To put it simply, a bucket trap is a filter that is installed into floor drains to prevent solids from entering. A bucket trap generally consists of a housing that slots into the drain and then the mesh bucket fits into the housing to collect solids. The drain grate then fits over the top of the trap. A bucket trap enables you to do some basic drain maintenance yourself without using nasty chemicals or going to the expense of calling a plumber.
For example, in household use, this can include common things like hair, soap chunks, jewellery and plastic items (we’re talking to you hair-ties and Lego!!!). In places like a commercial kitchen, food scraps can enter and create blockages, or in a factory, small pieces of metal (and a million other things) can also end up where they’re not wanted, in your drains.
As many of us can attest to, a blocked drain can be an incredibly inconvenient event and in a commercial setting a liability. Blockages also seem to always follow Murphy’s Law – they almost always happen at the worst possible time!
Traditionally bucket traps are made from stainless steel and are also generally integrated into the outlet itself. This means the housing can’t be removed easily for maintenance purposes and both the drain and the bucket trap itself can be damaged, which can lead to a very inconvenient, very expensive headache. In a commercial setting a broken drain can even mean stopping production for safety and hygiene purposes which is every business owners’ nightmare.
We have recently developed our own simple solution, the Grate Seal Bucket Trap (GSBT). At Grate Seal we specialise in manufacturing easy to install, easy to maintain, extremely durable and cost-effective drainage solutions and are proud of our reputation for great quality and great service.
The (GSBT) is a commercial-grade trap, manufactured using high-end elastomeric & polymer materials and is designed to fit into existing drains. It fits under the existing drain cover so it doesn’t have any aesthetic effect on the floor’s surface and very importantly also works with existing fire collars.
To purchase a GSBT, click on this link.
We’ve developed at simple how-to guide, seen below to help you install the GSBT. As always, if you have any questions about installation or use feel free to contact us and we’ll be more than happy to help you out.
]]>The COVID pandemic has upended all of our lives over the past couple years and necessity has driven scientists to learn more and more about the pandemic and how it spreads. When the virus first became widespread in early 2020 it was thought it was only spread through direct contact and droplets expelled by an infected person either sneezing or coughing. More recently it has become apparent the virus, especially the newer Delta variant, is actually airborne, which is running rampant around the globe. As of mid-August 2021, approximately four and a half million people have succumbed to the virus and while vaccination efforts are ramping up, the virus will be with us for the foreseeable future.
Countries like Australia have used a system of hotel quarantine to isolate potentially infectious people who have returned from countries with high case-loads. This system has worked reasonably well, however there have been a number of cases where the disease has spread due to air being able to move between rooms. Basically hotels and similar apartment buildings are designed to be comfortable and are not hermetically sealed.
One of the key methods used to detect the spread of the virus in the community is through taking wastewater samples. It sounds a bit gross, but basically scientists look at poo for traces of the virus. Poorly or incorrectly ventilated drains can allow direct airflow between living and working spaces such as apartments and offices, and with that air can come the virus.
Without a doubt, water is the most precious resource on the planet, but it is one that too many people take for granted. The availability of clean water is essential for modern life and we can all do our part to only use what we need and not literally flush it down the drain. Here at Grate Seal we take the issue of water security very seriously, so we’ve put together a number of tips and tricks to help reduce your water usage and save money in the process.
This is quite an extensive topic, so we won’t be able to get to everything in this blog, so stay tuned over the coming weeks for more great water saving tips from Grate Seal.
Did you know that if you have a tap that drips every 3 seconds it will waste about 3000 litres of water a year? Or, if your toilet cistern isn't sealing properly after flushing you can be wasting an astonishing 120-280,000 litres a year???
Those numbers might not mean much to you so to put things into perspective, an average human needs to consume a rough minimum of 800 litres a year to stay alive. So if you take the worst case scenario above, the water wasted by a single leaking toilet could support the drinking water needs of a small town of 350 people!
The solution? Simple maintenance and installations that just about anyone can do. We’ll be taking a look at how to maintain taps and toilets in the home in a later blog but there are loads of resources online, or you could just ask someone in your local hardware store.
One of the most effective ways to save water in the home or business is to install what are known as Aerators. When compared to a standard tap or showerhead, and depending on your water pressure, an Aerator can save you between 6-10 litres of water for every minute they are in use. They work by splitting water flow into smaller streams, effectively restricting it, while maintaining the same water pressure/feel.
Another kind of tapware that can drastically reduce water consumption are Time Flow taps. As the name implies, they turn the flow off after a certain period of time.
You can find an excellent, high-quality range of Aerators and Time Flow tapware from our friends over at Gentec here.
Have you heard of the WELS star rating system? The Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) scheme was developed to help consumers be able to choose more efficient plumbing fixtures and whitegoods. So, the next time you need to replace your washing machine, showerhead or dishwasher etc, keep an eye out for the star rating. The more stars the product has the more water efficient it is.
If you live in a house or small block of flats a good water saving idea is to have a tank installed. Water tanks come in all shapes and sizes so there is a very good chance you can find the right tank for your home or business – even if you only have very limited space.
A 10 minute shower can use about 200 litres of water, depending on your showerhead and water pressure. Cutting that shower time down to 5 minutes a day will save you 18,000 litres a year.
Saving water is great for the environment and for the hip pocket but it can cause a few problems:
Saving water is a big topic and there are many ways you can do your bit. In future blogs, we'll be sharing more tips and tricks to help you do your part.
As leaders in the market category, Grate Seal offers the convenience of being able to be installed or uninstalled within minutes. No longer do you need to remove tiles, concrete or waterproof or gyprock replacement followed by setting and painting. Installation requires removing the grate and any grime from the upper part of the riser pipe then squeeze and fold the rubber seal to allow it to be inserted into the riser pipe then release it and massage it to ensure that it is sitting tightly against the pipe wall. Once this is done, which will have taken hardly any time at all, replace the grate and no more smelly drains! Grate Seal one-way valve (GS01) of one hundred to eight millimetres that can be retro-fitted into four-inch or one hundred millimetres or three-inch/eighty millimetre floor. The fifty millimetre Grate Seal (GS50) can be fitted into two-inch or fifty millimetre floor. We also offer a Grate Seal Bucket Trap which fits in the drainage riser pipe. Further to those, Grate Seal Stubby of one hundred millimetres and is permanent and maintenance-free, easy done. Grate Seal is a Watermarked rubber one-way valve that allows for water flow even through shower drains. Our product stops smelly drains, airborne mould and bacteria, insects, suds and even noise.
