We can’t live without water, but water in hour home can cause trouble! As vital to life as it is, sometimes it feels like water is waging a war on us. Especially when it comes to the house, any single drop that’s not in the place it’s supposed to be can be a major concern. Not just your plumbing, but in the structural integrity of the home, water can be a fearsome foe. So, what do you do about it?
Battle those elements
In a new home or an old house, one of the greatest risks is of any gaps in the home that you may have missed. The wind, the rain, and the heat can take turns running wild on your home. If you haven’t done it yet or you’ve just moved into a new home, take your time identifying any air leaks in the home. They are costly not only in terms of the amount you can waste on heating and air conditioning bills. It only takes one missing tile on a roof to create a serious mold problem down the line.
Prevention is always the key
You are trying to identify risks before they appear. There are some that can just do too much damage for you to wait to put those metaphorical fires out later. You can’t wait for mold to appear on a drywall to save that drywall. Similarly, you can’t wait for signs of pipe freezing to fix those pipes. That’s how you end up spending thousands on coping with water damage and replacing new walls and surfaces. You need to use preventative measures by identifying risks before they happen.
Know when you need a plumber
Having a good plumber on call is essential for any homeowner, there’s no denying that. However, there are some relatively simple problems that you could easily deal with yourself instead of calling them out. For instance, if you have a faucet that keeps dripping, instead of forcing it closed, find the shut-off valve for the faucet. Sometimes, it’s as simple as learning how to open the tap and replace the rubber washer with a new one. A five dollar fix could become a sixty dollar fix if you leave it to a plumber when you don’t need to.
Know when water has won the fight
When it comes to finding mold in the home, you need to be thorough in how you identify it. For instance, it’s very easy to clean mold from surfaces like metal or tile. If mold has taken over a drywall or wood could mean replacing the entire piece of material. More important, at that point, isn’t trying to remove the mold. It’s trying to find the source of it. Mold doesn’t happen at random, there’s a potential breach in the home that you’ve missed.
You’re not going to win the water on water by waiting for it to raise its ugly head. Whether it’s the danger of freezing pipes or the danger of mold taking over an otherwise entirely fine wall, prevention is the key.
