Everything Homeowners Need To Know About Plumbing Emergencies And The Emergency Plumber | San Antonio, TX
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Dealing with a plumbing problem in your residence can be quite hectic. The situation may even worsen when you’re required to make prompt decisions that could affect the structural integrity of your San Antonio, TX, home, and finances.
Unfortunately, this is exactly the kind of pressure you may face when dealing with a plumbing emergency. Luckily, having preliminary knowledge of what constitutes a plumbing emergency can go a long way in alleviating the stress.
When faced with a plumbing issue, you should understand situations that warrant contacting an emergency plumber in San Antonio, TX, and those that can wait until your preferred contractor can fit you into their schedule.
Therefore, below’s a comprehensive account of everything you need to know about plumbing emergencies and emergency plumbing service providers.
What Qualifies as a Plumbing Emergency?
As predetermined, emergencies may require you to make extra financial commitments that you may not have planned for. Therefore, you should understand how to evaluate plumbing problems that may require immediate solutions to avoid unnecessary expenditure.
In that regard, some home service experts believe that you should contact your local emergency plumber if your home experiences a plumbing failure that poses a significant risk of interior flooding.
Similarly, they also claim that homeowners should consider seeking professional assistance from a plumber if they’re experiencing a plumbing system or appliance failure that’s causing continuous secondary damage to the house.
Professional emergency plumbing service providers and beyond recommend scheduling service if there’s a plumbing problem in your residence that poses immediate health and safety risks for you and your loved ones.
Additionally, you should consider requesting emergency solutions if the plumbing issues you’re experiencing have negatively affected your indoor water supply or access to toilet facilities.
On the same note, some professionals have different parameters to describe situations that don’t warrant calling your local plumber.
Firstly, you may not need to schedule an emergency plumbing service if the plumbing failure you’ve encountered doesn’t lead to indoor flooding.
It’s also in your best interests to avoid seeking immediate solutions if the issues you’re dealing with don’t necessarily result in ongoing secondary property damage.
Problems that don’t impact your access to water and toilet amenities should also be left to routine plumbing service providers near San Antonio, TX.
What to Do Following a Plumbing Emergency in Your Residence
There’s no disputing the amount of stress you may be under following a plumbing emergency in your home. However, here’s a look at some of the dos and don’ts when dealing with such situations.
Do Keep Calm
This may be easier said than done, especially when faced with threatening plumbing issues, sending most homeowners into panic mode.
During a plumbing emergency, you should try your best to remain calm since panicking will only cloud your judgment.
Controlling your emotions under such circumstances can help you find effective ways to resolve the situation and ensure the safety of the inhabitants of your residence.
Don’t Forget to Switch Off the Water Supply
Once you’ve relaxed and collected your thoughts, you should focus on finding the water shut-off valve and cutting off the supply of water to your indoors.
This applies to plumbing emergencies that bear the potential to wreak havoc on your home’s structural integrity. In some cases, you may be required to perform a local shut-off, probably at the sink’s base or behind the toilet.
Situations that require the attention of an emergency plumber are the reason why you’re advised to identify the location of the water mains before settling in a new home. This knowledge can help prevent extensive structural water damage during plumbing emergencies.
Don’t Forget to Contact an Emergency Plumber
As you’re busy trying to mitigate the damage on your property after a plumbing emergency, you may forget to contact your plumber or take a long while before you’ve decided to make the call. However, getting your emergency plumbing contractor immediately can greatly help reduce the level of water damage.
Your technician can provide informed recommendations if the situation at hand is too hazardous and may advise immediate evacuation as needed.
They may propose such drastic measures if the plumbing emergency is due to potentially life-threatening circumstances, including natural gas leaks.
Do Have a Personal Emergency Plumbing Toolkit at Home
During an emergency that’s not life-threatening, your emergency plumber may provide some tips to help you control leaks and mitigate the property damage before they’ve arrived. That said, you should probably consider having a comprehensive emergency plumbing toolkit at home.
Essentially, your toolkit should comprise separate plungers for your sinks and toilet. It should also feature gloves to protect you as you work on messy drains and toilets. Besides that, you should have access to a bucket, which you can place under leaking taps and sinks to prevent overflows.
Additional items your toolkit should have to include a flashlight to help with the inspection of the plumbing system and a pair of extra batteries in case it goes off while in use. You should also have tape, which you can use to seal and prevent leaks temporarily before your plumber arrives on location.
It would also be a great idea to have a few wrenches and screwdrivers to help you loosen or tighten pipe junctions or valves with guidance from your emergency plumbing service provider.
Although the plumbing kit can come in handy, especially when you’re faced with minor plumbing problems, it’s always in your best interests to leave the assessment and servicing of your home’s plumbing system to trained and licensed professionals.
Protect Your Valuables From Water Damage
Besides executing the tips your emergency plumber may provide to help mitigate the situation, you should also try to protect your household and personal belongings from potential water damage.
Your technician may recommend removing items located within the affected area or covering the spot with plastic. These prompt initiatives can not only protect your residence from significant structural damage but also your family from the mold hazard that can result from extensive water infiltration.
