Water leaks can come from a variety of sources. You can have clogged drains, pipes, or sewer lines. You may have a problem with your roof, siding, or even your home’s foundation.
There can also be problems with rusted or cracked plumbing, broken seals around pipe joints, or even tree roots that can impact your plumbing.
Once you have water leakage, what happens? Unfortunately there can be a lot of bad consequences to having a leak, both inside and outside your home. Here’s what you need to know.
A Leak Can Be a Drip or a Flood
Pipe leaks come in a variety of forms. Unfortunately, they’re all dangerous. The ones you notice first are the bigger leaks – perhaps a cracked pipe or a significant problem with the roof. Because they bring in a lot of water, they cause obvious and major damage.
Cleaning these up is frustrating, but believe it or not it can be much worse when you’re facing a drip. The reason is that an unseen, undetected leak can cause problems for weeks, months, or even years. As a result, you can have all the hazards of a water leak building up for a long time, affecting your health and the safety of your home.
Problems With Mould
The biggest consequence of water leakage is mould. There are a variety of types of fungus that can grow as well. Many people are allergic to mould and if they are around it for long periods of time, it can lead to significant health problems.
Asthma is a respiratory condition that makes it hard to breathe in normal situations, but when these patients are around mould they can become seriously ill.
Just because you can’t see anything externally on walls or pipes doesn’t mean that there isn’t a problem with mould or fungus. In fact, these growths can occur behind walls, under wallpaper, and in a variety of other hidden places.
Standing Water in the Yard
A leak that impacts the sewage or drainage system in your home can cause problems outside. If you have puddles or standing water in your yard, you could have a serious leak that needs to be addressed.
These puddles may have sewage, bacteria, bugs and pests, or any number of things living and growing in them. They are health risks to anyone who lives in and visits your home, as well as pets and animals in the neighborhood.
It’s also a serious danger to your neighbors. The bacteria can spread into their yards and the issue can impact their sewage systems and pipes as well.
You don’t want to have health issues in your family or your neighborhood. Take care of leaks!
Poor Water Quality
Leaks can impact the quality of the water throughout your home. Whether it’s in the bath, kitchen, or your drinking water, leaks allow all kinds of dirt, germs, and grime into your water. If you notice dirty water coming from a faucet or pooling around a water heater, be sure to get your pipes checked!
Bad water can cause a host of diseases and can also lead to mould problems if it’s allowed to pool untreated. Don’t let leaks make you sick – take care of your plumbing issues right away.
Warped and Stained Walls
Most walls have wood studs and drywall, both of which can be impacted by water leaks. The wood can become compromised, which leads to warps and even damage to the structure of your home.
If you see stains on your walls, you probably have leaks. If you want to prevent leaks and water problems behind your walls, you should contact a company that does waterproofing in Vaughan.
Compromised walls can mean long-term damage to the structure and even the foundation of your home. This impacts the home value and will need to be repaired before you can sell the home. It should also be fixed before the home has even more serious issues.
Odors and Gas Inside the Home
Your drains are designed to keep odors vented outside your home, but leaks and clogs can change that. If you end up with foul odors, they can trigger allergies, respiratory issues, and more.
You don’t want to end up sick, or have someone is our house sick, because of sewer gasses or odors in your home. Be sure that you keep your pipes in order so that you don’t have these issues.
Call a Plumber for Help With Leaks
If you think you have a leak, contact a plumber right away. You should also have a plumbing inspection each year to make sure your pipes are in great shape. When you take the preventative steps to avoid problems, and get issues fixed immediately, you can avoid the problems that come with pipe leaks.
