Your home should be the place where you can recharge, feel at peace, and spend time with your loved ones. It’s a place where you can be yourself and not worry about outside stressors. This is why many homeowners spend time and money to make their homes as comfortable and beautiful as possible. But with all the embellishments you can do for your home, you might just miss other more important maintenance works that your home desperately needs.
A home is not only made of furniture, cushions, curtains, and appliances. It’s more like a complex machine with electrical wirings, a plumbing system, air-conditioning, and even a security mechanism. Although these parts of a home are deemed essential, they tend to be ignored by most people. This is why many home issues go unnoticed until they become impossible to ignore.
One of the issues that you might easily ignore is plumbing issues. Many pipes run underground, through the walls, or under the floors. Because of this, you can’t directly inspect any damage that isn’t in plain sight. To help you out, here are different ways you can detect any problems that your plumbing system at home might have.
1, Get A Professional Inspection
The first and best way to find any problems with your home’s pipework is to get licensed plumbers to inspect it for you. As professionals, they know exactly where to look, and they can also give you tips on other important areas you should pay attention to. Furthermore, they can tell you when repairs are needed and even provide you an estimate of the costs. The great thing about hiring professional plumbing services is that you can get a proper assessment instead of just guessing and assuming.
2, Expensive Water Bills
Another sign that you may have plumbing problems are water bills that are higher than what you usually get or expect. For instance, you might be doing your best to conserve water, but your water bills haven’t decreased at all. You might have also been out of town, but your water bills aren’t any lower than your normal consumption. Spike in water bills that doesn’t make sense may mean you have leaking pipes that you probably haven’t noticed. Most likely, the leaks are somewhere where they aren’t easily seen, so you’ll still need to get a plumber to find the source of the leak as soon as possible and make the necessary repairs.
3, Leaks And Puddles Of Water
As mentioned, leaks are some of the most obvious signs of plumbing issues. Some are more obvious because you’ll be able to see puddles of water around the area where the leak comes from. But the problem with these leaks is they’re not always clean. Some of your pipes could be leaking dirty water, and it can cause your home to become highly unsanitary and stinky. When left too long, the water may even cause damage to your home, and attract unsightly pests.
4, Water Spots On The Walls And Ceiling
This next sign should bother you because it means that the water leaks from the damaged pipes in your walls and ceilings have been there for a while. Water spots look awful, but what’s hidden inside may be even worse. Plumbers will likely have to take down parts of the wall or ceiling to access and fix the leaking pipe. Water spots are also tricky to get rid of, so ensure that you inspect your plumbing regularly and fix leaks as early as possible to avoid more damages.
5, Low Water Pressure
Water pressure allows you to have access to clean water, even if you’re on the higher floors of a building. However, if you have low water pressure, supply on higher elevations, say your upper floors, may be noticeably weaker than that on the lower floors. If there’s no issue with your water supplier, low water pressure may mean a lot of things. It could be clogged, leaky, or corroded pipes, issues in the pressure regulator, faulty fixtures, or the valves aren’t completely open.
6, Clogged Or Gurgling Toilets
Any issues with your toilet need to be addressed as soon as possible. This is because it needs to be available for use at all times. It’d be best not to wait for the issue to get worse since it can become more challenging to deal with the longer you leave it. Toilets that clog or make gurgling noises could be due to a blockage in the sewer pipes or other pipelines.
7, Slow And Smelly Drains
Just like clogged toilets, slow and smelly drains could be due to a more severe problem like clogs and blocks in your pipelines. Other causes that are easier to fix are issues in the trap, the vent, or the fixtures. However, figuring out the exact cause is tricky, and is best left to plumbers, who’ll probably only take a few minutes to figure it out.
8, Sewer Backup
If you ignore clogged toilets and slow drains, it will likely lead to sewer backup. This is one of the worst outcomes you can expect if you don’t deal with plumbing issues immediately. Sewer backup is a combination of all the nasty and contaminated water from your home. It could be dirty water from weeks ago making its way back up your sink, bathtub, shower, or even toilet. It’s unsanitary, unsafe, and smells terrible, so make sure that it doesn’t get to a point where you get sewer backup in your home.
Conclusion
Plumbing issues are only some of the troubles that could go unnoticed in a home. If you spend a lot of time cleaning, and decorating your house, make sure that you also do your share of maintaining and inspecting other parts like plumbing and electrical lines. This way, you can avoid the hassle of more extensive and more expensive repairs.
