With the holiday season approaching, it’s inevitable that you’ll start planning who to invite over and for how long, as well as what, to serve. After all, the holidays are the perfect time to have family and friends over so you can enjoy good food and good company. Of course, you could be the one going to someone else’s home for the holiday celebrations in Summer Hill.
Whether you’re trying to make your home as presentable as possible, or you’re preparing to leave the homestead for a day or two, you need to remember to check your plumbing system. Finding a plumber Summer Hill expert for a regular plumbing job over the holidays may already be difficult, so imagine having to look for someone who can handle emergency repair work.
That said, here are some tips you can use to help you prepare your plumbing for the holidays.
Shut Off the Water Main
If you’re going away for some time, turn off the water main – even if you’ll just be away for a day. This helps ensure that any plumbing emergencies won’t affect your home. Instead, it’ll be confined to the street, your front yard, or your garden. The water main is typically found near the water metre; once you’ve turned it off, try turning on a tap in the bathroom or kitchen to check that no water comes out of it.
Check Your Fixtures
If you’re staying home and having people over, make sure the plumbing fixtures you use most often are in good working condition. This means checking for clogged drains, dripping or leaking faucets, and signs of water damage in the pipes. If you find something that needs repairing, don’t put it off until the last minute. If it’s a simple enough fix, you can take care of it yourself. However, if you’re not that confident in your ability or the problem calls for complicated repair work, get a professional.
Making sure your plumbing system is working well helps keep any potential problems at bay, and will save you the embarrassment of apologising to guests when, say, a pipe bursts in the bathroom while they’re using it, not to mention having to delay festivities while you look for a plumber to fix things.
Check the Sump Pump
Speaking of plumbing fixtures being in good condition, it’s a good idea to make sure your sump pump is working the way it should, whether you’re visiting others or playing host. You’ll want to check that the pump is, well, pumping water from inside your house to the outside. To do this, just add some water to the sump pit, then watch and see if the water level decreases, and check to ensure there’s no sign of flooding anywhere in your home.
As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That’s certainly true of checking that your plumbing system is in good condition before the holidays roll around, because the extra effort you put in will be worth it when you find you don’t need to call for emergency plumbing services.
