Maintenance Checklist to Prevent Plumbing Issues in Your Home

Most plumbing issues will often go undetected until they manifest through a huge damaging leak or a sewage backup. However, by spending a better part of your afternoon inspecting all plumbing units, you can easily spot some of the minor problems and plan for early repair to prevent magnified issues from occurring. Some of the minor problems you may notice include dripping faucets, low water pressure, leaky pipes, running toilets, slow or clogged drains, or any other unusual activity in your home plumbing system. Use this simple maintenance checklist to help you identify such issues and address them before they grow to become costly.

Inspect Rarely Used Faucets Faucets that are rarely used like the ones in the laundry rooms and bathrooms may be an oversight when you are conducting an inspection. Do not only spend time on kitchen and sink faucets that are always busy, spend a few minutes to turn the rare ones on and off and study the flow of water. This will also keep them from seizing due to lack of regular use in your home. For faucets that seem tight, you can disassemble and apply some silicon lubricant for smooth movement. You will need a screwdriver and a wrench to remove the handle from its base, and then pull the valve out. Apply lubricant to the O-rings, valve, and valve stem.

Inspect Washing Machine Shut-Off Valve Your washing machine ever floods; therefore, turning off the main water supply to the machine is paramount. Access the valve that controls water supply to the washing machine. There are always two valves, one for hot water and the other for cold water. Confirm that each valve on the machine can easily turn, if not, apply lubricant as you did with the other valves.

Lubricate the Main Water Valve For cases where you have a major plumbing leak, turn off water supply at the main water valve to prevent flooding from getting worse. There are cases where the main valves end up hard and tight to turn since they rarely find use. Apply a few drops of the silicone lubricant to the stem of the valve, then close and open to spread the lubricant evenly.

Check Over Your Bills Many people overlook checking their water bills from the past few months. Large and unexplainable increases in your bills could be an indication of a possible leak in the plumbing system. You may need to contact a professional plumber to help you diagnose the main source of the leaks since some may occur underground.