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Tips From Your Plumber: Leak Detection

Tips From Your Plumber: Leak Detection

Finding a Leak Isn’t Easy Without a Plumber

If you’re not a trained plumber, effective water leak detection is almost impossible. The reason for this is that finding the water congregating from the leak often isn’t even close to where the actual leak is. Plumbers have to use advanced equipment and knowledge to find leaks that occur behind walls. This effectively can prevent the growth of black mold, which can ruin the structural integrity of your home. Do you want to find leaks in your own home? Here are some basics that you can check out before you call a plumber to come fix it.

1. Shut the Water Off

One of the easiest ways that you can find out whether or not a leak actually exists is to shut the water off in your home. You can then go to the water meter in your home, and see if water is still being used. If it’s not completely dead, you definitely have a leak somewhere in your home, and it’s time to find a plumber to help you get to work fixing it. Without knowing the general area where it is, you’re going to need professional help, as they’re going to have the specific equipment that’s going to make the detection process easy.

2. Find the Stain

While it’s not going to be exactly where the leak is, in the absence of professional plumbing equipment, one of the easiest ways that you can detect a leak is to see if there are water stains around your home. These water stains mean that water is congregating on the other side of the wall, and that could be a place where black mold can congregate, eventually hurting the overall structural integrity of your home. This is one of the times that it’s most important that you have a professional plumber come by, as a stain is evidence that serious damage may already be taking place. You need to get leaks that are causing stains fixed as soon as possible if you want to protect the structural integrity of your home.

3. Outside Water Congregation

Once you have some dry weather, go outside and see if there are any places that have puddles or damp ground. Outdoor leaks are often neglected, because people don’t have to be concerned that they’re ruining the structural integrity of their home, but the truth of the matter is that they can end up increasing your water bill by hundreds of dollars if they’re especially bad. That means you need to make sure that all outdoor leaks are taken care of if you want to keep that water bill as low as possible.

Get a Plumber to Help With Your Leaks

Leak detection and fixing is incredibly difficult, and often takes a plumber an advanced education and advanced equipment to find. The important part is to just know when you have a leak, which you can do by shutting the power off, looking for stains, and looking for water congregation outside. From there, you can get an experienced plumber that you trust to detect and fix the leak.