The best way to deal with water damage in Overland Park, KS, is to prevent it from happening in the first place. While that’s not always possible, you would be surprised by just how much water damage in homes could be prevented by regular maintenance on your pipes. How can this simple task help save you thousands of dollars in water damage removal and cleanup costs? Keep reading to find out.
Prevent Frozen Pipes
Frozen pipes are one of the leading causes of home floods during the winter. It happens to Kansans every year: We get a sudden drop in temperature, pipes freeze over, then burst and cause significant water damage to the home. However, these situations could be avoided with a few basic steps. Here are some things you can do to keep your pipes from freezing and prevent the resulting water damage:
- Insulate your pipes. We can’t stress enough how important it is to add insulation around all exterior pipes and any pipes that run through unheated parts of your home—like the attic or basement. This helps the pipes trap and retain heat, making them less likely to freeze during a cold spell.
- Open cupboard doors under your sinks when a sudden drop in temperature is expected. This helps warm air circulate around the pipes and plumbing fixtures, so they don’t freeze.
- Be mindful of your thermostat, especially when you’re away during the winter. While you may be tempted to shut it off to save on your power bill, this is a surefire way to end up with a big repair bill to clean up all that water damage later.
Preventing frozen pipes in your home will help you avoid one of the most significant contributors to home water damage. However, it’s not the only way you should maintain your pipes.
Perform Regular Inspections
As best as you can, it would be best if you were inspecting all exposed pipes regularly for any signs of a leak. Look under your sinks, examine exposed pipes that run outside your home, and check on the connections to your water-using appliances. Doing so can help you find loose, leaking joints and weak, corroded pipe sections that could lead to a leak. While it might take up some of your time to check those pipes every few months, catching a leak while it’s still tiny will save you a lot of headaches down the road. After all, tightening a loose joint only takes a couple of minutes; removing water, repairing damage, and replacing materials after significant water damage takes a lot longer.
Use Your Drains Wisely
What’s worse than a broken water pipe in your home? A broken sewage pipe. Your drains are designed to carry specific materials away from your home, but they’re not magic portals that can get rid of anything you decide to put down. Be wise about what you flush and put down the other drains in your home. Abusing those pipes can lead to severe clogs far enough down the line that a plunger won’t be able to help you. Eventually, this can lead to a significant sewage backup and a busted drain line that leaks sewage into your home. That’s something nobody ever wants to deal with.
While proper pipe maintenance can go a long way towards preventing water damage, it won’t control everything. If you find yourself dealing with flooding or other water damage in your home, contact Emergency Mitigation Services, and our water damage contractors in Overland Park, KS, will help repair it as soon as possible.