Your daily life is hectic. Between picking up your kids from school, getting work done, making dinner, and calling your parents, there’s little time left over to focus on anything else.
Because of this, every homeowner is guilty of letting some home maintenance slip. The grass can get mowed next weekend.
The fence can get fixed next month. It’ll get done eventually.
While this is true for many home upkeep and repair projects, there are some problems that require your immediate attention—and action.
In fact, if you procrastinate on these urgent home repairs, you could be flirting with disaster.
In this article, we’ll review several types of home repairs that are just too risky to put off into the future.
Sewer Line Clogs
No matter their cause, sewer line clogs can spell disaster for your home. Your sewer line is responsible for carrying away all the wastewater from your sinks, shower, toilets, and washing machine.
If it clogs, that water has nowhere to go—except back up your drains. This event called a “sewer backup,” can result in thousands, or even tens of thousands, of dollars in property damage.
It’s also, for lack of a better term, incredibly gross.
The telltale sign of a sewer line clog is when your home’s drains all start backing up at once. If you notice this happening, immediately shut off the water and call in a plumber.
If you wait to take action, any additional water will just encounter the clog and cause a backup.
Concerned about the potential for a sewer line clog? Many plumbers offer sewer line camera inspections, where they’ll send an optical feed down your drains to look inside the sewer line and identify any blockages that might be in the process of forming.
Talk to a local plumber about this service: if you live in central California, you’ll need to search for a certified and experienced Fresno plumber to help you out.
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Roofing Problems
If you’re like most homeowners, you probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about your home’s roof. Most of the time, it’s just there.
However, when this shield protecting your home fails, the results can be disastrous. A single weak point can lead to a roof leak, which in turn means potentially dealing with structural repairs, the cleanup of water damage, and mold remediation.
If you have water leaking into your home, you need to assume the worst and take fast decisive action. Get a roofer out for an inspection right away.
Beyond dealing with leaks, you should also be proactive and seek to stop roofing problems ahead of time, if you can. Start by thinking about—and looking at—your roof more often.
At least several times a year, get up onto a ladder, and look at your roof. If you’re noticing missing or torn shingles, exposed underlayment, or other signs of trouble, call your local roofer.
In the fall, make sure you’re cleaning out your gutters and downspouts regularly to prevent water from pooling on the roof.
Pipe Leaks
Pipe leaks are a continuation of a theme in this article: water damage, in any form, is very bad for your home.
While some pipe leaks occur due to the deterioration of the pipe after decades of use, most of them are caused by something else entirely: ice.
If you live in a part of the country with below-freezing winter nights, your home could be at risk of having its pipes freeze, and then burst, should your heater suddenly stop working.
If you’ve ever left a can of soda in the freezer overnight, you should have some idea of what you’re dealing with. As they freeze, liquids expand.
When this happens in that can of soda, or your pipes, it puts immense pressure on the outside structure. In many cases, this pressure is too much to handle, and the pipe “bursts” open, sending water and ice flooding into your home.
You then have to deal with both the water damage and repairing the broken pipe.
Should your pipes freeze this winter, skip the do-it-yourself life hacks and internet tricks. Just call a plumber.
By trying to thaw out your own pipes, you could accidentally cause them to burst, leading to a whole lot of headache for you and your plumber to sort out.
When in doubt, call a professional
When faced with an urgent home problem, procrastination and inaction are your enemies.
Whether you’re dealing with one of the issues outlined above or something else equally dangerous—such as electrical or structural problems—you need to be quick, decisive and know who to call for help.
Trust us: you don’t want to be scrambling last minute to find a local plumber or electrician! Start talking to companies right now and vet out 2-3 of them you can trust in your home.
Then, when you need help, you know exactly who to call, without any delays or holdup. When you’re dealing with a sewer line clog, roof leak, or frozen pipe, every minute counts.
