Preventing The Need For Water Damage Repair
The need to carry out a water damage repair isn’t always provoked by serious events like hurricanes and floods. Most times, water damages in a home are caused by little problems that are left unchecked. Thus, to prevent such damages, attention must be paid to every part of your home. Below are some key areas to monitor in and around your home
- Check Your Pipes
The pipes in your home are your water’s main medium of transportation. Thus, most water problems occur when there is something wrong with one or more of them. Homeowners should form a habit of checking their pipes from time to time. Check for brittleness and leaks.
PS: older pipes are more likely to cause problems, so its best to carry out a more regular check if your home and pipes are old.
- Keep the Gutters and Downspouts Clean
If your rain gutters and downpipes are not clog-free, then you might experience a water buildup on your roofs. Over time, this buildup could begin to seep into your home and cause adverse effects to your infrastructure and foundation.
- Inspect Your Sump Pumps
Your sump pump helps a great deal in keeping the water level low in the event of a storm. Make sure it is in perfect working conditions. You should test it once or twice a year.
- Check Your Roof
A displaced shingle or a fallen tree limb that lands on your roof could result in more water damage than you might imagine. Occurrences such as these could provide the gap that water needs to infiltrate your home. To prevent this, check your roof from time to time to ensure it is in prime condition.
Preventing Water Damages to Your Home
To prevent the need for water damage repair, here are a few preventive measures you can take in and around your home.
- When landscaping, make sure there is a slight slope of about 6 inches away from your foundation. This greatly minimizes the risk of having walls that have weakened because of water pooling at your foundations.
- Make sure your downspouts direct water no less than 5 feet away from your home.
- Inspect your home regularly for leaks and fix them immediately.
- Avoid pouring grease down the drain pipes. This could clog up the drains and cause water backup problems.
- Also, abstain from using the toilets as a garbage disposal system. It is not the place to discard your q tips or other facial beauty related articles.
- Avoid planting trees closer to where your pipes run. If a tree near a pipe has grown out of proportion, its best to remove them. This is because their roots might have become big enough to wrap around the pipes and destroy them.
- If there are any trees very close to the house, make sure their branches are trimmed regularly. This prevents falling limbs from causing damages to your roof.
- If you must leave your home for a long period of time, make sure to shut off your home’s water supply from the water main.
With tips like these and a few others such as monitoring your water bill to ensure that the amount you are paying justifies the water you are using, you can always prevent the need for water damage repair.