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Rain is a blessing and much awaited. When it falls, flowers blossom, and crops bloom. The trees become greener, and the world becomes more beautiful and wholesome. It helps crops germinate, brings about water, and provides ecological balance. Therefore, it is welcome by all means. However, the same rain can spell doom to your plumbing. Do you know how rain can negatively impact your plumbing system?

Heavy downpours can wreak havoc on the plumbing system at your Rhome, TX, home. Unfortunately, some homeowners don’t know this or realize it too late when they seek a plumbing service for damaged components or fixtures. This costs the homeowners a fortune in repairs, replacements, and restorations. It also might potentially result in other health-related problems.

Fortunately, there is a lot that you could do to avert this and protect your plumbing system from the adverse effects of heavy downpours, both at a personal or homeowner and at a municipal level. This article will educate you on the risks of heavy rainfall on your plumbing system and what you could do to avert them. In the end, you’ll be able to know the measures you could take, including calling a plumbing service provider to protect your plumbing.

Heavy rainfall can affect your plumbing system in many ways, and neither is easy to restore. Therefore, knowing the effects of heavy rain beforehand will place you in a better position to avert them. And as the famous saying goes, prevention is preferable to cure. Hence, enlist a plumbing service provider to inspect your plumbing to determine the measures they need to put in place and avert the dangers of heavy downpours. Because of the heavy rains, there might be intense damage, such as choking your plumbing system, causing backups, and increasing the water pressure in the pipes. Below are ways through which heavy rainfall might affect the plumbing at your home.

Raising Pressure in Your Home’s Plumbing System

Many homeowners highly rely on the plumbing systems at their homes for various domestic activities. The component brings clean water from the municipal mains into your home. The plumbing system also carries waste via your home’s drains into your septic or municipal sewer system. Hence, routing plumbing service is a thing of necessity. The clean water which comes through the water lines is used for cleaning, cooking, drinking, bathing, and other activities such as watering the pool and irrigating your yard.

When there is a heavy downpour, excessive rainwater is pushed into the pipes of your home’s plumbing system. In turn, this places extensive pressure on the lines, making them become clogged or even burst. If your Rhome, TX, home doesn’t have a proper drainage system, the rainwater makes its way into these pipes, making them more susceptible to clogging.

The drains carry all waste, food, soap, grease, dust, dirt, and debris. A dense, muddy combination results when the rainwater mixes with these wastes. This increases the pressure on sludge and mud. The said sludge or dirt increases the strain on your pipes, causing severe or heavy damage to the plumbing. If a professional plumbing service company doesn’t immediately clean the pipes, the sludge might thicken and congeal within the drains and other plumbing pipes, resulting in irreparable damage.

Might Cause Shifts in the Underground Pipes

The other damage that rainwater might occasion is ground shifts. It is among the leading causes of ground movements. Unfortunately, one of the leading causes of damage in pipes, such as cracks and bursting, is ground shifts. The intactness of the soil is affected by the soil might be impacted by the rainwater, making the pipes start shifting their position. This will, without a doubt, result in serious consequences such as pipe bursting and cracking. When this happens, the water will begin leaking out, resulting in high water utility bills.

With the shift in the plumbing pipes, the pressure caused by the excessive rainwater might eventually make the pipes break or crack entirely. If you don’t have a plumbing service provider fix this at the earliest and do not have a proper drainage system, various plumbing issues might ensue. This might include massive damages and expensive repairs. For this reason, you must have regular plumbing maintenance by a reliable plumbing service provider in Rhome, TX, to inspect the plumbing and reinforce them to protect them from shifting.

It can be difficult for homeowners to notice or even understand when their pipes have shifted. Remember, most pipes, such as the water line, sewer, and drain lines, are underground. Hence, even knowing they are leaking is a problem. Fortunately, some signs might indicate such issues. They include high water utility bills, cracks in your pipes, and dirty or slurry water coming from the pipes. Call a plumbing service provider immediately if you notice either of these signs after a heavy downpour.

Heavy Rains Might Cause Water Backups in Your Pipes

Imagine waking up to a flooded home after a night of high rainfall. Besides being frustrating, this cannot be very pleasant. Your beautiful carpet or tiles are damaged by black water. Imagine that you do not find it after inspecting where the water might have entered your Rhome, TX, home. Then it is most likely that the water might have entered via the drains. Hence, you might want a plumbing service provider to inspect the drains.

As you might have already imagined, the heavy downpour going through your plumbing pipes inevitably will trap leaves, dirt, rocks, and other forms of debris. This leads to various plumbing issues, such as a significant blockage. Additionally, water might start backing up into your living space through the drains. The increased pressure in the pipes caused by the rainwater also causes this.

