Water damage is something many homeowners are aware of but never fully prepare to deal with. Everyone always thinks “that’ll never happen to my home,” but it can happen to anyone. Something was simple as a drop falling every few minutes can cause serious damage to any home.
Preventing water damage is what will prevent you from needing water restoration in the future to save time and money. To understand how to best prevent water damage, we first need to understand why preparation is so important in the first place.
Why Preparation is the Key to Success
When you go camping, you don’t just get up and go without preparing a list of essential supplies and gear to keep you safe. If you want to keep water from getting in and damaging your home, then you need to be prepared to stop any water from even having the chance to ruin your home.
Preparation when water is potentially going to damage your home will keep you ready to pounce at the first sign of trouble to get the best end results. When a flood is likely, knowing what you need to do to keep the water out and away from your home will benefit you greatly in the long run. Let’s look at just a few of the best ways that you can take action now to prevent water damage in your home in the future.
Ways to Prevent Water Damage
Get Your Roof Looked At
Despite water damage occurring primarily inside the home, you have to consider how the water gets into your home in the first place. Sure, water can get in through doors and windows, but think of how much water your roof has to try and keep out of your home. Being your first line of defense from water leaking into your home, your roof has a lot of work on its hands.
Having your roof tiles looked at to make sure they are doing their job could be a critical step in ensuring water is kept out. All it takes is one broken tile to open the literal floodgates and have your roof start letting in water. Making sure you get regular tile replacements will be a great way to prevent roof water leakage.
Inspect your pipes
Something homeowners seem to think last forever is the vast network of pipes inside their home. Just like the human body has blood vessels that transport blood to our vital organs, every home has a wide network of water pipes that get water where it needs to go. If one of these pipes gets to be too old and fails, you are looking at a serious problem.
Not every pipe is easily accessible, so start by checking the pipes that you can see. If all your home’s pipes were installed at the same time, you can probably assume the entire house piping system looks like the ones that you can get a good look at. Make sure they are free from rust and substantial wear to ensure that you don’t need to have them repaired or replaced to prevent water damage.
Recognize Toilet Issues
Toilets can seem to be temperamental parts of the house as one wrong flush and they can soak an entire bathroom floor. If you take the time to understand your toilets and their basic ways of working, you have the power to better use and control their water output. This small amount of knowledge can be the difference between a quick little fix and getting out an entire bucket to clean up the water mess.
The piping and internal mechanisms of a toilet need to be maintained and inspected to make sure they are functioning properly. From tightening a nut at the back of the unit to replacing an internal plunger, the small amount of toilet maintenance you do will go a long way in the future. Toilets are designed to last for a long time when you take the time to make sure they are all in working order.
Have your Home Inspected
Even with all these tips, there is only so much that one person can do to make sure their home is properly preventing water damage. This is why calling in a team who understands water and what water removal can look like if you don’t catch warnings early on.
Home inspectors who are looking for weaknesses should be looking at multiple entrance points of your home to see if water can get in through small cracks. Many serious flooding incidents occur because of things like worn out seals or improperly installed basement windows that can be fixed in no time at all. If you want to prevent water damage, you need to make sure the things that cause it have been seen by a professional in the field.
Have the Right People On Hand
The last thing to do when trying to prevent water damage is to have the right people on hand to deal with water if something does go wrong. Even if you think your home is immune to water damage, something can always go wrong. Teams that can help with water clean up will be your best friends if something does happen to go astray.
Where you have a mop and bucket, they have advanced tools that help ensure every last drop of water is removed from the damaged area. This not only saves you time and gets rid of all the water, but it prevents future issues like mold and mildew from having the chance to form.
Key Takeaways
Have the VRS number on hand to help you if water ever gets into your home!
It may be impossible to prevent all water incidents, but there is so much you can do right now to help your chances. From checking out your water pipes to simply having the right number in your contacts. You can have a substantial impact on how your home reacts and prevents future water damage.
