Any experienced home or property owner can tell you that plumbing emergencies do happen, and they never happen at a convenient time. After all, it’s never a good time to have to shut off your water supply to repair leaks or to have flooding occur that can damage your home or building. When emergencies do happen, you can count on a professional plumbing repair service to get your water flowing again.
What Are the Most Common Plumbing Repairs?
An experienced plumber would say that the most common plumbing repair in Jacksonville, FL, involves fixing leaks. When a homeowner notices a leak, the thought of damaged carpets and interior finishes leaps to mind, and the best remedy is to call a professional plumber. The next most common plumbing problem, although it is not necessarily considered a repair, is clearing a stopped drain. Drain stoppages can cause flooding in basements, bathrooms, and kitchens, which can be particularly nasty to clean up, and they can cause much more damage than a simple leak.
What Causes Plumbing Leaks?
Leaks are generally caused by failed joints between pipes and pipe fittings, or by cracked or broken pipes. As water temperature in your pipes fluctuates from hot to cold, so does the temperature of the pipe, which causes it to expand with heat or freezing water and contract with cold temperatures. When pipes expand and contract, they push and pull on fitting joints, causing them to loosen and leak. Any Jacksonville plumbing repair technician will be able to identify the cause of the leak and recommend an appropriate plumbing repair.
Prevention and Mitigation
Leaks can be prevented by making sure that your pipes are insulated to keep hot water from cooling down, which in turn causes the pipe to contract. Updating old plumbing with new PEX pipe can reduce the number of fittings required and thus reduce the likelihood for leaks to occur. When leaks do occur, you can mitigate damages by immediately shutting off the water supply and using towels to absorb water from floors and carpets.
