Plumbing is a great innovation, but when it goes wrong, it can turn into a nightmare in no time at all. Ideally, you’re performing routine maintenance around your home, including in the bathroom, to keep everything in good working order. Things like routine drain cleaning can go a long way. However, life gets busy and sometimes, even despite the best maintenance efforts, things just break. Here are five of the worst bathroom problems and what you can do about them.
#1: Sewer Backup
This is probably the absolute worst thing that can happen in any bathroom. This isn’t just your average overflowing toilet (although that’s pretty bad, too). In the event of a system failure, mainline break, flooding, or another disaster, you could actually have raw sewage backing up into your home through your toilets and drains. Not only is this disgusting, but it can be dangerous because there are toxic gases in sewage that can make you and your family very sick. If this is happening, you need to call an emergency plumber and get out of the house immediately.
#2: Blocked Toilets
Most people have a plunger on hand for minor toilet clogs and mishaps. What happens, though, when the plunger isn’t working? There may be a bigger issue at hand, such as something lodged in the toilet or the drain somewhere. If the toilet is completely blocked and can’t be flushed, your family can’t use it. The biggest thing to remember with a blocked toilet is that sometimes, common clog removal methods can actually cause worse damage. It’s probably in your best interest to call a plumber for a full blockage, just to be safe.
#3: Standing Water from Blocked Shower Drains
Although it’s not as unsanitary or unpleasant as a blocked toilet, a blocked shower drain can also be a big nuisance. Typically, shower drains get clogged with hair and deposits from all of the products going down the pipes on a regular basis. A simple drain cleaner or snake (or both) may do the trick for slow drains or small clogs. If it doesn’t, you need to call a plumber for professional assistance. You may have a collapsed mainline or a tree root blockage, or another issue that requires more attention.
#4: Fixtures Snapping Off
While this is rare, it does happen. Imagine if you slip in the shower and reach to grab at the shower to hold yourself up. Suddenly, the showerhead and arm are in your hand, and water is spraying everywhere from the open pipe in the wall. This can create a lot of problems, between the broken fixture itself and the potential water damage that it can cause.
#5: Broken Pipes in the Wall
The only thing worse than leaking in your bathroom is leaking in the walls of your bathroom. If a pipe in the wall bursts, it’s going to cause a lot of damage. You might not even notice it right away unless there is water seepage into another floor or room or the bursting makes a sizeable noise. Pipes can burst for any number of reasons, usually related to fluctuations in water pressure. Most commonly, it is seen in situations where pipes freeze and thaw during cold winter months. When a pipe does burst, that means you’ll be gutting the affected area and replacing the pipe, plus cleaning up any water damage along the way.
All of these situations can be stressful, but they’ll only get more stressful if you don’t handle them right away. Whether you’ve got a serious plumbing emergency or just need professional drain cleaning services for those stubborn drains and clogs, keep a plumber handy for best results.
