Plumbing maintenance tips to keep your home in top condition
We may not want to admit it, but our homes don’t look after themselves. Being a homeowner means taking on the full responsibility for the home’s maintenance. Many of us have learnt that the hard way. However, having a pro-active maintenance routine can keep our homes in good condition with little effort, reducing the cost of breakages and damage repair.
This is particularly true of our home’s plumbing system. Left to its own devices, it can be the cause of nasty leaks and higher water bills, so it’s worth knowing how to look after it. Let’s take a look at four simple plumbing maintenance tips we should all be doing at home.
1. Look for Leaks
The first of our plumbing maintenance tips is to look for leaks. Pipes can run all around your home, both inside and out, channelling hot and cold water to where you need it. But this network isn’t built with one long pipe, there are lots of joints, connectors and valves holding different sections together. Because of this, pipes are prone to leaks over time. So, it’s worth carrying out some simple regular checks, as catching leaks early will limit damage to your home.
One obvious sign that there may be a leak somewhere is a drop in your water pressure. So if you turn on the tap or your shower and notice there’s less of a flow, you may have a leak. So, it’s worth taking note of your household’s water pressure.
Regularly carrying out visual leak checks is also handy for nipping problems in the bud. Checking the pipework under sinks and baths is a bit easier than examining those running between your floors but you can scan the ceiling and floors for signs of wet patches or damp. These often appear as yellowy-brown stains on your paintwork and as dark stains on woodwork. If vinyl or laminate flooring starts to lift or feels a little spongy, a water leak may be causing it.
But what happens if you do spot a leak? One thing that’s always handy in these instances is knowing where your stop cock is. It’s also worth checking that you have valves fitted to your taps and toilet, as they allow you to isolate that part of the water supply, making maintenance and repairs easier to carry out.
2. Protect Your Pipes
The next of our plumbing maintenance tips is to protect your pipes. Stopping pipes from bursting is extremely important and there are a few maintenance tricks that can help you do this. Firstly, pipes that are subject to really cold temperatures can benefit from some insulation as freezing pipes are liable to bursting. You can use simple foam lagging for this. These are flexible with a slot in them for push-fitting over your pipes, so they’re easy to install without the need for tools or DIY skills.
If your pipes tend to bang loudly when the water is turned on and off, you could benefit from getting some water-hammer arresters fitted too. These little devices help to stop the banging, reducing potential damage to your pipes.
Pipes can also bang or be noisy because they’re not adequately supported. A few pipe clips might be all that’s needed to solve this issue. So, when you’re carrying out maintenance checks, listen as well as look for potential problems.
3. Keep Your Drains Clear
It’s just as important to look after the plumbing serving your drains, so keeping your drains clear is the third of our plumbing maintenance tips. There are lots of things that households tip down the sink and flush down the toilet that they simply shouldn’t. This includes wipes and cooking oil, which are a major cause of blockages in homes and sewers.
But unavoidable substances such as hair and soap also have a knack for clogging your pipes. Because of this, regular maintenance and cleaning is necessary. As soon as the water starts draining slowly, get to work with a plunger, drain snake or a homemade cleaner made from baking soda and vinegar.
Unclogging early saves the need to call out a drainage company or plumber. Regular cleaning with hot water and your homemade cleaner will keep clogging at bay and help your kitchen and bathroom to smell fresh.
4. Hire a Plumber
The last of our plumbing maintenance tips is to get professional help where necessary. Typical plumber prices for drain cleaning are between £100 and £150, while a leaking pipe costs from £100 to £200. However, leaving issues until they become an urgent situation is costly as emergency callouts cost upwards of £100. This is on top of the labour and material costs incurred to fix the problem and rectify household damage such as collapsed ceilings.
Even when you follow the other pro-active maintenance tips, sometimes leaks, blockages and other problems do happen. But the earlier you detect them, the better. So, look after your home’s plumbing to save yourself money and sleepless nights.
These are great tips! One more to consider during the colder months is using space heaters in areas where pipes are more exposed, like along external walls or in poorly heated spaces such as basements or attics. Keeping these areas a bit warmer can help prevent pipes from freezing and bursting, which can save you from dealing with a big mess and expensive repairs.
Thanks Glenn for this tip. Sounds like a great idea.
To keep the drains clean, another thing to avoid is adding hot water to cooking oils when washing dishes. It is a common mistake homeowners make, thinking it will help dissolve the oils before flushing them down the drain. However, when the water cools, the oil solidifies, leading to clogged pipes and potentially severe blockages in both your home’s plumbing and the municipal sewer system.
Thank you for sharing your advice. My husband and I often argue about this.