We not only pride ourselves on delivering a salient product to solve your smelly drains or insects coming through the grate but we deliver outstanding customer service and sales support. One client, David Munday said ‘laundry floor overflow drain didn't have a trap or S-bend and was stinky. Found Grate Seal online and spoke to them to cross check the application and the response was really friendly and helpful. The bit arrived in the post 24hrs after the order went thru [sic] and slipped in thru [sic] the drain cover opening with a nip and squeeze and it sealed up in the down pipe. 30 seconds. Job done. Instant solution. Perfect solution’. Anthony White can further back that up with his testimonial: ‘had terrible smells coming up through the drain pipes and the Mrs always saw cockroaches.... so I did a bit of research and discovered Grate Seal and it sorted it out immediately. Simple design made it easy - happy wife happy life’. Sometimes people have an issue with their drain for years before finding an appropriate solution like Nicholas Dworcowyi who reviewed Grate Seal on Facebook with ‘we had a recurring problem for years! Didn't know how to fix it. A plumber would have been far too expensive. That was until last week. A commercial on TV and I was sold! The team is very helpful and friendly. Has been in for a few days now, very simple to install, wow not an ounce of smell. Well done Grateseal!!’. Facebook-rated 4.9 out of 5 based on fourteen people’s review, you can trust in Grate Seal and be content with no more odours or vermin! Check out our Contact page to get this amazing product installed in your home today!
]]>It is that time of year again when everyone is busy trying to finish as much work as possible, parents taking deep breaths before school holidays, planning vacations and generally just wrapping up another year. And all of this happening while they are planning for what is probably the most stressful holiday event of the year, Christmas. In this blog we’ll be covering a range of topics to help you in your home or business during the silly season.
If you’re like the team here at Grate Seal, your Christmas and the days immediately surrounding it revolve around entertaining in the home. If you’re the lucky one hosting this year, get ready for visitors, planned or otherwise, to descend from around the county or the world just to see you and/or your family.
That feeling you get when you see someone who has been such a special part of your life is something that can be difficult to put into words. And it is because of this, and the desire for everything to be perfect, pre-event stress levels can rise to dangerous levels.
The house has to be cleaned. Surfaces dusted. Clutter hidden away. Linen washed. Beds made. Yard sorted out, etc, etc, etc! Whether you have a big cleaning job, or one that among all your other pressures just seems intense, if you’re methodical and follow a plan, it can be done, and done well. Have a look at our blog A bit of planning makes cleaning less of a chore to get some great strategies that can make your life (and the job ahead of you) a lot simpler.
If you want to get stuck into the cleaning without using harsh, store-bought chemicals, we’ve listed a number of natural alternatives in our Simple Homemade Cleaners blog.
Once you’ve finished cleaning the visible parts of your home, it’s a good idea to take a look at those places visitors can’t readily see, but their noses can most definitely notice – your drains.
Drains can be a major source of bad odours in the home and a highway for insects such as mosquitoes, flies and cockroaches to come and go at will. The odours themselves are generally caused by bacterial build-up or venting (read more about them here), or they can be related to blockages as well.
Remember, the thing about odours is we can get used to them – even if you don’t notice a smell doesn’t mean no-one else can! (and they’ll probably be too polite to tell you) We’ve written about natural methods to clean your drains here that should help you eliminate those foul, musty drain smells.
There is a more permanent, maintenance free way of preventing drain odours and insect intrusions – with a Grate Seal. The Grate Seal is a high quality, Australian designed and made, one-way rubber valve that fits snugly into the most common domestic shower and floor drains.You can view our range of Grate Seal products here.
It is super easy to install as well; check out our video at the end of this blog to see how.
Now that everything is spick and span and smelling sweet you can move on to the ‘never stressful at all...’ tasks: decorating, buying gifts and the all important cooking.
We’re qualified plumbers, and while we are pretty handy in the kitchen and especially on the BBQ we’re probably not your first port of call when it comes to laying out a festive feast. That said, we did stumble upon a recipe (made famous by Nick Nairn, but originally from The Three Chimneys restaurant in Scotland) for a really delicious pudding you might want to give a go this Christmas instead of a traditional one.
Grease a 1.7L (3 Pint) pudding basin
Place your crumbs and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Melt your butter and warm up the marmalade and then mix well into the dry ingredients. Whisk up your eggs until frothy and gently beat it into the mix until everything is incorporated evenly.
The last step is to dissolve your bicarb into a small amount of water - about a tablespoon should do it. Add this to our pudding mix and stir well.
Pour and spoon your mix into your pudding tin and pop a close-fitting lid on.
Place the pudding tin into a saucepan of boiling water. Make sure the water comes halfway up the side of the tin. Cover the saucepan and let it simmer for 2 hours. Check the water level regularly and top it up when needed.
Turn out the pudding once it has cooled a bit (make sure it is still warm though!) and serve with fresh custard, cream or icecream.
Thank you for reading our Great Tips blog and if you have any questions about our products and how they can help you, please feel free to contact us here. From the team at Grate Seal, we’d like to wish you, you’re family and friend a joyful holiday season and prosperous 2019.
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Investors in the Australian property market have enjoyed historically low interest rates ever since the GFC in 2008. The combination of a general global slowdown and the end of the mining boom corralled money into the property market and it quite literally exploded.
All good things must come to an end eventually and the housing price boom is now over for much of Australia, especially in the larger capital cities, where prices are even starting to drop in some segments. Just because the era of excellent gains regardless of the quality of the property are over, doesn’t mean you should give up hope on getting the best price possible for your property. You just need to stand out from the crowd and be smarter about how you go about it. There are some simple measures you can take to help maximise your property’s value and help you stand out from the pack.
A note for those reading this blog in countries other than Australia, the same rules apply everywhere!
