When you think about the places where water is used most throughout your home, your bathrooms likely come to mind first. With multiple different fixtures such as your shower, sink, and toilet, there’s a higher likelihood of developing a leak in your bathroom than in other areas of your house. We’re going to give you an in-depth guide on how to prevent leaks from happening in the first place and prevent a need for toilet repair or other services.
The Most Common Bathroom Plumbing Leaks
Bathroom plumbing leaks tend to develop in common areas, which you should be aware of. One of the most common is going to be underneath your sink. If you have a vanity sink, this type of leak may be more difficult to notice. Another common place to develop a leak is around the base of your toilet or near its water supply line. Additionally, the area of flooring right outside your tub can be highly susceptible to water leakage due to inefficient shower design.
Invest in Annual Plumbing Inspection Services
One of the best things that you can do to help protect the integrity of your plumbing system and prevent small problems from developing into larger leaks is to get a plumbing inspection. This is where one of our licensed plumbers comes out and assesses all the different components of your plumbing system to detect any potential problems or leaks that you may have. Opting to get this service once a year can give you the best chance of preventing many water leakage issues from happening.
Repair Broken Tiles
Tile is a very popular material to use in showers due to its high durability and resistance to water. However, for tile to create a watertight seal, it needs to have proper grout and caulking. If you notice that any of your tiles have cracks in them or there’s grout missing in between them, it’s important to repair the issue promptly.
You never want to continue to use your shower when you know that it has defects in its overall integrity, as doing so will lead to water damage behind the tile. This type of damage is very hard to dry out and can penetrate deeper layers of your building materials. This will deteriorate their integrity and likely lead to toxic mold and mildew growth.
Recaulk Regularly
Caulking is specifically designed to help prevent water from penetrating into cracks and other small areas around your plumbing fixtures. In general, most caulking will need to be scraped off and replaced every five years for optimal performance. If you notice that your existing caulking is cracking, peeling, or even missing, it’s time to have one of our plumbing professionals recaulk your fixture. Additionally, any signs of mold or mildew growth may require the caulking to be completely removed and redone.
Upgrade Outdated Fixtures
Plumbing fixtures aren’t designed to last forever. Items like your sink faucet and shower head have a limited lifespan depending on their material construct. Some other factors that can affect their lifespan include if you have hard water, how much you use the fixture, and how much maintenance it regularly receives. If you have any outdated plumbing fixtures, it’s best to consider upgrading before they completely fail on you and develop a leak. You may even find that upgrading your plumbing fixtures will offer you more water efficiency than your old, outdated fixtures did.
Check for Issues Regularly
When it comes to dealing with water leaks, the sooner that you can catch them, the less damage they’re going to be able to do to your home. It can be highly beneficial to look underneath your sinks and around your toilets on a regular basis to check for any potential issues. You may notice wet spots underneath your sink or even yellow water rings on the floor near your toilet. If there’s any potential sign that there’s a water leak from a pipe, fixture, or other part of your bathroom, you’ll need to contact one of our plumbing professionals to get the problem handled swiftly.
Replace Any Faulty Water Supply Lines or Fixtures
While you’re doing your plumbing inspection, it’s important that you pay attention to any obvious signs of a fault with your fixtures or water supply lines. Any visible signs of corrosion can indicate that the fixture or water line is going to fail in the near future. It’s necessary to have these fixtures and water lines replaced promptly to prevent any water leakage from happening. If you notice that any of the fittings on your water line seem to be loose, be sure to tighten them.
Rising Water Bills
Unfortunately, not all plumbing leaks will be visible to your eye. A lot of piping runs throughout the walls of your home and hidden areas that you simply can’t see. It may be months before you realize that there are water stains on your walls or ceilings or that they feel wet to the touch. It’s important to pay regular attention to your water bill to notice any sort of spikes in your usage.
If you have a spike that’s unexplained, it’s likely a sign that you have a hidden leak somewhere in your house. It’s best to call in one of our leak detection specialists to locate the source of the leak and repair it before more damage happens to your property.
Invest in Smart Sensors
While implementing the tips that we went over above can drastically reduce your risk of experiencing a plumbing leak in your bathroom, it can’t completely eliminate it. This is where investing in a smart plumbing system with leak detection sensors can come into play. This type of system has small handheld sensors that get placed underneath your sinks and near your toilets. They’ll constantly detect any water in the area and send an alert to your smartphone in the event that there’s water detected.
If you opt to integrate smart valves into your plumbing system alongside the leak detection sensors, your system can automatically shut off the appropriate valve for the fixture that’s leaking to prevent massive water damage from happening. This can be especially helpful if your home develops a leak when you’re not there.
A Note on Running Your Exhaust Fan
Any well-designed bathroom will have an exhaust fan to help remove excess condensation from your bathroom. While condensation won’t directly lead to a water leak, it can create a slew of other problems for your house. Two of the most common are toxic mold and mildew growth. Excess condensation can also allow water to be absorbed into your wall, ceiling, and flooring material. This can lead to premature deterioration of these materials. It’s important to always remember to run your bathroom exhaust fan whenever you’re taking a shower to help divert that excess steam outside.
Reliable Plumbing Repair Service
General Air Conditioning & Plumbing offers reliable plumbing repair service for the Coachella Valley, CA community. We can also help with all your plumbing, heating, air conditioning, electrical, and drain service needs. Call our friendly office staff today to book your next service consultation.
