"Don't mind me, I'm only the Plumber", so said Curly of the Three Stooges. ('A plumbing we will go'. Please watch, it is hilarious.) Of course Curly, Moe and Larry were not plumbers at all, they were posing as plumbers and if you watch this short movie you will see what a mess they made of the house they were in.

Are there people that pose as plumbers today? You had better believe it! There are more than I would like to think. Although these folks may not cause the havoc that the Three Stooges did, there are many reasons you would want a licensed and insured plumber to service your home; yes, Connecticut does require a LICENSE for a person to enter a home or business and perform plumbing work. I will list some reasons you should choose a licensed plumbing contractor to serve you and your family:

    1.) It takes 8000 hours of training, which includes trade school,plus an additional 4000   hours as a journeyman, to acquire a plumbing contractor's licence; you must admit, that is an abundance of training; the plumber is not just the "average Joe". (Pun intended)
  
   2.) The state of Connecticut has a fund to protect consumers from "bad" plumbing work. Consumers can be compensated for improper or shoddy work as long the license number of the plumber is provided. The imposter's work is not covered!
 
   3.) Most plumbers remain up to date on new codes and trends, in fact the state requires continuing education.
     
   4.) Your family deserves to be safe and healthy in your home; plumbing 
systems pose serious threats if not properly installed and maintained.     

These are just a few of the many reasons you should choose a licensed plumber to serve your needs. I once tried to be helpful to a man I thought was a homeowner. I had made him aware of the fact that the cement he was buying for his PVC pipe was the wrong kind, it was for ABS (leaks would occur in time and would require a "do over" of the whole job). It turned out he was "posing" as a plumber, he said: "Who cares, it won't leak in my house, I'll be long gone before it starts leaking". Please don't let imposter's do your plumbing work!

This is my input for September. Remember, when I say "Don't mind me, I'm only the plumber", I mean it!

Addendum: If you have a kitchen or bathroom remodeled and the contractor says he will handle the plumbing, be certain that he uses a licensed plumbing contractor. I have all too often seen terrible plumbing jobs performed by builders who cut corners to save on the bottom line. However, the homeowner loses because his plumbing work has to be redone at the homeowners expense.  Remember, it is illegal for anyone who contracts a job to do a tradesman's work without the proper license. (Plumbing, electrical, heating, etc.)