11 Ways To Protect Your Home From Water Damage

Your home flooding is nothing short of a disaster or catastrophe. Whether it is from a clogged sewage line, leaky plumbing, burst pipes, dilapidated roof during a rainstorm, or something else, the result is the same – extensive property damage that requires costly cleaning, drying, repair, and/or replacement. There is no guarantee that you might have to deal with mold in the future.

Here are some things you can do to protect your home from water damage.

1. Inspect Your Roof

Your roof is the sole object protecting you and your belongings from rain, snow, and other weather elements. A deteriorating or damaged roof can cause a lot of problems, including water damage. Thus, it is wise to inspect and repair your roof before and after a thunderstorm for missing shingles, cracks, and damage.

2. Clean Gutters and Downspouts

Repairing your roof is not enough. Clean your downspouts and gutter to avoid blockages that might hinder drainage and cause water to overflow and pool on your roof, causing structural damage, or pour inside your home from cracks or open windows. To make cleaning easier and to reduce the risk of your gutters malfunctioning, invest in gutter guards.

3. Caulk and Seal

Resealing your windows with caulk will prevent future water damage. Also, you can use caulk around your bathtubs, faucets, plumbing points, and ceiling fixtures to avoid additional water leaks around your home.

4. Check and Insulate Your Pipes

Inspect your plumbing and piping at least once a year to identify any minor leaks, rust, sagging, or other warning signs so the issue can be repaired at once. Otherwise, the warning signs and minor problems will turn into significant leaks, cracks, and burst pipes, which will cause flooding. If you live in a wet or cold climate, you need to inspect your pipes more frequently. Over the years, water and sewage pipes can corrode, so getting them replaced is necessary because the alternative is flooding, and water damage repairs are time-consuming and costly.

Apart from replacement, consider properly insulating all exposed pipes to protect them from freezing temperatures and other factors that can cause the pipes to flood or corrode.

5. Test Your Sump Pump

A sump pump can protect your home from basement flooding during heavy rains. Instead of rainwater pooling behind basement walls or on the floor, it will be gathered in a basin and pumped into a storm drain or dry well.

6. Reseal Your Basement

Cracks or other kinds of damage and deterioration in your once-waterproof cement floor slabs and foundation can lead to water seepage into the basement after a rainstorm. Depending on the extent of damage to your concrete, an affordable and effective solution would be to apply water sealant over the vulnerable areas to prevent seepage.

7. Install Water Detection Devices

Finding hidden leaks and vulnerabilities in your home can be a near-impossible task, which you have to accomplish to prevent water damage. In this Herculean labor, water detection devices can prove to be your true friends.

Install water detection devices with built-in alarms and flood sensors near toilets, water heaters, sump pumps, and appliances to detect the level of moisture and water level, to warn you of impending problems so you can resolve them before any significant water damage is caused.

8. Install A Pressure Release Valve

Increased water pressure can cause stress on your hoses and pipes that can lead to them failing over time, and sending water straight into your home, thereby causing flooding within a matter of minutes. Get a professional to measure the water pressure. Most residential systems can handle 40 to 70 psi, but if the water pressure is more than that (especially over 100 psi), it can cause damage.

Water pressure can increase during the winter months if water is freezing in your pipes. Thus, you should install an emergency pressure release valve to ensure the safety of your pipes and hoses by relieving the pressure in emergencies regardless of the source of the pressure.

9. Inspect Appliances and Their Hoses

Dilapidated or malfunctioning dishwashers, washing machines, and other appliances are common causes of water damage. Therefore, it is imperative that you regularly inspect all appliances handling water to ensure that they are in good condition.

Also, check the hoses of your appliances. Old, damaged, cracked, or clogged hoses can lead to water damage even if the rest of your appliance is in perfect working order. So, replace broken and brittle hoses before they cause significant leaks. Furthermore, periodically move your appliances and inspect the area where they are placed and the wall behind them. This will help you identify leaks to be repaired before the problem grows, causing water damage mold.

10. Know Your Water Main

The water main shutoff may singlehandedly be the most significant plumbing feature in your home because your water main supplies water to the entire house. Water enters through the water main and is distributed to different pipes to channel it to different areas of the house. So, if there is a leak anywhere in your home and there is no valve that allows you to cut off the water supply to that area, you can simply shut off the water main until an expert arrives for repairs to prevent damage.

11. Monitor Your Water Bill

Taking a closer look at your water bill can be just what you need to do to detect hidden leaks and problems. If there is a significant jump in your water usage from one month to the next without any explanation, then it is time to get a detailed professional inspection of your plumbing done. Check every nook and cranny inside your home and even in the yard to know precisely where the problem lies.

Water damage, as you know, can cause a wide array of problems that can have a significant impact on the livability, resale value, and structural integrity of your home and your health. Thus, you need immediate expert water damage restoration solutions. Get in touch with Aqua Dry Restoration Co. now! We can restore your Colorado home to the condition it was in before the flooding, if not better, all without burning a hole in your pocket.

Posted in Aqua Dry Restoration Co Blog | No Comments »