As the deep freeze of winter starts to thaw out, you’ll be busy with spring cleaning chores to ready your home for the nice weather. While you’re cleaning up and making sure appliances are maintained correctly, remember to check on your plumbing as well. Plumbing is one of the most important aspects of your house and it can be easy to forget about until a problem comes up. But if you want to prevent the problems in the first place so you don’t have to deal with water leaks or worse, then check off this list of things to do when preparing your plumbing for spring.
Look for growing water leaks
In some areas of your home, like your kitchen sink or your toilets, leaks are hard to miss. But there are pipes all over your home, some of which are hidden from plain sight. These are easier to ignore, and if a leak is starting to form in one of those areas then it could get worse and worse without you realizing it. By that time, it will be an expensive and inconvenient repair. Take some time to look at your home’s pipes for any signs of a new leak that needs to be addressed.
Check your water heater
Water heaters can last for years, even decades if properly maintained. Since your water heater is probably tucked away somewhere, chances are you haven’t looked it over recently. Make sure that your water heater doesn’t have any rusting or corrosion that’s visible. Also, check to ensure that it doesn’t get over 120 degrees, as this can speed up wear and tear on the appliance. If you want to be fully sure it’s working perfectly, have an expert plumber inspect it for any maintenance or repair needs.
Make sure your sump pump is ready
With spring comes showers, and showers can cause flooding. You don’t want to wait until the water is collecting in your basement to find out if your sump pump is working properly. Instead, test it out now to have the peace of mind of knowing that if your basement starts to flood, your sump pump will minimize the damage.
Test your main water valve
If you’ve been lucky enough to not have any need to turn your main water valve off recently, then you should check on it. If it’s been in the on position for years, it may be stuck from rust. Try turning the valve a couple of times to be sure you can do it quickly in case of a burst pipe, and if it’s stuck have a professional come out to replace it for you.
Plumbing maintenance and repairs before spring | Bison Plumbing
If you want to fully prepare your home for spring, there are some things that are best left up to the experts. Plumbing is certainly one of those things. You don’t want to mess around with your plumbing system, it can be frustrating, and if you make a mistake, costly. Let the trained professionals from Bison Plumbing perform all of the maintenance, repairs, and replacements that your plumbing system needs. If you’re not sure what shape your plumbing is in, we can perform an inspection to catch any warning signs of a problem that might come up in the future.
To learn more about how we can help you, give us a call now at (586) 754-4281 or send in an online contact form!