Just because there is a real estate agent around the corner or the agent drives a nice car and talks a good game doesn’t mean you will get the best result. Talk to several agents, compare their commission levels and the amount of marketing exposure they say they will give you. Play a bit of hardball and let them know you are looking at other agents and want the best deal possible. Remember it is in their best interest to sell the property for the best price possible – nice cars don’t pay for themselves and referrals are everything in the real estate game.
Take the time to clean up the front of the house or apartment as much as you can. Remove any spiderwebs, plant shrubs and put down bark, mulch or pebbles in garden beds. Take special note of the front door and archway - if this first contact point is in top condition, buyers will enter the property with a positive impression.
A well presented property should be a bit like a blank canvas for prospective buyers or renters. A fresh coat of white/light paint and strong, energy efficient light bulbs (they save power and radiate whiter light) and removal of any unnecessary clutter maximise the impression of space. With property, more space is almost always better, so put whatever you don’t need into storage and even half-empty your cupboards to increase the airy feel.
If you are going to renovate anything in the home, the kitchen is usually the best place to start. The kitchen is the place life revolves around in any home. Meals are cooked, school lunches prepared, drinks shared, conversations had and memories made.
The fastest and most cost-effective kitchen renovations include things as simple as a new coat of paint and/or new cabinets and new bench tops. A few thousand dollars spent takes away a key bargaining chip from a prospective buyer and could save you many thousand more.
Consider purchasing one high quality appliance, like an expensive coffee machine, kettle or toaster and keep it out in a place people will see. The logic is that buyers will see this high-end item and assume everything else is as good a quality!
Your bathroom is a place of quiet and solitude, it is the one room in the house where you can be completely by yourself, alone with your thoughts. Make sure your bathroom is as well presented, bright, airy and clean as possible - when someone walks in there they should immediately feel comfortable and not think about mouldy, cracked tiles or dated tap-ware (unless they are antique!). A bright and clean bathroom reflects on the rest of the home and conveys an impression that good hygiene has been practiced everywhere.
A bright, light, clean and attractive home is essential to getting the best possible sale price but an often overlooked aspect is the way a property smells. Why you may ask? It is because we very quickly and easily become accustomed to the way things smell and what may seem like a small or even non-existent problem can greatly affect someone who has entered the property for the first time. Bad smells create bad memories!
Avoid strong perfume scents and get rid of any musty and mouldy odors. Thoroughly clean or replace old carpets as the fabric acts like a sponge to odors. Your drains can be a major source of bad smells and insect intrusion. You can find some great natural methods for cleaning drains in another of our blogs here and useful cleaning strategies here that will help ensure you do a thorough job.
To avoid musty, stinky drain odors you can also install a Grate Seal. The Grate Seal is an excellent, inexpensive investment that will get rid of stinky drain odors for years and years. Because of the simplicity and reliability of the Grate Seal, the buyer of your property may never even realise for years that there is a problem! You can find out more about the range of Grate Seal Products here, and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact our team of experienced, qualified plumbing experts and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
A note to people reading this in countries other than Australia who are interesting in purchasing a Grate Seal, we deliver globally.
Australia has one of the highest uptakes of home solar installations in the world with approximately 25% of all households having panels in place. The price of installing solar panels has dropped through the floor in recent years. For an outlay of just a few thousand dollars, you will not only save on your energy bills while waiting to sell or let, but also increase the desirability of the property. People will consider your forethought as money in the bank and the idea they will save on bills in the future will make them less inclined to bargain as hard. Solarchoice is a popular comparison site and you can access it here.
The NBN network is being continuously (albeit excruciatingly slow, in places!) rolled out across the country. If your property is an area where the NBN is available but you haven’t connected you should seriously consider jumping on board. A good internet connection is vital to modern life and especially for younger investors/renters coming into the market and having the infrastructure already in place to help them connect can be a big tick.
Check your address here to see if your property can connect to the network.
If you have any of your own tips and trick, feel free to leave a comment below or on our Facebook page.
]]>To make up a litre of cleaner, mix together 4 teaspoons of liquid dish soap, half a cup of white vinegar and 3 and a half cups of water. This makes a good all-purpose benchtop and glass cleaner.
In a spray bottle, mix together 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of white vinegar, and 1 cup of hot water.
Baking soda is one of the most versatile non-toxic household cleaners. A simple 50/50 mix of baking soda and water makes a great abrasive cleaner. If you have marks on walls like crayon, gently rubbing this on there with a cloth can work a treat. It also works in the kitchen in places like the oven (harder scrubbing required).
If you have a smelly drain, place about ¼ cup of baking soda down the drain. Follow it up a few minutes later with some hot white vinegar. This will cause a vigorous reaction to take place. For floor and shower drains, you can avoid bad smells altogether by installing a Grate Seal. You can read a more comprehensive blog on natural drain cleaning here.
If you have smelly carpet, sprinkle baking soda over the offending area through a kitchen sieve or tea strainer and let it sit for at least a couple hours before vacuuming it up.
For a streak free finish, spray your homemade glass cleaner onto the mirror or window. Scrunch up a sheet or two of newspaper and rub the surface in a circular motion. When the newspaper becomes damp, discard/recycle it and grab another sheet.
This one was quite a surprise when we first found out about it but it works very well, After giving your steel surface a clean with the general cleaning solution; get a bottle of soda water and some paper towels pour a bit on to the paper towel and wipe the surface down.
Mix together a ½ a tablespoon each of lemon juice and olive oil together with a full tablespoon of white vinegar and a few drops of orange essential oil. Make sure the mixture is fully emulsified before use.
This mixture can work wonders on polished wooden surfaces and can also be used to remove sticky residue left from tape or stickers. Make sure you give the surface a quick clean with a slightly damp rag first.
Sprinkle a liberal amount of table salt on to your cutting board and give it a good rub with half a lemon. When finished scrape off the residue with a kitchen or paint scraper, wipe with a damp cloth and place in the sun to dry. This is also a great way to season a new cutting board!
Grate Seal is a durable, Australian made one-way rubber valve easily inserted into drains that lasts for years and years. It comes in a range of different sizes to suit most shower and floor drains.
We also have loads of great tips and tricks to help with all sorts of problems in our Grate Tips blog series and are adding more and more regularly. You can check them all out here.
