5 Smart Ways to Prevent Water Damage from Destroying Your Home
Water damage in your house can be nasty, not just because of
the clean-up you need to put yourself through, but also the basic insurance
policy you probably have just might not cover all the damage costs.
The best way to deal with water damage in your home is to
try and do your best to prevent it. Here are some tips and hints on what you
can do to be a step ahead.
Monitor the Water Bill
Your water bill is a pretty reliable marker that something
might be wrong with your water system and that you should do a thorough
professional check-up. Pipes in your walls or floors might be broken or you might
be dealingwith a slab leak somewhere in your house.
You will probably see the damage when it’s too late to
prevent it. The thing with leaks is that they can be slow and stealthy and you probably
won’t even notice there’s something wrongright away.
The most valid indicator that something is going on is a
significantly higher water bill with each passing month. Therefore you need to
keep an eye out on that as a valid warning sign.
Plant smart
If you have a garden and you would like to plant something
there you should be careful and smart about it. There are plants with very
expansive roots that could damage your pipes, sprinklers, drains, etc. You
might think that this is not likely to happen to you, but the risk is too big
to avoid this warning.
Out with the chemicals, in with the drain snake
Many homeowners tend to rely on various chemicals to help
them get rid of clogs in their pipes. The problem is that while these chemicals
eat away all the dirt, they can also do significant damage to your pipes and can
cause leaks.
What you can do is choose an alternative or in other words a
drain snake. They are pretty cheap and you can find them in a local hardware
store. By using the snake you avoid damaging the pipes, and you also avoid
direct exposure to often dangerous chemicals.
Never flush grease
People usually don’t think about what they throw down the
sink.Why not: it’s easy, fast and convenient, and you don’t need to worry about
the consequences now. You can always deal with it later or have a professional take care of your
plumbing mess.
That’s a problem right there! Why would you even complicate
things unnecessarily in the first place when you can just be smart and avoid
grease in your sink which would come back to you like a boomerang.
Grease is problematic because it can still cling to the
pipes even if you use a detergent to degrade it. What you can do is avoid pouring
it down the sink entirely. Instead, put
it in some empty container, let it harden and then throw it away with the rest
of the organic garbage.
Check roof gutters
Cleaning your roof is something you need to do every once in
a while anyway, so while at it you can
also check the gutters just to make sure they are all up and running for rainy
days.
If you find a lot of debris like leaves, bird nests, or
whatever that might clog the passage, then you better clean that all up.
Blocked gutters just might direct the water to places you’d
want to stay dry, like foundations of the house, basement, or whichever way the
water might choose when the intended path is unavailable.
