Plumbing leaks are one of those unfortunate things that are both very common and very damaging. A leak that isn’t caught in-time has the potential to inflict thousands of dollars’ worth of water damage, depending on where it is located. The best way to prevent leaks from becoming a big deal is to schedule preventive maintenance and inspection appointments for your system at least once a year. That’s not a guarantee that your system will never develop leaks, though. You still need to keep an eye out for signs that your plumbing system is having issues like this, so that you can have it repaired as quickly as possible. The following are some of the more common signs that you need to schedule plumbing repair services for leaks.
Unusually High Water Bills
There are obviously going to be some times when your utility bills spike for perfectly ordinary reasons. Driving your energy bill up by using your air conditioner day and night during the summer, for example. If your monthly water bills suddenly start to rise without any obvious reason, though, you should probably call a plumber to check out your system. Those kinds of odd jumps in water costs can be caused by one or more leaks diverting water out of your plumbing system. You may not know it, but the water is leaving the system and you’re paying for it.
Running Water Meter
One easy way to tell whether or not your plumbing system has a leak in it is to turn off all the plumbing appliances in your home and take a look at your water meter. If the meter isn’t running, then you either don’t have a leak or the leaks you have are so small that they don’t register. If the meter is still running, though, then you definitely should have a plumber take a look at the system as soon as possible. That tends to indicate that you have a leak somewhere in the system.
Visible Water Damage
Unfortunately, sometimes a leak is small enough that it can go for months without causing any noticeable symptoms. This gives it plenty of time to rot out the surrounding area, causing spreading water damage. If you ever notice any kind of water damage in your home, you should call a plumber to take care of it as soon as possible. That water damage might be the result of a leak in the pipes around that area, in which case it’s only going to get worse the longer you take to resolve it. Don’t let the leak cause any more damage to your home before you have it taken care of. Have a plumber resolve the issue right away.