*Not for human or animal consumption.
In this and in the following blogs, we’ll be sharing a number of tips and tricks to help you take the pain out of spring cleaning and make the job as thorough as possible. First up we'll be looking at an overall battle strategy you can apply to Spring cleaning.
Being organised right from the get-go will save you the trouble of having to go back a day or two later to clean up the spots you’ve missed. Be methodical with your list. You may find the list ends up longer than you’d like but you will also get that extra sense of accomplishment as you tick things off.
It is never much fun having to go back to the store for more product XYZ or prepare another batch of home cleaners or cloths/brushes etc because you didn’t allow enough to get the job done. It is frequently more expensive to!
Once you have your list of what needs to be done, make sure you have the cleaning solutions/soaps and enough of them on hand to do the job. If you are using store bought cleaners, make sure you read the instructions. If you are using homemade cleaners, have a look at the recipes below.
If you have a need we don’t cover in this blog, enter the specifics into a search engine plus the word ‘homemade’ and you’ll be surprised how many things pop up! A word to the wise though - if you are unsure about a homemade cleaner, always do a small test first to make sure the solution doesn’t damage to surface/item.
Gravity is a cleaner’s best friend and this is perhaps the most important thing to remember when cleaning. Starting at the bottom and working your way up generally means you’ll need to clean the bottom again.
When cleaning individual rooms, it is best to start and finish in the same place. Zig-zagging across a room makes it easier to miss areas.
After you've finished with the inside it is time to hit the exterior of you home. We'll be looking into this in more detail in a later blog.
Once you have finished cleaning the rooms and attending to the outside you can get on to cleaning the floors. This follows the top-down approach mentioned above as inevitably dust, dirt and other detritus will find its way to your floors. Another great sub-tip for floors is to start at the far side of the room and work your way back to the entry/exit.
We'll be taking a look at homemade cleaning solutions to save you from using harsh chemicals. We've already touched on this subject in a previous blog, A natural method for cleaning drains and fighting odours. There are other methods and ways we'll be sharing with you that can be used around the home or business.
If you're specifically after a way to get rid of odours and stop insects coming from your floor and shower drains, check out our range of Grate Seal Products here. This durable one-way rubber valve is easily inserted into the drain and lasts for years and years.
We also have loads of great tips and tricks to help with all sorts of problems in our Grate Tips blog series and are adding more and more regularly. You can check them all out here.
Hi everyone, Tony (me) and Ronnie here and together we’re the creators of Grate Seal. We are also both fully accredited, qualified and experienced plumbers who know first-hand the difference it can make to your home or work environment when nasty drain odours are never an issue. Because when is an issue, it can be a seemingly overwhelming one.
Ronnie and I own Impact Pumbing and are based in Sydney and on the South Coast of New South Wales in Australia. When we first created the Grate Seal, Ronnie was my apprentice and we were involved in construction plumbing for large companies including Mirvac, Hansen Yuncken and Kell & Rigby (K&R). We were also helping everyday people living and investing in apartments and homes, new and old, and working in factories, bakeries and almost any other business you can think of. It didn't matter if it was large or small, we had one simple goal – make that job a good job.
In early 2008 we were contacted by K&R to help solve a problem with a new development they’d just completed called the Paddington Green. K&R had just finished the redevelopment of the old Women’s hospital in Paddington and there were a number of units experiencing foul sewer smells emanating from floor drains in their bathrooms. The original plumbers who performed the installation couldn’t solve the problem, nor could any of the maintenance plumbers they brought in.
K&R found themselves in a difficult situation that could potentially have contractual (legal) problems and they engaged us to fix the issue – and do whatever it takes.
We put our heads together to come up with a solution. We couldn’t just rip up the installed plumbing, as this would be astonishingly expensive in such a massive development, and set back their plan by months (at best!). We also couldn’t just seal the drains over as the only thing worse than a smelly drain is one that doesn’t work at all!
This was the lightbulb moment for Ronnie and me – why wasn’t there something simple out there that could let water through one way, and prevent gas coming back the other (venting)?
We immediately started experimenting with some flexible rubber and old plastic caps we had lying around our factory, and with no small amount of work came up with the prototype of the Grate Seal. When we installed this (extremely crude!) device into our test drain, the odours vanished and we knew we had stumbled onto a pretty simple, elegant solution to a very un-subtle problem.
We as quickly as possible, refined the design and moved into production. As soon as the Grate Seal was installed the sewer odours disappeared and thank you letters from the owners of the apartments, who had lived with smelly drains for many months, arrived.
We felt happy, proud and humbled all at the same time.
Word spread quickly after this initial success and we were soon installing the Grate Seal for many different builders. Word spread further and suddenly we were not just servicing companies but the wider public as well.
However, it was a down-turn in our plumbing business following the GFC that turned our full attention to changing the Grate Seal from what was a made to order, bespoke product, into something anyone could buy and install themselves. In early 2009 we moved into phase two.
First we located an Australian rubber manufacturer that could come up with the correct rubber compound, that was both flexible and durable enough, and also with the capacity to make the product in sufficient volumes. We then took out a patent on the product and trade-marked the name. Once our commercial prototype was ready, we sent it to get watermark approval and tested by VIPAC.
Now that we had a product that worked, the real ‘fun’ started – getting retailers to stock it. We hit the phones, sent emails, contacted friends of contacts’ friends; went to lunches, organised demonstrations, called in favours from other plumbers and pretty much begged people to take the product on.
Within a year we had signed up all major plumbing supply merchants in Australia to consider stocking the product. A word of advice to any other inventors looking to market their idea out there – stick with it and don’t listen to the nay-sayers!
The next phase was to increase the volume of sales. Just because a merchant agrees to add your product to their mix doesn’t mean they agree to consistently stock it or market it for you.
To do this we built our reputation further by visiting hydraulic consultants and engineers. Some of them knew what the product's purpose was soon as we handed it to them. They couldn’t believe nobody had come up with as simple a solution to drain odours as this one durable piece of rubber. Armed with out expert recommendations and after more and more calls, emails and lunches, the Grate Seal became a fixture on shelves.
