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For Springtown, TX residents, suddenly finding sewage seeping up your toilet or a crack in the basement can seem like an intimidating thing to confront out of nowhere. Plumbers, however, deal with sudden sewage backups all the time, and have a number of suggestions for homeowners who want to keep their homes sewer free for as long as possible. To prevent sewage from either backing up or leaking in your home, make sure to watch out for clogging, invasive tree roots, slab leaks, and proper drainage.
Clogs And What Not To Flush Down Your Toilet
Springtown, TX residents may be tempted to simply flush sundry items down the toilet instead of just throwing them away in a waste basket, but because common household items don’t break down in the sewer pipes of your home or on their way to the waste water treatment plant, they can cause a major headache down the line. Plumbers have a number of tools to break down and remove most clogs from your plumbing, but doing your part to prevent these common objects from clogging the drains in your home. In your sink for example, washing dishes with cold water, or wiping them with a paper towel before throwing them away can prevent fat build-up in your sink. When you’re taking a shower, taking the time to remove hair from the drain periodically so it doesn’t solidify with soaps and oils will make it easier on your plumber in the future. Finally, making sure you don’t flush items that can’t break down in water, such as feminine hygiene products or toilet wipes.
Especially in the case of flooding is clogged plumbing a huge mistake for Springtown, TX residents. When the city’s sewer line is unable to accept wastewater coming from your home’s sewer line, backups can also happen. Usually, this occurs when the local sewer systems are flooded with runoff water after heavy rains or a major obstruction in the sewers themselves. The most you can do in this case is check the weather and try not to use any major appliances until heavy downpours are over.
Tree Root Infiltration and Other Property Problems
To prevent tree roots from causing thousands of dollars in water damages, as well as creating a disgusting mess to clean up, Springtown, TX, residents will find preventing tree roots from invading their sewer lines to be a prudent move. Many of the trees native to Texas have wide reaching roots to survive droughts, so no matter how far a tree is from your property, a plumber can suddenly be cutting out a healthy sized root ball from your main sewer line even if there’s just a small leak. Either chemical or physical prevention to be the best solutions for stopping them before they clog your pipes. To stop the tree roots from clogging the pipe, you’ll find herbicides applied by a local tree service to be an easy inexpensive solution. If you’re concerned about any damage to the plant life on your property however, a plumber can install a board or other barrier around the pipe to prevent roots from being attracted to the pipe in case of a micro break. Just know however that this can still be penetrated by tree roots from the metal corroding or the wood decaying in the ground, or having any slits or breaks big enough for a root to fit through.
If you know a tree root’s the cause of any breakage in your sewage lines, a plumber can come down and use a specialized camera to locate, and diagnose the problem. Neglecting to maintain your property or call a plumber in the case of major repair can cost you thousands of dollars down the line.
Slab Leaks and You
For homes that sit on a solid concrete foundation, you may find a number of things cause your home to shift, slightly. These can range from the soil shifting after heavy rains, soil chemistry, or your house sitting on a grade has moved due to soil erosion. Whatever may have caused it, the slab your house sits on may have shifted, and this can cause any of the pipes going through your property to leak, including the sewer pipe, causing sewage to slowly but steadily seep over the course of months or even years if left unchecked. There are a number of steps you can take to detect when you may have a slab leak, but the most you can do is have a plumber come inspect your home, as the process of fixing the pipe the slab had broken is a long, complicated ordeal requiring special tools and experience. To detect a slab leak, you need to start by taking careful note of your water bill. If your water bill is up but your water usage isn’t necessarily going up, you should call the city to send out a professional to check your water meter. Because a break in the main water or sewer line to your house can cause thousands in water damage, making sure to spot the early warning signs, such as water pooling beneath flooring, or awful smells coming from the basement, Finally, because sewer pipes are built by plumbers to be stronger than normal pipes, a break in your sewer pipe is usually an indication that there are stresses in the main structure of your home, so keeping an eye on cracks on windowsills or doors that won’t open all the way will better combat a slab leak in your sewer line.
Conclusion
Springtown, TX residents may find hiring Benjamin Franklin Plumbing of Fort Worth to come out and inspect their property periodically to be tiresome in the long run, but doing so protects the longevity of your property, as well as reducing the amount of money you have to pay in wasted water and unnecessary repairs.