You may love your older home because of its charm and character.
However, along with charm and character, an older home also comes along with the potential for cracks, leaks and failing pipes.
Here’s how to minimize your risk of a sewer backup in an older home.
Common Causes of a Sewer Backup
Clog or Blockage
The most common cause of a sewer backup is due to a clogged drain pipe or in the sewer line under your home.
Clogs can result from an overload of grease, hair, or anything else obstructing the flow of wastewater.
Problems with a sump pump can also cause a clog somewhere in the drainage flow.
Cracks in Underground Sewer Pipes
Older homes have older underground pipes. When these homes were built, the pipes were made of clay or cast iron. Clay pipes can completely collapse and usually do over time. Cast iron rusts and the pipes become damaged fairly easily.
These cracks and holes grow larger until the system can no longer function properly and that means a potential sewer backup for you.
Tree Roots
Old, large trees have incredibly long-reaching roots underground. Sometimes, these tree roots make their way to one of your underground pipes, especially if there’s a water leak. Tree roots always seek out water sources, so a leaky pipe is a prime target.
Tree roots can easily grow into a small leak and create a large hole. They can also grow around the pipe, making water flow difficult and may result in a sewer backup.
Heavy Rain or Floods
During a period of heavy rains, the city’s main sewer system may become overloaded and unable to handle large amounts of water.
If the main sewer system floods, it’s possible for the excess water to end up in the sewer pipes leading to your home.
A telltale sign of a main sewer system flood that reaches your sewer pipes is if your sinks are filling up with water and draining slowly.
Signs of a Potential Sewer Backup
Primarily in place to process wastewater, the sewer system is a complex but necessary part of maintaining a clean, healthy home environment.
By removing wastewater, it reduces the potential for flooding and stops the spread of water-based bacteria, toxins, and the spread of disease.
A sewer backup changes all of that by allowing toxic wastewater to backup right into your home.
Watch for these signs of a potential sewer back up:
Multiple clogged drains (showers, sinks and toilets especially in the lowest level of your home).
Gurgling noises from a sink as toilets flush, or vice versa
Toilets not flushing even after plunging
Bubbling as water drains from sinks or toilets
Conclusion
If you notice any of the issues when flushing toilets or running water through your sinks, don’t wait until a sewer backup strikes.
For sewer backup prevention or cleanup, call the water and sewer damage specialists at RCS today.
The attic is a great place for extra storage. Except when it’s not. To avoid damage to valued items, there are some things you should never store in the attic.
Discover what should and should not be stored in your attic.
Why Attic Storage Can Be Bad for Valued Possessions
Because attics can vary between hot, cold, dry, and humid, your items may not hold up well between the drastic fluctuations in temperature. This is especially true if you don’t have the best insulation and ventilation up there.
To make matters worse, if water is getting in from a leaky roof, windows or clogged gutters, there’s a good chance there is mold and mildew smell to contend with along with water damage and damage to your valuables.
Avoid Storing these Items in Your Attic
Paint
Because it may get extremely hot in the attic, the intense heat can ruin the paint to the point where you won’t be able to use it for touch ups or anything else.
Storing paint in a cooler and more evenly temperature-controlled area such as a main floor storage area closet is better. It’s also a good idea to label paint by the room it’s for, along with purchase date helps when pulling out the paint for refreshing walls in your home.
Important Documents
Never store any kind of important document in an attic. Things like social security records or birth certificates, wills, tax documents or anything of importance should never be in an attic.
The threat of stains, mold, water damage or just drying out like an old treasure map runs high.
Move those documents to an office desk or fireproof storage container in a cooler location.
Expensive Fabrics
The attic is not a good place to store family heirlooms like expensive linens, blankets, and even clothes. The risk of moths and other destructive insects that tend to be found in the attic can destroy these cherished items.
Rather, store these items in a cedar chest or in plastic, airtight containers designed specifically for long-term storage.
Candles
If you store candles in an attic that gets really hot, you’ll find a melted, waxy mess.
Instead store your candles in a dry, cool place like a cabinet or main floor closet.
Photographs
Prized old photographs will not hold up well in an attic once again due to extreme heat.
Extremely hot conditions cause photos to fade. If there’s water or excessive humidity in the attic, it may cause permanent staining and spotting on the photos which you won’t be able to remove.
It’s better to store your valuable old photos in a cooler place. A main floor closet or even stashed under a bed is a better spot to preserve those family photos. It also helps to preserve photos in plastic, waterproof sleeves and tuck away in watertight boxes.
Attic Storage
Your attic can be used to store:
Extra or rarely used cookware
Holiday decorations
Suitcases
Sports equipment
Ceramics
Glass items
Conclusion
Hopefully, this list will help re-organize your attic to store your household items safely and preserve those precious family items.