A couple years have now passed and we've recently passed a sales milestone that we never thought possible - we've just sold our 100,000th Grate Seal!
Our ‘Grate’ adventure has only just begun and we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported us along the way. From the experts who evaluated and tested Grate Seal, to the awesome retailers and stockists who took the product on, as well as the many businesses and consumers who have placed their faith in us. Above all, we’d like to thank our families for putting up with us. Without you, we wouldn’t be here.
If you have drain odour problems in your home or business or have mosquitoes and other insects entering your premises through your drains the Grate Seal can be the solution to your problem.
We have a number of sizes of Grate Seal available that will fit most shower and floor drains. Installation is super simple - just take the drain cover off, measure the width of the drain, replace the cover and order the correct size Grate Seal (here). When it arrives, remove the cover and slot the Grate Seal into the drain and replace the cover and you are done! You can watch a quick video on the installation here.
Please note one of our Grate Seal models can be easily tailored to fit either 4"/100mm or 3"/80mm drains.
We've recently launched our own blog page, Grate Tips. Ronnie and I have years of experience at all levels in the plumbing industry and we want to share this knowledge with you. From plumbing troubleshooting to tips on cleaning to making your home or business a nicer, healthier place, we'll be regularly posting our anecdotes and ideas for your own use. We hope you enjoy reading them and feel free to send us feedback!
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We all want to maximise the final sale price when we're putting a property on the market. As much as property investors and owners would love for markets to only ever go up, the property market, like the share market, runs through cycles. In the long term, the price will increase, but those caught in a low or flat part of the cycle can easily become disillusioned.
Even if you're not selling the property but are trying to rent it out, the same rules apply.
Whether the property market is going up or down, but especially when the market is slow, it is important to give your property every advantage you can.
You can of course do an expensive renovation or hire a decorator, but if you don’t have the budget or just want to take a more hands on approach, these simple do-it-yourself tasks can be a big help. In future blogs we'll be looking at even more ways to help optimise your property sale, but this should be a great start.
Planning is everything and a good attack plan can make all the difference when selling a home or property. Before you do anything, go around the entire property and make a list of everything you think can be improved on. Be as methodical as possible and don’t avoid adding things to the list because they seem too big a problem. By the time you tick off the smaller problems the larger may not seem so big. At the very least, staying aware of larger problems will help you explain them should you be asked.
First impressions count, especially when selling a property, and a dirty property can sap the confidence of not just an aspiring buyer but importantly yours - you are the one selling the property either directly to a buyer or through an agent. Confidence is everything. Don't forget, customers who look for the smallest blemish and are satisfied are more likely to pay a premium.
On the inside...
Marks on walls, stains on carpets, mould in bathrooms can immediately signal to a potential buyer that the property hasn’t been cared for and there could be worse problems to be found!
...And on the outside
Before a buyer sees the inside, they will see the outside. Make sure the exterior of the property is as clean as possible.
If you are selling a unit, do what you can to de-clutter and brighten up the entrance. Ensure the lighting on the hall is adequate (you may need strata permission for this).
Get into the garden or on to the balcony. A lot of potential buyers will see the garden as the place they can escape to - give them a nice place to escape to! Get rid of the weeds, mow the lawn, plant some blooming flowers and remove any rubbish.
If the property is small, it is important to make the available space appear as large as possible but the same principles can apply even if the property is large - more is always better when it comes to property! This can be aided by removing any unnecessary furniture, but keep enough to show the function of the space.
One of the most simple methods to create the illusion of more space is to hang a large mirror on a wall. The reflection adds visual depth to a room.
You can also paint a feature wall to create contrast in the room. Avoid dark colours - use a bright, friendly colour, like yellow to add warmth.
Hanging art on a distant wall, while keeping the other walls clear, is a good way of drawing the buyer’s focus into the room.
The way a property smells is easily as important as the way it looks. As soon as the buyer has moved past that very first look the other senses will kick in.
When you clean the property think about using an air freshener that heightens the sense of cleanliness. Avoid floral scents and instead go for more citrus and pine varieties. Regardless of your final choice, don’t go overboard or the buyer may think you’re trying to cover something up!
The drains in your property can be a major source of odours. Musty or sewer smells are a deal-breaker so make sure you clean your drains and think about installing Grate Seals where possible to help guarantee a pleasant environment. You can see the range of Grate Seals here, or if you have any questions about which is right for you, contact us today.
One final, left of field tip is, on the day of the showing, think about baking a cake or bread (or at least re-heating a store-bought product!) in the oven. The smell of freshly baked bread is extremely inviting. On the flip side, in the days leading up to the showing, don’t cook anything too strong like curries or overly oniony or garlicky food.
You know your property better than anyone but you should think about getting someone you know to go through the property and make their own list of things that need improving. Someone who isn’t as familiar with a property may notice things that you may never even think of!
If you are selling or leasing through an agent, become their best friend and get every single bit of help you can. Their commission is dependent on the outcome.
]]>Bad smells in your home or business can be off-putting, not just for yourself but for guests or customers too. Humans have great memories when it comes to bad smells and having smelly drains is a great way of creating a long-lasting negative impression. People don’t notice when something doesn’t smell, but they certainly notice when they do!
At Grate Seal, we often have the public and customers asking us how they can clean their drains and get rid of that foul sewer or musty odour that come come with them. These questions can either be about preparing a drain for installation of the Grate Seal, or as a more general question on drain maintenance and odour removal. We’ve put this blog together as a quick reference you can share or come back to whenever you need it.
There are of course a lot of chemical drain cleaners on the market, but some of them can be quite harsh or not very good for the environment. A lot of the queries we get are from people asking how they can clean drains using a natural method. Just like us here at Grate Seal, they generally don’t like the idea of pouring strong chemicals down drains and in to the wider environment.
The good news is there is a great natural method for cleaning drains that is cheap, effective, very easy to do and won’t adversely affect the environment. It involves the use of simple household items you may already have in your kitchen pantry and hot water.
1. A couple litres of very hot, but not boiling, water.
2. About half a cup of everyday baking soda
3. 2 cups of warm, white vinegar
1. Remove the cover from the drain
2. Pour a liberal amount of hot water down the drain. Don’t use boiling water as it could possible damage pipes or seals.
