Prevent Property Damage

How Regular Plumbing Maintenance Can Prevent Long-Term Property Damage

The last thing any homeowner wants to wake up to is a plumbing problem—a sink that’s clogged up, a toilet that won’t flush, or, worst-case scenario, water flooding into your home through a leaky or backed-up pipe. Not only are these issues damaging to your property, and potentially costly to fix, but they are also 100 percent preventable—which makes them all the more frustrating when or if they do occur.

How can these plumbing woes be avoided? The answer is through preventative plumbing maintenance. Think of the plumbing systems in your home as you might think of your own body. Just as preventative healthcare—diet, exercise, and regular physical exams—can help ward off diseases and bodily afflictions, so, too, can preventative plumbing care help you to prevent or resolve plumbing problems before they become real issues.

The bottom line: Doing some regular plumbing maintenance can spare you from having to do emergency plumbing maintenance later on.

Start With Your Sinks

For an example of how you can help to protect your home from long-term plumbing damage, just look to your kitchen sink. You can start extending the life of your plumbing right now, just by refraining from putting grease, cooking oils, and fats down the drain; these liquids turn to solids after a while and can cause clogs and backups. Also avoid putting anything hard or stringy—like carrots, banana peels, bones, and skins—down your garburator. Keep it clean and unclogged by running cold water for several seconds after you use it—a simple way to avert a clogged kitchen sink or a faulty garburator!

In the Bathroom

Moving from the kitchen to the bathroom, note that there are still further examples of how preventative plumbing maintenance can render long-term property damage less likely. You can prevent toilet clogs simply by not using your toilet as a wastebasket; sanitary products and cotton balls should never get flushed! There are also simple steps you can take to ensure that you do not have a leaky toilet or a worn-out flapper: Put a drop or two of food coloring in the upper tank, wait a minute, then look in the bowl. If any of that coloring makes its way into the bowl, you may need to have the ball or flapper replaced.

As for the showers, and tubs, you can minimize wear-and-tear just by making sure you have a strainer in place to catch hair and soap, and also by cleaning showerheads regularly, using vinegar.

More Ways to Protect Your Property

There are other measures you can take to ensure that your plumbing is running as intended. For example, the next time you have a plumber in your home, ask him or her to check out your washing machine hoses, scouring them for signs of wear and tear; if it’s almost time to replace them, you’ll want to know it before it’s too late, and you end up with a flooded laundry room! Annual inspections of your visible pipes and your water heater can also go a long way toward spotting and resolving potential problems before long-term property damage is done.

Unclog.it is devoted to helping homeowners keep their properties safe and dry, and their plumbing fully functional, through preventative maintenance. For more information, contact us today.