he is a teenager, by cutting short his long showers by turning off the hot water to his shower with the valve system. The thought of this really can make a parent giggle.
I hope you all had a wonderful and restful Christmas and New Year’s. I would like to take you back to the post Spring Area Natural Gas Issue that I posted on 10/17/2012. Remember I kept telling Bear that I smelled gas in our bedroom. The solution at that time was the gas company had increased the odor that day. The gas company came out and “fixed the problem”.
Well I started to smell gas in the same area of the house. Again, Bear kept saying he didn’t smell anything. Seriously!!! Each day the smell seemed to get stronger. I started closing the door to our bedroom so when we would walk in you could get a good whiff. Then finally Bear smelt it too. He went inside, outside, upstairs, downstairs, and in the attic. However the detector did not get a strong signal of the gas, until he went in the attic and put the detector in the cavity of the wall and at the meter going into the brick of the house. He had to take the meter apart and then what he found was not good. Jake and I had to go in the attic while Bear moved the pipe in the wall from outside of the house. There was no movement. This was not good because that meant the problem was lower in the wall. Bear came 
inside and said he has to cut the wall. I was ok with that, however, did I tell you that I have no concept for location when in comes to where pipes are actually located in the wall. Kind of like some people have no concept of time. I literally yelled at Bear when I walked back in the bedroom and he was cutting the sheet-rock on my side of the bed. I am sure you can figure out why I was so upset. You see we all know that this time next year I will still have the cut sheet-rock….I married a plumber not a drywall man. : )
The wall comes off and he moved the pipe with his hand it was soooo loose. He said it
was obviously only hand tightened during the new construction process. The scary thing to me is how often does that actually happen? Well I can tell you now that it has officially happened twice in our home. When the house was being constructed Bear would go by after work to check on things. They were getting ready to close up a wall in the kitchen and since all of the plumbing was completed. However a water pipe was just placed together not glued or anything. Bear repaired it that afternoon. Back to the gas leak…..He figured out with the new meter installed by the gas company in September that the pipe loosened in the wall because it was improperly installed.
Ladies trust your noses, if you smell gas call a plumber if the plumber can’t get there right away call the gas company. The gas company will pull your meter, turn off your gas and have you call a plumber to find and repair the leak.
