Flooding is one of the worst nightmares a homeowner might have to deal with when it comes to property maintenance. Water damage can be significant, costly, and disruptive to you or your tenant’s daily life, meaning it’s crucial to keep a constant eye out for it. Small leaks and slow drainage can turn into gushing streams of water and overflowing drains very quickly.
Don’t let minor issues turn into overwhelming, expensive problems—take care of sources of potential household flooding as soon as you become aware of any complications. Be sure to pay attention to these five common culprits of household flooding, and don’t hesitate to contact a professional when something seems amiss!
1.) Refrigerators
Refrigerators produce a ton of excess moisture, which results in a high ranking on the list of potential water damage threats. This appliance uses a lot of energy and water to keep your food cold, especially in warmer seasons and environments like Arizona.
Each time you open the fridge to grab a snack you let in warm air that produces condensation that pools at the bottom. Most refrigerators are built with drainage lines to siphon out this buildup, but sometimes these can clog and result in leaks and flooding.
Another common culprit of flooding is the water supply line that feeds the freezer and ice machine. If this line springs a leak or becomes unattached, you could be looking at serious and vast water damage.
2.) Water Heaters
Everybody’s favorite appliance in the morning is the water heater—the source of the luxuriously hot water you use to wake yourself up and soothe your stiff muscles before the day begins. Although you couldn’t imagine a life without your precious water heater, don’t let the steam from your shower blind you to its ability to destroy an entire floor of your home with even the smallest leak.
Water heaters are designed to constantly refill themselves, so you don’t have to maintain it, but you still need to check in on it regularly to ensure it’s working properly. The tank and its various parts can corrode over time and result in leaky valves or completely deteriorated ones.
The reason a water heater has so much potential to flood your home so quickly is because it has a constantly flowing supply of water, giving even small tears the ability to catastrophically drown a section of your house.
3.) Plumbing
We’ve all dealt with the inconvenience of faulty or damaged plumbing, but it’s important to remember how detrimental small problems in the system can be. Leaky or broken pipes can have parts of your home devastatingly drenched in water within minutes.
While small leaks may not immediately be a huge issue, they do make pipes more prone to bursting due to changes in water pressure or temperature. Wear and tear over time turns your once functional pipes into brittle flooding hazards. This can also lead to flooding in the walls that you’re not aware of and result in mold growth and internal damage to the walls and other pipes.
Don’t wait for the worst to happen, call in a professional to fix small issues you find in your plumbing. The best way to deal with water damage is to prevent it.
4.) Clogged Pipes
Faulty pipes are not the only ones that cause trouble—clogged pipes can prove just as destructive to your flooring and overall home structure. A congested sewer or obstructed drain lines disrupts the flow of water to and from your house and causes problems that often lead to significant water damage.
When the piping or drainage system in your home is blocked, water backs up in your appliances and overflows into the house. We’ve all watched in horror as we flush the toilet and the contents slowly rise up and spill out onto the floor.
Even less severe clogging that’s causing slow drainage in the shower or sinks should be taken seriously, as it implies that your pipes are particularly vulnerable to blockage.
5.) Washing Machines
Flooding that comes from your washing machine is almost always caused by a malfunctioning hose. The intake hose brings water to the machine and can frequently be faulty from the start or deteriorate over time. Small leaks can also worsen gradually and end up becoming a major source of flooding.
There are a few different points from which the leak in a washing machine can originate—hose connections, inlet connections, the pump, and the air dome seal, to name a few.
Even if you know what to watch out for, you can’t always anticipate when a flood is going to devastate your home. When it does, it’s imperative to arrange for floor and water extraction and restoration right away.
Trust your home in the hands of the experts at Horizon Carpet, Upholstery, Tile & Grout Cleaners Inc. Our technicians will handle your water damaged home as if it was their own, while using their knowledge and experience to restore your flooring and carpets to when they were at their best. Contact us today to get your appointment scheduled!