3. Wait a few minutes for the drain to cool back down
4. Pour the baking soda into the drain
5. Allow it to sit for a minute or two
6. Warm up the vinegar on the stove in a pan with a cup of water and pour this mixture into the drain, on to the baking soda
7. The soda/vinegar mixture will fizz up quite vigorously, cleaning the drain
8. Wait for about 20 minutes for the chemical reaction to fully run its course
9. Flush the drain with more hot water
10 Replace the drain cover and you’re done!
There is an extra step if you are installing a Grate Seal for the first time or performing maintenance. Give the top of the drain pipe a quick wipe with a clean cloth, place your Grate Seal in to the drain opening (click here for a video of the installation).
If you don’t have a Great Seal installed and after you have completed this method you still experience unpleasant drain odours, you could have an issue with poor venting or damage to your plumbing system. You can read about these problems in our blog series on causes of drain smells.
Installing a Grate seal will definitely help eliminate these odours. The Grate Seal is a simple, environmentally friendly, cost-effective and long-lasting solution to drain odours. It is also a quality 100% Australian made product. If you’re looking for a way to get rid of drain odours in your home or business, the Grate Seal makes a lot of sense. You can purchase a Grate Seal here and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
]]>The Grate Seal is an extremely simple, one-way rubber valve you install into your shower and floor drains. So, what does a Grate Seal do and why is it a good investment for your home or business?
Nobody likes smelling sewer gas. Smells can be upsetting to visitors or off-putting to occupants, making your home seem less like home and your place of work less comfortable and less productive. The Grate Seal stops sewer gases from coming back through your pipes into your living or working area. It is an extremely easy, long-term solution what is a simple problem that people can just let go for years.
One of the biggest problems is people who live and work with a particular odour become accustomed to it (just ask any plumber!), and you will stop realising there is a bad smell. The problem is that visitors to your home, or customers coming to your business are not used to the smell and it will affect them. Most people are polite by nature and they probably won’t tell you if something stinks. The reputation of your home as a nice place to visit, or your business as a place where customers feel at ease (and therefore more likely to return), can be affected by a problem you may well have forgotten you have. The Grate Seal is a an inexpensive, easy to install solution to this problem and it will last for years and years.
Up there on the list of things people don’t like, are unexpected visitors of the insect variety. You may think that insects only enter your home or workplace from the exterior of the premises.
Unfortunately, this isn’t true. Your drains provide the perfect breeding ground for a variety of winged nasties from drain flies to potentially disease carrying mosquitoes. A combination of shelter, available nutrients, relatively warm temperatures, stability and access to open spaces are an ideal place for insects to breed. Installing Grate Seals in your shower and floor drains is the easy way to prevent insects from entering your home… from right under your feet.
If your drains don’t flow particularly well, soap and detergent bubbles can enter the room via your shower or floor drains. The Grate Seal’s simple rubber valve doesn’t just stop odours and insects, it also stops soap bubbles from coming back into the room.
If you are experiencing drain odour, venting or insect problems and are looking to update or repair your plumbing before selling or leasing your home or business, installing a Grate Seal is a great fix that can mask your problem while you wait for a permanent repair to your system. Removing odours can help give you the confidence you need to maximise results when presenting your property to a prospective buyer or customer.
The beauty of the Grate Seal lies in the simplicity of its design and durability of the flexible rubber used in its fabrication. Installing a Grate Seal is dead easy, just remove your grate cover, wipe down the entrance to your pipes, and slot in the Grate Seal. It comes in a variety of sizes that cover most standard drains and once it is installed, it will last for a very long time – we still still seek out and get feedback from our very first customers and even today, after years of service, the Grate Seal is performing as good as the first day it was installed.
The Grate Seal can be one of the easiest and most cost effective investments you can make for your home or business. You can view a video on how the Grate Seal works, or if you have any questions on how Grate Seal can work for you, contact us today via our website, or through Facebook and we'll be more than happy to assist you. You can also purchase a Grate Seal here and we'll have it delivered to your door.
]]>Drains. Those boring holes in the floor, sink or shower that make water disappear. You never really appreciate just how important they are until they stop working. In the latest blog from Grate Tips we’ll be looking at things you should never put down your drains. The list below is just the beginning and in a future blog (or blogs!) we’ll be looking at even more things that belong anywhere but in the drain.
It doesn’t matter what kind of flour it is, don’t put it down the drain. Flour is dry and your drains are wet, mix the two together and suddenly your plumbing is full of glue.
These are another no-no, especially if they are uncooked. They readily absorb water and expand inside the drain causing blockages that can be difficult to remove.
This one is a no-brainer. Nobody likes pulling hair out of a drain - it is pretty gross and the hair can be slimy and smelly. Excess hair in drains can cause blockages and it can also lead to venting issues, leading to sewer gas intrusion (find out more here). The bottom line is, pulling one or two hairs out of the drain after a shower is much, much better than 20… or calling a plumber.
All of these cotton based products can swell up inside your drains and are a leading cause of blockages. Make sure you keep a small rubbish bin in your bathroom to dispose of these products safely.
Paint is awesome on walls and cars and anything it is designed to go on. It is not good to put down the drain though as is pretty terrible for the environment.
Condoms are designed to last. If you put them down the drain they can become a problem that lasts. Condoms can also trap air (picture a nasty balloon) causing them to be quite buoyant, which makes it even trickier for them to leave the system.
Now these items may not necessarily affect your drains, but they can dissolve in the sewer system leading to wider environmental problems. Once antibiotics and the like enter the waterways, they stick around and can have unintended and highly undesirable consequences like the creation of superbugs.
If you’ve just cooked with but/animal fat/coconut etc it’ll be in a liquid form and it is all too easy to just tip the leftovers down the drain. The problem with this of course is your drain isn’t as hot as your pan and the fat/oil will solidify in your pipes, leading to a blockage. Things like olive and vegetable oils don't get a free pass either. While they may not necessarily affect your own sewer system, they can combine with other waste and are difficult for municipal sewer systems to process.