If this plumbing issue continues arising, the water might eventually seep into the basement or crawlspace of your home. Cleaning the carpet or tiles might prove a significant activity that might need the help or attention of a professional. You’ll have to replace the damaged pipes, restore the damaged parts, or even perform various replacements, meaning more extra costs.

You might also want to keep an eye out for those trees close to your home’s pipes. The tree roots are notorious for breaking and cracking the pipes by penetrating and damaging them in search of nutrients and moisture. When the rainwater is trapped in the pipes, the roots dry and break into them in an attempt to get those nutrients, tree root intrusion is another reason the water might back up into your home.

Bottomline, while rainwater will cause water backups into your home, there are many other issues, including tree root intrusion and drain clogs that might also cause it. Hence, have a plumbing service provider inspect the system and perform the necessary repairs. If the trees are the cause for the backup, they might advise that you hire a professional to uproot them. The professional might also recommend you install root barriers if uprooting isn’t an option. Additionally, regular plumbing service is critical in catching those clogs before they become problematic.

Septic System Issues

The other plumbing system that might be adversely affected by heavy downpours is the septic system. The septic system is critical in digesting the waste from your home. When it rains, the septic tank might quickly overfill, requiring periodic emptying and pumping by a plumbing service provider in Rhome, TX. Most of the rain-related problems involve the drain field of your septic system. This is the only component that is exposed to the elements. The main septic system issues related to heavy downpours are ground flooding and clogged drain fields.

Ground Flooding

Has your locality experienced a significant downpour? Has it been raining for some time? The ground around the drain field might flood. The drain field purifies the water from the septic system so it may be dispersed to the surrounding soil. The septic tank is designed to accommodate a specific volume of wastewater. But, if the rainwater combines with the wastewater, the tank has more water than it can handle. Hence, it becomes impossible for the water to start flowing out of the septic system. Because the water doesn’t have anywhere to go, it will come out from your septic tank and flood your yard. At worst, it might back into your home’s toilet and drain. Hence, have a plumbing service provider inspect the drain field and pump the septic tank before the rainy season and immediately after it rains.

Clogged Drainfield

A heavy downpour also poses another problem to the drain field of your septic system. As the rainwater flows down, it might collect within the drain field. If this component is saturated, it will not be able to absorb the wastewater properly. This means that the wastewater won’t have a place to go. Hence, your septic tank will potentially overflow. This overflow might creep into the other parts of your Rhome, TX, home’s plumbing system, resulting in gurgling pipes, overflowing drains, and pungent odors. If the drain field is clogged, it also could allow untreated sewer wastes to flow into the groundwater. This water might seep into nearby streams, risking severe environmental contamination. Hence, if you notice that the drain field is clogged, call a plumbing service provider to have it cleaned.

Overworking the Sump Pump

As mentioned above, the ground saturates typically during the rainy season. How saturated the ground is determined by what will happen to the excessive water and where it will go based on the type of soil that surrounds your residential property. If the soil is porous and dry, the water quickly dries and drains away. But suppose the ground isn’t highly permeable or is already saturated and wet from the ongoing rains. In that case, the rainwater will accumulate around your home’s foundation, a rather dangerous occurrence. This is as a plumbing emergency as it can be and requires the immediate attention of a plumbing service provider.

Is your home built on sloping ground or an incline? Gravity pulls the excessive rainwater downslope. However, if your home is built in any flat area, the water doesn’t have a place to go. This water will build up over time, flooding your home. Further, the increased pressure might force the water into the basement or crawlspace. The water might collect and flood your living space if you haven’t installed a sump pump.

If you had a plumbing service technician install a sump pump, it would pull the water into your pump’s pit, removing it. Unfortunately, if the downpour is heavy, the sump pump will work harder to remove the rainwater, making it more prone to damage. It also will be using more energy. To ensure the pump isn’t overworked, take it to a plumbing service provider before purchasing a unit. They will help you select the right-sized unit for your home. Additionally, have a professional plumbing service provider inspect the sump pump before the rainy season.

Heavy Downpour and Your Plumbing

You must pay attention to the condition of your plumbing, drainage, and sewer system to ensure they are all optimally functioning. Do you live in an area that experiences high rainfall? Then have a plumbing service provider regularly inspect and maintain the plumbing system. Watch out for the signs of problems in your drainage system, sewer, and water lines, such as the pooling of water in your yard, dirty water, foul odors from the drains, and water backups in the toilets and drains.

Should you notice either of the signs above, immediately reach out to a plumber near you in Rhome, TX, for a further inspection. As you can see from above, the same rain that is a blessing can be a bane to the existence of your plumbing system. Hence, you must leave nothing to chance when protecting it. Do you need to rainproof your plumbing system? Don’t hesitate to call our plumbers at Benjamin Franklin Plumbing of Fort Worth.

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