If you have ever gone to a hotel or stayed at a friend’s home and noticed that your shower there seemed to be much more enjoyable than your one at home, your water may to be blame. Jacuzzi jets in the tub and granite countertops by the sink won’t make up for the fact that you can’t get your soap to lather and that your skin feels dry when you are done with the shower.
What’s wrong with the water?
If you have realized that this characterizes the current state of your showers, there is no need to rush to the phone and call poison control. The problem with your water isn’t life threatening, nor will it leave you with any rash of sorts, and you probably can’t even taste it. But, as Mark Wethington of B&J Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning Inc. explains, you may want to consider the possibility that you have hard water.
What causes hard water?
Hard water isn’t really any heavier or denser than normal water as the word “hard” might suggest. Hard water is actually water that has a high number of minerals — mostly calcium and magnesium ions — compared to regular, or soft, water. Usually the minerals enter the water in the form of lime or chalk, which is what gives the water its dingy appearance.
What does it mean for you and your home?
Hard water will make the lathering soaps and shampoos more difficult, which you may have noticed in comparing your showers at home to those hotel visits. Additionally, brushing your teeth and washing your dishes may have also caught your attention if you find that you have to scrub harder than necessary to get a frothing reaction.
Hard water could be detrimental to your pipes and appliances as well. In your shower, the excess soap that’s needed to get that lather you crave could be causing scum buildup on the walls and surrounding areas of your tub. While it can be cleaned away, you will find that you are scrubbing your tub a lot more than you’d like, and more often than probably necessary. You may also find a similar situation in your sink and toilet. There, excessive lime buildup can be traced to the minerals in your water.
The repeated use of hard water in tea kettles and pots could also cause a scaly buildup inside the appliances and may affect their usefulness. Similarly the buildup could also affect your pipes, which can cause clogging and require a visit from your plumber to relieve the problem. Luckily, in many cases, your hard water dilemmas can be fixed.