These are one of the greatest, and worst inventions of all time. As any parent can testify, they are super convenient and can be used to clean up just about anything. They resemble toilet tissue though and it is easy to flush them down the toilet. They are a lot more durable than toilet tissue and don’t break down easily though so don’t.
If you want to find out what happens to wipes and fats after they enter the sewer, watch this fascinating video from the BBC below (sorry if there is and ad, we don’t own this video and have no control over it).
The Grate Seal is of course something you should put in your floor or shower drain. It is a durable Australian made one-way valve that stops bad sewer smells and insects from coming into your living area or place of business through your drains. You can find out how the Grate Seal works here and if you want to stop drains smells and insects coming out of you drains, you can purchase a Grate Seal here. If you need any more information on how the Grate Seal works or which product is best for you, you can contact us here.
]]>Mosquitoes, you either love them or you hate them… well actually, you probably just hate them - and with good reason too! This small, persistent parasitic insect can not only torment you and your family with the telltale itchy lumps, but can cause much, much bigger problems.
In this article we’ll be taking a look at some of the most worrying diseases spread by mosquitoes and some simple methods you can employ to help keep your family safe from these annoying insects.
This is the big one, the disease that still despite recent improvements in control techniques, kills nearly half a million people a year. Found mostly in warm tropical areas around the world, Malaria itself isn’t a virus but rather a kind of parasite that can be spread via the saliva of mosquitoes. Symptoms generally don’t appear for about two weeks after the infection, but when they do it can lead to fever, headaches, joint pain and other flu-like symptoms. In severe cases it can cause seizures, anemia and renal failure.
While it has only received widespread publicity the last couple years, cases of Zika virus have been reported since the 1950s. Originating in Africa, Zika is in the same family of virus as Dengue and West Nile, the disease itself generally doesn’t present very strong symptoms, but if a pregnant woman is infected, the disease can spread to the fetus. This can lead to severe brain malformations in the child - a tragedy the family must live with for many years.
Dengue is another widespread tropical disease, common in more than 110 countries. It causes headache, fever, muscle pains and vomiting. Severe cases of Dengue can cause Dengue Hemorrhagic fever with internal and external bleeding, or Dengue Shock Syndrome that causes very low blood pressure. Approximately 20,000 people die every year from Dengue.
Most people who are infected with the West Nile virus will only have mild, flu-like symptoms and many won't exhibit any at all. Approximately 1 in 5 people will develop a heavy fever and 1 in 150 will get severely ill and West Nile can even cause death.
This is the most common mosquito-borne disease in Australia and isn’t just found in the tropics. It infects approximately 5000 people each year. A person infected with Ross River will present with a rash first and then fever and experience arthritis and severe joint pains.
This disease is found mostly in the United States and while most cases are quite mild it can cause people to experience high fevers, convulsions and even paralysis. While it is a relatively rare condition with only about 5000 cases in the past 40 years, it can be fatal and has no cure.
There are a large number of different mosquito-borne diseases throughout the world and it is important to check with your relevant Government health website to know which diseases, virus or parasite can affect your local area. You can also ask your local doctor.
Mosquitoes breed in damp, still-water environments and this kind of environment occurs both inside and outside your home of business. Make sure you check outside of your home for any persistent wet areas including buckets and ponds and other areas where water is exposed to the air (and flying insects) and empty them right away. If you have a pond, think about getting some fish that prey on mosquito larvae to help control the population. You can also grow insect repelling plants like lemon balm, basil or lavender close to your entry points to help dissuade mosquitoes from coming in.
If you ever wonder how a mosquito got into your room at night, well there is a very good chance it has been living with you the entire time. It may surprise some people but inside your home or business can provide a perfect breeding place for mosquitoes that can sustain the entire life cycle of the mosquito. They have everything mosquitoes need - a nice, safe place to breed (your drains) and a ready supply of food (you). Your house, apartment or business contains a number of drains in areas including the shower, bathroom, laundry and kitchen. Drains that have less water flowing through them, like floor drains or spare room drains, are more likely to be affected as they provide a more stable environment for mosquito larvae to grow in.
There are a number of chemical treatments you can use in the home but none of these are permanent and some can be quite bad for the environment. The simple, effective and long-lasting solution to mosquitoes breeding in your home is installing a Grate Seal. This durable, quality Australian made one-way rubber valve stops mosquitoes, insects and bad smelling gases from intruding on your living or working space. It is extremely easy to install and will help you protect you, your family or your customers from a little insect that can cause big problems.
You can shop for the Grate Seal here or if you need more information, feel free to contact us learn more about the product.
]]>Why does my drain smell? Nobody likes those unpleasant odours that can emanate from shower and floor drains, but have you ever wondered what the leading causes of smelly drains and drain odours are? The most common answer to this very common problem is the build-up of bacteria in the drain trap. These bacteria release smells and methane gas as a by-product of their life cycle.
Drains provide bacteria and mould a very cosy environment to live in. They are moist, dark and have access to fresh air from above and in a lot of cases readily replenished sources of nutrients including skin flakes, soap, shampoo and other bodily fluids. The result is akin to a Petri dish in science class; you have a stable, nutrient rich environment, perfect for all sorts of nasties to thrive in.
While bad smells emanating from your drain aren't very pleasant, they also aren't necessarily the only things you need to worry about. Insects (think mosquitoes and drain flies) and pathogenic bacteria can thrive in drains. In the cases of holiday rentals, hospitals, retirement homes or public amenities, unhygienic drains can be more than just be a deal-breaker, they can be detrimental to the occupant's health and wellbeing.
Yes there are. In our two-part Grate Tips blog series, Causes of Smelly Drains, we take a look at these other causes including blockages, venting and poorly constructed drains.
There are quite a number of ways to keep properly constructed drains from being a smelly, embarrassing nuisance. Some cleaning methods will involve chemical treatments available from your local supermarket and others will take a more natural approach.
Our solution to get rid of smells coming from showers and floor drains is to install a Grate Seal. Yes, we are here to sell our product but we strongly believe people need to make informed choices which is why we will be looking at alternatives in the future as well.
Humans have a very good memory for smells and the sense of smell is closely linked to our emotional perception and memory recall. If you are trying to sell or lease a property, the way it smells can have a massive impact on prospective buyers/renters. Likewise, if you run a business, from a café to a hospital, a bad smell can be a deal breaker and not just discourage repeat custom.
