Many of you might not be aware that the home plumbing system will consist of about fifteen percent of the value of your home. This is a significant investment you are making in your home. With a smooth and efficient plumbing system in the home, you will be able to enjoy clean and fresh water at all times and it will keep your family healthy and clean. With a properly functioning plumbing system, you will be able to enjoy other benefits as well. These include access to clean water for your health and well being, convenience to modern living and efficiency of water saving devices. As a home owner, it is your responsibility to protect the investment you have made inside your home and this means you will have to maintain the entire home including the plumbing system. The value of your home will deteriorate if the plumbing system is not in place and is not functioning as it should. Even if you do not intend to sell your home, you need to ensure that the plumbing system is efficient for your own convince and comfort.
Plumbing is one thing everyone of us relies on and it is used right from the kitchen to the bathrooms and the garden. Effective plumbing will ensure that all the pipes are running smoothly and it is important for your comfort and health. Do not ignore the importance of plumbing in your home and take out time to look into anything that seems damaged or broken. Right from your water heater to the kitchen sink, you need to check its condition and verify how it is performing. There will be signs which you need to recognize and work upon. Most of us do not pay attention to the plumbing unless it is already damaged and causes leakage across the home. If you call for a professional at this time, you will have to incur huge costs and spend a lot of time repairing the damages. Hence, it is important to schedule regular plumbing and maintenance as well as weekly maintenance.
Plumbing maintenance
It is important to take care of the plumbing in your home so as to keep clean water flowing in and out of your home. A lot of people overlook the importance of maintenance until a problem arises and costs them huge money. This can easily be avoided if you pay attention to maintenance and catch the small problems before they turn into large problems and cost money at a later stage. Maintenance will also help you conserve on water as well as energy bills. Even a small leak in your home could cost you a lot of water and water comes out drip by drip and this could eventually add up to something that is exceptionally huge.
Maintaining the plumbing system inside your home means checking for minor leaks from time to time. It also includes performing seasonal maintenance to catch problems and repair them at the earliest. You should be maintaining the septic system and servicing all the water using appliances in your home. A plumbing leak will have an impact on the pipe as well as water pressure and it can also cause damage to the home. If a leak is not detected on time, it will lead to pipe corrosion and mold. When you repair the long term damage which is caused by a leak, it will be costly and will lead to a lot of inconvenience. When a pipe freezes and bursts, you will have to deal with a flooded room and this room will have to be dried out at the earliest to ensure that the mold or mildew does not take over. One minor problem could lead to a massive problem in no time if it is avoided.
Tips for daily maintenance
Daily maintenance of the plumbing system in your home will prevent clogs which is a common plumbing issue faced by homeowners. A clog in the drain will not only cause nuisance but will also shorten the lifespan of the waste pipes and will add pressure and stress. You need to take steps to prevent blockages in the first place. Follow simple daily maintenance tips to ensure that water keeps moving through the pipes in your home.
In the kitchen – The drain inside your kitchen often clogs due to the waste or debris that goes down the sink which ideally should not. You should never put oils or grease down the sink in order to prevent clogging. Improper usage of garbage disposal will lead to clogged kitchen drains. According to Josh Benjamin from FlotechsPlumbing.com, putting things like egg shells, grease, coffee grounds, or onion skins down your garbage disposal will cause it to break and need repairs. You need to turn your water on before you add food and always allow cold water to run for a minimum of 15 seconds after you use disposal. Run the dishwasher in the night so as to conserve hot water and to maintain good pressure during the day.
In the bathroom – The bathroom is also another area where the drains get clogged. You can reduce this by keeping the shower and sink drains flowing freely. Bring down the use of bath oils and install screens on the drain so as to prevent hair from going down the drain. You need to avoid the toilet clogs by avoiding to use it like a trash can. Only toiler paper and human waste should be flushed. You need to wait for at least 10 minutes in between showers so as to maintain proper water pressure and hot water through the day. Do not use chemical clog removal products which could cause more harm than good.
Weekly Maintenance
You need to check on your pipes at least once a week in order to ensure that your plumbing is not damaged. An ideal way to prevent big problems is by identifying the small problems and working on them before they become huge and costly. Weekly maintenance includes checking for leaks. You can do this by looking at signs of moisture like water marks, puddles of water and mold growth. Further, you will have to test the sink and shower drains for its speed and if you notice any bubbles appearing while the water drains, it is a sign of slow drain. There should be a full swirl when the water goes down the drain. You need to check every faucet in your home by turning it on and water should not be coming out of the valves or the handles. Lastly, always clean the lint traps after regular use of the washing machine. Leak detection is not as difficult as you might think of it to be. There are some common places inside the house where leaks could easily occur and these include faucets, pipe valves, drippy shower heads, worn toilet flappers, loose pipe fittings and kitchen sink faucet. All of them can be easily replaced and they do not cost much. They do prevent the costly water bills over a long period of time.
What to do next?
If you notice that there is a leakage in your home, you do not have to manage all the repairs by yourself. You can seek professional help to ensure that the plumbing system in the home is running smoothly and efficiently. If you do not know what is wrong, try to identify the source of leakage. You will then be able to decide what you need to do next in order to fix it. Regular maintenance will save you time and money in the long run. If you are too busy to worry about plumbing maintenance, you can opt for a preventive maintenance plan where regular maintenance will be carried out by experienced professionals. It is important to set up a maintenance schedule with the professionals in order to avoid costly plumbing issues in the long term. If you do not know where to begin, you should not attempt it because you will not be aware of what steps you need to take next.
There are certain steps for maintenance you need to take keeping the seasons in mind. You will have to consider the impact of different seasons on the plumbing and drainage before you carry out these maintenance activities. Set aside time after the end of monsoons to throughly inspect the pipes and the drainage of your home to ensure that there is no clogging or damage to the plumbing.
Regular plumbing maintenance will increase the resale value of your home and you will be able to ensure that the plumbing does not cause trouble or money to you in the long term. As a home maker, you need to ensure that the plumbing across the entire house is efficiently functioning and does not show any signs of breakage or damage. Incase of a leak, you need to immediately call a professional for repairs.
