When you are in need of an emergency plumber you are rarely in a good position. It is likely late at night or on the weekend. It could be a situation where you already have standing water somewhere in your house. It is always a situation that needs to be taken care of immediately. Taking a few steps back, however, there are many times when there are some things that could have been proactively done to avoid the need for an emergency plumber.
From sewer cleaning services to water heater maintenance, there are often many kinds of preventative steps that a property owner can take to avoid the expense of an emergency plumber. This is not to say that emergencies do not happen, because, of course, they do. It just means that if you take a proactive approach to home ownership you may find yourself less likely to need to to call an emergency plumbing company and be at the mercy of their expensive rates.
When they are needed, however, emergency plumbers understand the steps to take to get the water source shut off and can often advise you about the steps that you can begin to avoid mold and mildew if you have had a significant leak.
America’s Aging Sewer System Is the Literal Root Cause of Many Problems
If you live in a major city in the U.S. then you likely do not need anyone to tell you about the crisis facing the country as the nation faces a failing infrastructure. Fro pot holed streets that include craters the size of cars to parking lots with sink holes the size of a house, there is much work to be done in many parts of the country. Unfortunately, although there is great need, there are often not a lot of resources. And while the streets and parking lots are part of the collateral damage that is caused by a system of roads and streets that were built many years ago, the sewer system in many places creates a host of other problems.
From large tree roots that have wrapped themselves around and, in many cases, broken into a sewer system, it is important to realize that even when you purchase a home in the newest part of a city you may still face problems. A new subdivision in an older part of town, for instance, will at some point connect to a much older sewer system. Fortunately, there are new technologies that allow plumbing and sewer services to literally look into these pipes to see the problems. The use of these kinds of cameras and the solutions to the problems that they detect are both expensive and extensive.
Perhaps the biggest threat of the failing infrastructure in the U.S. is that America’s aging sewer systems spill an estimated 1.26 trillion gallons of untreated sewage every single year. This leads to unhealthy drinking water and water sources being put at risk. When these leaks go unnoticed, or unaddressed, the problems become even worse.
Individual Home Owners Also Face Property Specific Problems
Did you know that as many as 10% of U.S. households have leaks in their plumbing that can waste as much as 90 gallons of water every day? In a time when there are many places in the country that are threatened with serious water shortages this is a major concern. On a monetary level, if an undetected leak continues for a year, it could cost a property owner roughly $164.50 in those 12 months. This is the cost, of course, for one leak. If a home has more than one those costs can be multiplied. Although there are likely times when a home owner may think that they can fix a small leak themselves, the problem comes when the leak is just the surface of a much bigger underlying problem. It is in ignoring these much bigger problems when property owners can find themselves in need of emergency plumbing services. Proactive property owners understand that small expenses upfront can help avoid the need for costly repairs at a later date.
