3 Common Plumbing Issues To Watch Out For This Spring
Category: Plumbing
Now that spring has finally arrived in earnest, most homeowners are enjoying getting out of the house for a bit and enjoying a bit of everything that the season has to offer. Whether you are a big-time backyard cookout enthusiast who can’t wait to fire up the grill, you just grabbed a new swim suit and the pool is calling your name, or you have a serious itch to get back out to your garden and put your green thumbs to work, there is no lack of options when it comes to things to do around the house. That being said, it pays to ensure you are paying attention to some of the more vital components that keep your house operating like you are used to, and one of those that tends to require a bit of special attention during the spring season is your plumbing. While it might not seem like your plumbing system is particularly susceptible during this time of year, there are a number of common issues that you should be on the lookout for as we move further into the season. To help you identify what those issues are, and how best to avoid them, our team of professionals have taken the time to put together this short article that we hope you will find helpful.
Check Your Toilets
A leaking toilet can be a nuisance to deal with at just about any time of year, but they tend to be most commonly noticed in the spring. While it is important to ensure that you don’t have water leaking out from around your toilet, or through your reservoir and onto your floor where it could cause damage, it also pays to be aware of when you have water leaking from your tank into the bowl itself. While this in itself usually doesn’t result in any damage around your toilet area, this continual leaking of water means that your toilet will constantly be drawing new water in order to refill the water that was lost, which can wind up costing you big time when your monthly water bill comes back around. To check for this, place a few drops of food coloring inside your toilet’s reservoir and wait thirty minutes. After this time, if you notice that any of that coloring has found its way inside your bowl, you can be certain you have a leak, and you can determine its intensity by the amount of coloring inside the bowl. Regardless of how severe, you are going to want to have a professional come out to find and resolve the source of the leak to help prevent you from wasting any more water.
Protect Your Sewer Lines From Growing Roots
You don’t have to be a professional groundskeeper to know that spring is the growing season for just about every form of plant life you could imagine. As we get on into the spring season, the grass, bushes, and trees around your property are all going to be spreading their roots in search of moisture, and in the case of trees, they can sometimes find that moisture in your sewer or plumbing lines. Trees are notorious for forcing their roots into these plumbing lines, either through existing cracks or by forming new breaches, and when they do, it can cause you some very serious problems. Tree root blockage can actually create clogs so severe that you could wind up with sewage backflow coming into your home, and as such, it pays to take precautions this spring as they are growing. Have a professional come out at some point this spring to inspect your sewer lines and make sure they aren’t at risk, and to ensure the process hasn’t already begun, as this can save you a great deal of time, headache, and money in the near future.
Inspect Your Faucets
Leaking faucets are always somewhat of a nuisance, but they can be even more than that if they are leaking water behind your walls or dripping it down into your cabinets. As the weather is continuing to heat up this spring, it is going to become easier and easier for mold and mildew to start forming in these moist areas, leading to wood rot and a whole host of other issues if you aren’t careful. Take the time this spring to inspect every one of the faucets in your home and the areas around them to check for signs of leakage. If you find any, have a plumbing professional come out right away to locate and resolve the source of the leak before it can cause you too much trouble.