Everyone has had a conversation about “the guy with bad breath”, “that part of the city stinks”, "did that place smell funny?" and will be able to recall it years later. Don’t let your house or business be linked in peoples' minds with bad, odour-related memories.
To put it as simple as possible, Grate Seal is a durable one-way rubber valve that you install directly into the opening of your shower and floor drains. It lets waste water through but prevents gases and insects coming back. It is the simple and maintenance free way to get rid of odours and improve the hygiene of your shower and floor drains, check out our wide range. Grate Seal isn’t just for the home or your investment property, but is perfect for hospitals, retirement homes, restaurants and other commercial properties. Grate Seal was invented by the highly experienced plumbing team, Tony and Ronnie, and is made in Australia. You can read the story of how the Grate Seal was invented here.
To view our range of Grate Seal products click here. If you have any questions you can contact us through the website or via our Facebook page. If you have enjoyed this blog and would like more great tips, tricks and trends, you can find our Grate Tips blog section here.
]]>So far in our Grate Tips blog series on the causes of smelly drains, we’ve looked at bacterial build up and blocked pipes. In part three we’ll be moving on to the other main cause of drain odors, defective plumbing.
In some cases smelly drains are caused by the loss of the seal created by the plumbing trap. Basically this is where the water level in the trap drops below the u-bend in the pipe, allowing for the free passage of gasses back and forth. The following sections describe different causes in more detail.
It should come as no surprise that if your plumbing is defective then there can be some nasty side-effects such as bad smells. So, what kinds of faulty or defective plumbing can cause bad smells?
A well-constructed drainage system needs to not only allow for waste water to flow, but also air and gas. Why air and gas as well? When you were small, did you ever have fun by get a drinking straw, placing it in a glass of milk or soda, popping your finger over the other end of the straw and lifting it out? Your drink stayed in the straw because by placing your finger over the end, you effectively created an area of low air pressure. The air pressure under the straw is now higher than the top and the liquid stays put. Remove your finger and your drink flows freely out the bottom. A simple visual can be found here
The plumbing in your house or business works on a very similar principle and the technical term used by plumbers is venting. If no venting has been allowed for then the waste water will have trouble flowing through the pipe, or flow slowly. If the plumbing has too much venting allowed for then not only does the waste water flow freely, but it allows for smelly gases to come back.
If you have cracked pipes, especially in the area around the base of the trap, the water seal can drain away, or lower. The lowering of the water level allows sewer gases to flow, or vent back into the room. Cracked pipes are usually more of a problem in older buildings as materials used, especially clay, can degrade over time. Good quality, modern PVC pipes, if installed properly and if free of intrusion from tree roots, should last for many years.
If an unqualified or unscrupulous plumber has been employed to install the plumbing, it is possible that they either haven’t installed a trap, have installed it incorrectly or haven’t sealed the joins properly. All three of these scenarios can cause gas to vent back through.
Depending on the exact situation, fixing a venting problem can be quite problematic. If a drain has been incorrectly vented then the only permanent solution is to have a qualified plumber manually re-vent the system. Likewise if you have a cracked or poorly constructed line it is best to have it professionally repaired or replaced.
If your budget is constrained, if you are renting and your landlord is reluctant to address the issue, or if you need to defer the repair work, installing a Grate Seal is a cheap and effective way to get rid of drain odours. Simply remove the drain cover and insert the Grate Seal and you will notice almost immediately the smell has gone. The Grate Seal is a durable, one-way rubber valve that lets wastewater through while preventing smelly gases and insects from coming back. The Australian made Grate Seal comes in a number of sizes and is suitable not just for most domestic shower and floor drains, but also in commercial setting.
You can view a short video demonstrating just how quick and easy it is to install a Grate Seal here.
]]>In our first blog we looked at the number one cause of smelly drains, bacterial build up. In today's blog we'll be taking a look at the second most common cause of smelly drains, blockages.
Underneath your home or business’s floor, there are two main drainage networks – one for grey water such as those found in showers and laundries, and another for brown water to carry waste from your toilet. These two pipe networks meet up and mix together at a junction, before progressing further into a municipal sewer or local septic system.
If there is a blockage or partial blockage past this junction point, brown water and all of its unpleasant smell can be forced back past the junction in to the grey water pipes and through the trap (see below) and you will smell the results.
The blockages themselves are usually caused by a tree root breaking through a pipe or bulky items such as feminine hygiene products or too much toilet paper being used. Another leading cause of blockage or restricted drains is the gradual build-up of fats on the inside of the pipe – picture the rings on a tree, but it grows in, not out.
If you have a drain blocked in one of the fashions described above, we don’t recommend using a Grate Seal to fix the problem – it will only mask it.
If your drain is blocked it is best not to put off getting it fixed, and not just because it smells bad. The problem can get worse and worse and as time goes by, it can become ever more expensive to fix. An early diagnosis can mean the difference between a simple chemical fix-up or an electric eel and a labour intensive pipe replacement job. We’ll look at the different chemicals and more natural methods in a later blog.
If you are in need of professional help, contact a reputable, qualified plumber to perform the work. A trained plumber is likely to produce a quality result.
You can however use a Grate Seal as a temporary fix if the drain is partially blocked, while waiting for a repair. For example, if you are going away for a weekend or are preparing a property for visitors or a sale. A Grate Seal will effectively stop smelly gases coming back through unless the drain becomes too full. It is important to remember that the drain is still blocked and as mentioned needs to be fixed properly. After the blockage has been removed you can continue to use your Grate Seal to avoid other causes of drain odours. You can purchase a Grate Seal here.
This kind of blockage occurs between the inlet to the drain and the trap and generally aren’t as serious as the lower system blockages described above. The smells from this kind of blockage are caused by either decaying materials and/or bacterial build up.
Upper blockages are generally much easier to fix yourself. In most instances these blockages can be fixed using a plunger or a chemical treatment. If unsuccessful, or in doubt, the same rule applies: call a plumber.
In part two of the Grate Tips series on other reasons your drains might smell, we’ll be looking at defective or poorly constructed plumbing.