Threats to Your Home’s Plumbing Pipes

Excerpt: Do you know the risks that affect your home’s plumbing pipes? Hard water, clogs, tree roots, and more can damage your plumbing and lead to the need for extensive repairs. Check out this article to learn how to identify these risks—and how to protect your plumbing from damage.

Your home’s plumbing is a network of drains, pipes, and connections that work hard every day to accommodate your water usage. However, there are many factors that threaten the integrity of your plumbing pipes, risking clogs, cracks, and leaks that waste water and damage your property. Knowing how to identify and negate these risk factors will prevent many common plumbing issues and keep your home’s plumbing in top condition.

Hard Water

Hard water contains high concentrations of dissolved minerals such as calcium and magnesium. When hard water travels through your home’s plumbing, it deposits these minerals in your pipes and on your fixtures over time. As mineral deposits build up inside your pipes, the usable width of the pipe becomes narrower until the pipe can be completely blocked. The pressure of additional water trying to flow through your pipes can cause cracks, while blockages prevent any water from getting through to your faucet at all. Pipes that have been damaged by hard water buildup generally need to be replaced; talk to your plumber to discuss your options, as well as the possibility of installing a water softener to address your hard water at the source.

Chemical Drain Cleaners

When you experience a tough clog or a slow drain, do you reach for a bottle of chemical drain cleaner? While chemical drain cleaners are easy to find and inexpensive, they also pose a threat to your home’s plumbing. These caustic chemicals degrade the insides of your pipes even as they work to remove clogs. Chemical drain cleaners frequently produce heat to loosen clogs, which warps the shape of your pipes and can cause leaks or other damage when drain cleaners are used again and again. Rather than using chemical drain cleaners to clear clogs, try plunging a clogged drain, sink, or toilet. Alternatively, natural drain cleaners can be bought at your local home improvement store or made from ingredients in your own kitchen to break down clogs without posing a threat to your home’s plumbing.

Plant Roots

Your sewer line transports wastewater from your home to the city’s sewer main. These pipes are located underground and can be damaged by questing tree and shrubbery roots. Plants spread their roots in search of water and may break into pipes in search of essential nutrients. Broken sewer pipes can cause flooding in your yard, while root systems that have spread into the pipe may block it and cause and sewage backups in your home. Trees and shrubs should be located at least ten feet from any sewer pipe. If you want to add landscaping to your yard, your plumber can suggest choices that are safer to place near sewer lines due to shallow or short-reaching root systems.

Knowing the possible threats to your home’s plumbing will help you prevent some of the most common plumbing issues you’re likely to encounter. If you need the help of a professional plumber in Santa Rosa, click over to our website to view a full list of our services and place an online service request. You can find more information, tips, and do-it-yourself fixes to maintain your plumbing on the Mrs. Rooter blog.