Your home or rental property is your investment in the future. Major plumbing problems—such as slab leaks, sewer line clogs, and faulty water heaters—can cut into your budget and put your investment at risk. Instead of dealing with these issues creatively, you’re better off taking a proactive approach. In this article, we’ll review the four most effective ways to stave off serious (and expensive) plumbing problems, and when calling in a professional, like a plumber in Buffalo, NY, just makes sense.
Schedule preventative maintenance
When you compare its cost against the potential cost of many serious repairs, preventative maintenance just makes sense. After all, any homeowner would spend five cents to save a dollar. When it comes to your water heater, sewer line, and pipes, preventative maintenance is just too important to pass up.
For example, you should have a plumber out to your home or rental property every year for a sewer line inspection. For this service, the plumber will feed an endoscopic camera down the drain and into the line, allowing them to look for any forming clogs or obvious signs of damage. If there is an obstruction in the line or a leak, you and the plumber can put together a plan to deal with it before it causes major damage to your home.
In a similar fashion, you should have a plumber maintain the property’s water heater. All water heaters should be drained and flushed out annually to remove the buildup of sediment and corrosion. A professional will also confirm that the pressure-relief valve is working, check the temperature settings, and inspect the tank shell for any signs of damage. Thinking ahead and having your water heater cared for is one of the most effective ways to prevent system failure or a water heater tank burst.
Deal proactively with any problems
It’s all too easy to push the early warning signs of plumbing trouble to the back of your mental to-do list. Sure, your sink drains are clogging, but you’ll clean them out at some point. However, as homeowners learn quickly, “some point” never actually comes around. You’ll be kicking yourself when those clogged drains eventually back up and require you to call in a plumber.
When it comes to these early warning signs, some of them are just too serious to ignore and need to be dealt with immediately. If you notice that all of the drains in your home are clogging simultaneously, it could be a sign of a sewer line clog—and an impending sewer backup. You need to turn off the water immediately and call in a plumber to check things out.
Invest in strategic upgrades
If you’re willing to put some money into your home or rental property, you can hedge against potential plumbing disasters. For example, in the Midwest and Northeast, homes face the serious threat of frozen pipes on cold winter nights. Having a plumber add insulated sheathing to the pipes in your exterior walls can slow down heat loss in the event your furnace fails, buying your pipes hours. This can prevent pipes from freezing or bursting.
Is your water heater more than 10 years old and starting to show signs of aging? Proactively replacing the tank may be the right call: waiting until you see visible signs of a leak, for example, means you’re already flirting with the risk of a tank burst and a flooded home. You’ll have to replace the water heater eventually—you might as well do so before your home or rental property is put at risk.
Work with a plumbing professional
Your home’s pipes, water heater, sewer line, and drains require the specialized care of an experienced professional. Never compromise on quality service: always hire a certified, licensed plumber who can be trusted to complete repairs the right way. As many unfortunate homeowners have learned, trying to cut costs by bringing in the lowest-bid contractor can, in itself, be disastrous.
Looking to learn more about the most expensive home plumbing issues and how you can actively work to avoid them? Check out this info graphic from Reamer Home Services, a plumbing company in Buffalo, New York.
