Over 1200 Baltimore residents in 2018 complained of water leaks as the county was dealing with more than 132 broken main supplies. Leaking pipes is one of the major plumbing challenges that homeowners often experience. Ignoring a small leak may cause pipes to burst in the house, and you may have to carry out a flood clean up exercise to repair or replace damaged items in your home.
While you can avoid some plumbing emergencies, they usually occur at any time. Experiencing a leaking faucet, a running toilet, or a clogged bathroom is inevitable at some point in your house. Therefore, it is essential to understand some of the common plumbing issues to help you prevent further catastrophes from happening. While most homeowners might prefer fixing the faults, hiring a trained and skilled plumber is better because they guarantee permanent solutions. Cue mindless scrolling through results for ‘plumber chiswick‘ into the early hours of the morning!
If you want to avoid common plumbing problems in your house, below are insightful tips that can help you save extra cash from the costly plumber visits:
Avoid Pouring Oil or Grease on Drains
Dumping grease or oil in the kitchen sink or any other drain in your home is disastrous. While you may think that the liquid oil is harmless, the substance gradually accumulates in the pipes. You will experience clogged pipes and low water pressure, resulting in severe problems.
It is better to prevent a problem by practicing safe disposal methods. For instance, you can leave the oil or grease to solidify before disposing.
Use Strainers
Clogged drains are a widespread problem affecting many homeowners. Bathroom or sink drains become blocked because of hair; soap remains, small items, and other foreign bodies. Over time, you will experience plumbing issues that you can avoid by using filters.
Place hair strainers in your bathroom drain to filter out unwanted debris from going down the drain. Not forgetting all the house sinks to avoid clogged drains in the future.
Identify the Location of the Main Valve
Plumbing problems may seem small until it disrupts your normal routine. Hence, learning about the basics might help you solve a midnight emergency when you don’t have a plumber’s number on speed dial. For instance, know the location of the main valve. Usually, it is located outside the main house.
Understanding the importance of the shut-off valve is essential if you experience plumbing emergencies like a running toilet or a burst pipe in the house. You can delay off a major disaster from occurring before a professional plumber arrives to solve the situation.
Watch What is Flushable
The toilet is quite a sensitive area in the plumbing system. Only human waste and tissues should go down the toilet drain; everything else will cause problems. These include hair, sanitary towels, baby diapers, wet wipes, floss, cotton balls, and other foreign substances that are not flushable. Thus, flush only what is flushable to avoid clogged sewers.
If you notice your toilet backs up water after flushing, there is an impending blockage issue. You need to call a trained plumber immediately before the problem persists. Therefore, place a trashcan in the toilet to avoid unnecessary flashing of solid substances.
Don’t Dump Leftover Food on Sinks
Dumping foodstuffs down your kitchen sink is a big blunder. Leftover foods such as rice, vegetables, green grams, etc., can cause serious blockage over time. If you are washing utensils, dispose of all the food on the dustbin before putting them on the sink. Even tiny food debris will accumulate on the pipes and cause clogged drains.
Leave the Main Sewer Drain Accessible
Usually, the plumbing system is invisible to the naked eye, hidden in the walls. But make sure the main sewer drain is always accessible. It is essential because you can immediately salvage the problem through the sewer drain. Sometimes one sewage line may have a blockage, and you need to unblock it using the main sewer. Thus, avoid covering it with carpets or rugs and make it easily accessible.
Prevent Freezing Pipes
Your plumbing system is an investment in your home. So, protect it from all hazardous aspects. Winter usually affects the plumbing system due to extreme weather conditions. Low temperatures usually result in freezing pipes. Therefore, have a working AC system that maintains at least 16o C with proper air circulation. Moreover, when building your home, ensure that all pipes have appropriate insulations to prevent winter disasters in the future.
Preventing issues like flood clean up is always a better option when it comes to plumbing. But over time, you will still experience problems due to the deterioration of certain components. Therefore, it is vital to conduct regular plumbing maintenance to ensure the system is working properly or needs repairs and replacements.
Image Credits: Ron Porter
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