How can you Prevent Water Damage to your Property?

Leaks can be annoying but they can also cause property damage when not addressed. That said, many homeowners hire a professional water leak detection company to help them with a variety of household leaks from simple kitchen and bathroom leaks to major ones like slab leaks and burst pipes.

But as the age-old adage goes, an ounce of prevention is always better than tons of cure. So today, we will be talking about some of the most common tips you can do to prevent water damage to your property.

So, if you’re ready, let’s begin.

1. Know the water main

First, let’s look at what you can do when preventing leaks inside your home — find the water main. Knowing where the master switch is will help you avoid many plumbing problems because it controls the water supply in your house.

If you experience a leak inside your house, the first thing you’d want to do is to find (and shut off) the water main. This will prevent water from the main pipe from entering the smaller pipes in your house. The smaller pipes branch off to different rooms where water will most likely be distributed.

By cutting the water supply from the source, you can minimise the damage and allow you — or the plumber — to easily fix the leak.

Shutting off the water main if you plan to leave home for prolonged periods of time can also help prevent water leaks. If there’s no water running in the indoor plumbing, there are fewer chances that you will experience leaks and the instances of water wreaking havoc on your home can also be reduced.

1. Maintain your appliances

Maintaining your appliances can help prevent water leaks at home. Things like the dishwasher, the washing machine, and other appliances that use water directly from the main can cause leaks when not properly maintained.

That said, it’s best to give these tools and equipment a once-over just so you can be sure that components that are old and brittle will not cause water leaks. Check the connectors and the hoses and replace them even before they start to break.

Check with the manufacturer how long do these parts last and have them replaced as necessary.

And should you find any leaks coming from your appliances.

1. Fix leaks promptly

Make sure to fix them promptly. Avoid delaying repairs as they can develop into something more serious. Moreover, water lost and wasted because of the leak is water you will eventually be paying for.

1. Disconnect hoses

Let’s say you’ve been keen on doing tips one to three to prevent leaks inside your home. Well, what about what’s outside? Disconnecting hoses from the faucet can help you prevent leaks from the outside.

The thing about waters and hoses is that they freeze. Frozen water can cause all sorts of damage from stopping water flow to causing burst pipes. As you would imagine, the former can easily be fixed but the latter, let’s just say that burst pipes will break walls, floors, and foundations.

1. Clean downspouts and gutters 

Cleaning roof fixtures like downspouts and gutters can help you avoid water damage in your property. Obstructions that block water can cause pressure buildup that can damage the gutters on your roof. Stagnant water can also weigh down the gutters which will weaken the structure and cause it to eventually break down.

In addition, blockages on stormwater drains can cause water buildup on these canals. The pressure of the water from the rain can break these passageways and cause more problems in the future. That said, make sure to clean them every once in a while, especially if you have trees standing nearby canals, gutters, and downspouts.

This brings us to…

1. Check nearby vegetation

Sweeping off dead leaves and dried twigs can help keep the canals, downspouts, and gutters clean but checking nearby vegetation could help you even more. 

Thriving shrubs are good to see, but that also means that its roots are digging deep into the ground to absorb the nutrients it needs to grow. You could minimise the greenery but if you can’t just make sure that you check the roots from time to time as they may interfere with the plumbing buried underneath.

Conclusion

So, there you have it. Some of the most common tips you can do at home to prevent water damage to your property. We hope that this can help you maintain your home’s plumbing and help detect any water leak inside your home. You can try all of the above but you can always pick one that works for you.