Your bathroom is a place where you can spend some resting hours after a tiring day at work or home. There is nothing more relaxing than running yourself a bath and soaking in it for a while. You also clean yourself up in the bathroom.
For the ladies, this place is different as they not only bathe there but also place their makeup and other personal kinds of stuff too. It is your private place, and everyone likes to keep it that way. If your bathroom gets messed up, it can damage your entire routine. From getting ready in the morning to shed off all the sweat and fatigue at night, you won’t be able to do any of those things. That is what a flooded bathroom can cause you, but if it still doesn’t seem daunting or gives you chills down your spine, you probably haven’t suffered water damage yet.
There is every possibility in the world that you wake up in the morning, and things don’t seem to go the way you wanted them to be, so you need to ensure that your toilets are always functioning well to avoid such a situation. But if you hear the sloshing of water or you see that there is a constant stream of water coming from the toilet or the bathtub, then it is probably time to call in the water damage experts but remember, the longer you wait to call a professional, the higher the likelihood that mold will develop, which is toxic and more costly to remediate.
There are a few significant reasons why bathrooms flood, and if you know what they are, you can prevent it easily. All you need to do is to pay a little bit of attention to these little things, and you can ensure that they don’t ever become a cause for any trouble in the future.
CLOGS
In many cases, sewer water overflow can be dangerous and requires special sanitization. Mostly, clogged pipes are the primary reason for such situations.
Have you ever seen kids in the bathroom? Their innocent little tricks might seem harmless, but to the bathroom, it can be a nightmare. Make sure that they know not to throw paper towels or any other items down the toilet drain that can get stuck in the pipes. It can block the pipes and cause you more harm. Do you know what happens next?
The water starts accumulating until it overflows and starts flooding your bathroom. Now, here is a relief to know the bright side of the story. You can fix a jammed toilet, but what to do when the siphon unit is not working? Yes, you will try to flush it, again and again, but the effort will go in vain, only adding more complications and make a bigger mess than before. The key is to use a plunger and try to unclog the pipes so the water can easily flow down its path and enter the main drain lines. Once you have cleared the pipes, you can use the flush to send more water down the drain and remove any debris that might still be there.
BURST PIPES
Clogged pipes can be cleaned and unclogged, but what should you do when a pipe bursts? A burst pipe or pipes is another reason for bathroom flooding, and it can take its toll on the bathroom. There are a couple of things that can turn this problem into a major fiasco.
Imagine a scenario when nobody is home, and you come back later in the day to find out that you have to take a boat to your bathroom. Sometimes, what happens is that when the weather is chilly, the water freezes inside the pipes, which causes pressure in the drainage lines. This escalating pressure needs to either escape or else it ruptures the pipes. But sometimes the pipes get leaked, and this sends water cascading down your walls and creates a seepage. Under such situations, you need to get your drainage pipes repaired by professionals to avoid inconvenience.
NEGLIGENCE
Last but not least, negligence plays a vital role in bathroom flooding. There are a lot of times when we don’t care about what we are doing or when we are distracted enough not to pay attention to details. For example, you are trying to bathe your kid, and suddenly, the phone starts screaming, or someone is at the door. You keep the water running and go down to check who it is. There are potentially dozens of reasons that can distract you and end up flooding your bathroom. The same can be said for children when they are in the bathroom. If you don’t keep a watchful eye on them, you might find out that your toilet is full of paper towels or some other item that can flood the bathroom.
Sometimes we drop things unintentionally into the toilet like a makeup item or something that can’t pass through the drainage lines easily. Although these things seem small, over time, they can clog the drain and cause a lot of damage.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT?
The first thing that you have to do is to call the experts. It is not a DIY project that you can handle by yourself. You need people who can identify the problem and fix it in a manner that it won’t happen again. There are a few things that you can do before you call the experts:
- If the water is spreading, use a piece of cloth or towel to corral it.
- Never use a vacuum to suck up the flooded water.
- Save your furniture by wrapping any textile or foil paper around the legs of the furniture.
STOP THE SOURCE
If you know the source of the flooding and you can get to it quickly enough, you should immediately shut it off. For this purpose, you will need to know the locations of the various valves placed around the bathroom for all the fixtures like toilet, sinks, bathtubs, etc. Even if you don’t find the source, you can shut off the main water line so that the problem doesn’t get more complicated than it already is. You should at least know where the main valve is. You should have all the valves examined at least once a year to find out the condition of the pipes.
SHOOT THE SCENES
For insurance purposes, as well as to inform the water damage experts, you should photograph the water flooding scene as much as you can. Document all the damage that has been done to the bathroom as well as to your belongings. Most homeowners’ insurance will cover the repairs, so the focus should be on restoring your home to pre-loss condition and making sure the water didn’t seep into the floors or neighboring rooms.
CONCLUSION
Knowing how bathrooms flood and what you can do about them immediately can save you a lot of trouble and money in the future. Another thing that you should always know is who to call when a tragedy such as this occurs. Make sure that you do everything in your power to prevent such a disaster.
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