Common Plumbing Emergencies
If your home is experiencing any of the issues detailed below, it’s a sign that you need to contact an emergency plumber in San Antonio, TX.
Clogged Sinks
You may have a clogged sink within your residence if the water level suddenly rises to an unexpected level after you’ve cranked open a faucet.
Minor clogs may reduce the rate of water going down the sink drain, while a major clog could stop the drainage completely. If your home has a clogged sink, you should consider speaking with an emergency plumber near you. Sink blockages can negatively impact your hygiene and daily activities such as cooking and cleaning.
Clogged Toilets
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, toilets stand out as the main source of water use inside the average American home.
Specifically, they account for approximately 30 percent of the total indoor water consumption. This explains why they’re more susceptible to issues related to conventional wear and tear. Toilet clogs make up the bulk of these problems.
Your home’s toilet may clog due to various circumstances. It may develop a blockage if you constantly flush non-flushable items down the toilet, including anything that isn’t human waste, water, or toilet paper. It may also happen if you’ve flushed a thing that’s larger than what the toilet’s designed to accommodate.
The signs of a clogged toilet include overflowing and an elevated water level in the toilet bowl that won’t recede. While you may resolve a minor toilet clog with the help of a plunger, you should let a licensed emergency plumber help you when faced with a deep or major clog.
Water Heater Leaks
As time passes, your home’s water heating system may become more vulnerable to leaks. You can tell when the system has leaks. Plumbing experts advise homeowners to look out for a puddle of water under the unit, water dripping from the surrounding pipes, or dripping noises originating from the heater.
Water heater leaks can drive up your water utility bills, which is why you should immediately request solutions from your nearest emergency plumber.
Based on the underlying circumstances causing the leaks, your contractor may recommend an emergency repair or replacement service.
For instance, if the leaks result from leaky valves, the technician can repair the valve to resolve the issue. However, they may recommend a replacement service if the system has lasted more than 10 years or has extensive rust buildup.
Sewer System Backups
If you’re met with a nasty odor anytime you turn on a faucet; it may be indicative of an underlying plumbing emergency. Sewage odors may happen as a result of issues with your home’s septic system or sump pump.
When your home experiences a sewage backup, it’s only a matter of time before the wastewater seeps into the walls and foundation of your residence, leading to extensive property damage.
Besides making your indoor air unpleasant, sewer system backups can also render your bathrooms, toilets, and sinks unusable. In such scenarios, you should immediately contact your emergency plumber.
You should also fight the temptation to handle the mess yourself since sewage backups are quite nasty and can pose serious health hazards if not handled by a well-equipped and trained specialist.
Clogged Garbage Disposal Systems
Residential garbage disposal systems are units designed to allow you to dump food waste down the kitchen sink drain. Although not all homes feature a garbage disposal unit, households without one face a greater risk of frequent clogs in the kitchen sink.
Despite their immense role in promoting convenient garbage disposal, these systems may occasionally clog due to several circumstances.
Your home’s garbage disposal may develop clogs due to constantly shoving non-organic waste down the unit, operating the disposal without water, or using it to grind fibrous waste materials such as potato peelings and corn husks.
Therefore, if your unit won’t turn on, isn’t grinding food, or produces awkward noises when it’s on, you should consider asking your emergency plumber to come and inspect it for potential damage.
Leaky or Burst Pipes
Many cases of indoor flooding arise from leaky or burst pipes. Even though they may fail to yield catastrophic consequences sometimes, you’ll still need to contact an emergency plumber to fix the issue.
However, just as previously mentioned, you should immediately close the main water supply during such emergencies to prevent additional problems. It would help to avoid water from seeping into the drywall and flooring of your home. That said, don’t hesitate to ask your emergency plumber to visit your property to help locate and fix the leaky or burst pipes.
A premier contractor may use state-of-the-art video inspection cameras to check the entire plumbing system for additional problems without digging up your lawn.
Considerations You Should Make Before Hiring an Emergency Plumber
Although the San Antonio, TX, area is awash with plumbing professionals who all claim to be the best in the business, you should strive to work with contractors that offer quality and competitively priced solutions.
During plumbing emergencies, time is of the essence, making finding a reliable emergency plumber a daunting task. Therefore, you should first ensure that the contractor you choose is licensed to operate as a plumber within your state or region to hasten the search.
While a business license allows individuals to run an enterprise, a plumbing license shows that the company’s personnel is trained and certified to handle plumbing projects.
Besides that, your emergency plumber should also show proof of insurance to ensure that you’re exempted from any liability in case property damage or injuries occur during the execution of a service.
Additionally, a professional emergency plumber should provide cost-effective solutions and relay the estimated cost of services beforehand. They should offer a more accurate quote after inspecting your property.
How bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of San Antonio Can Help
bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of San Antonio is staffed with certified, trained, and experienced emergency plumbers with extensive experience in servicing plumbing systems in commercial and residential properties around San Antonio, TX.
We strive to guarantee our customers on-time availability along with reliable and exceptional craftsmanship.
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