To tackle other attic issues such as ventilation, water damage or mold, schedule an appointment today with RCS in Santa Rosa.
Water damage can come from a variety of sources. One of the most common causes for water damage comes from failure of home appliances we all have and depend on every day.
Find out which appliances in your home pose the greatest risks.
Washing Machines
The approximate lifespan of washing machines is anywhere between 5-15 years.
Most water damage from washing machines occurs due to supply hose failure.
Water Heater
Whether gas or electric, water heaters have an average life expectancy of about 10 years.
Regular maintenance is the key to a water heater’s longer life.
Water damage can result from cracks, slow leaks, sudden bursts, rusting, sediment build-up or heating element failure. At least once a year, inspect the pipes and shutoff valves.
Toilets
Although the lifespan of most toilets is well over 25 years, water damage is primarily due to clogs and overflowing water.
There can also be water damage risks if the toilet experiences problems with the valves used to fill, supply, and flush the toilet, or the supply line itself.
Dishwashers
The life expectancy of dishwashers falls between 7-12 years, but there’s no guarantee it couldn’t fail sooner.
When your dishwasher fails, water damage can result from leaking gaskets around the door when in use or damaged supply or drainage lines.
Ice Makers
While ice makers in the freezer section of your refrigerator are very convenient, if the water lines become damaged or fail, you’re at high risk for water damage.
If the lines are made of plastic or copper, durability is a factor, and the lines can easily become damaged or fail over time.
Because the lines are hidden behind the refrigerator, you may not remember to check them before it’s too late. Checking them at least once a year for wear or damage is highly recommended.
Sump Pumps
The job of a sump pump is to pump out any excess water in your home, typically in the basement, before a flood occurs.
However, if the sump pump fails, the odds of flooding and water damage are almost imminent.
Sump pump failure can be caused by:
Clogs or debris in the pump
Clogged discharge lines
Sump pump is the wrong size for the pit
Broken pump valves
Improperly connected
Power outages
Conclusion
As you can see, home appliances are things you depend on every day but tend to take for granted. That is, until they fail and result in flooding and water damage.
When disaster strikes, a home appliance fails and you are left with cleaning up the water damage, call RCS in Santa Rosa for help and restoration.
Summer is a favorite season for just about everyone. However, one of the things to watch out for is an increase in mold and exposure to it.
Because mold grows so quickly and poses significant health risks, here’s what you can do to reduce your exposure to mold this season.
Why is there More Mold in Summer?
If you know anything about mold, you know it thrives in warm, moist, and humid conditions. In summer, the hot weather is a strong contributor to mold growth.
Although plenty of direct sunlight helps kill mold, there are always airborne mold spores spreading throughout your yard, landing on your lawn, in your garden and on your house.
Anywhere there is excess moisture, high humidity, or damp shady areas in the yard, you’re sure to find mold.
Humidity and Moisture
With hot temperatures, humidity levels rise. When it’s hot outside and cool indoors, condensation forms around doors, windows, and the insulation around them.
Poorly draining AC units are another spot for mold because of clogged pipes, drainage issues, or undetected leaks creating moisture around the home foundation or in crawlspaces.
If you haven’t cleaned out those gutters or compost bins, these are two places where decomposing organic matter like leaves attract mold very easily. Where there is a constant source of moisture, mold will find it and grow.
Food Sources
Like any active living organism, it needs food to live and grow.
Mold isn’t picky about food sources, attacking anything from spoiled food to paper to cardboard and wood. If there are available food sources, warmth and moisture, mold grows, spreads, and releases airborne spores continuously.
Poor Ventilation
If there are areas in your home that aren’t properly ventilated, the lack of airflow leaves the air stagnant, and allows for the buildup of condensation and dampness. Unchecked moisture sources allow mold to thrive.
The key areas to check are in attics, basements, and crawlspaces.
Reducing the Risks of Summer Mold Exposure
To reduce your risk of mold exposure, it’s important to eliminate the conditions mold needs to grow.
Check for leaks in and around drainage to the AC unit
Repair a leaky roof
Check and repair plumbing under cabinets for drips and leaks
Dry condensation around doors and windows
Replace wet insulation
Clean gutters and compost bins
Remove piles of decomposing yard waste
Keep the house and yard clean
Throw away spoiled food like fruits and vegetables
Keep an eye on shady, damp areas in and around the home
Conclusion
To ensure the health and safety of you and your home, keeping on top of sources of humidity, dampness and moisture is your best line of defense.
Making sure there’s good ventilation and removing food sources will drastically reduce mold growing in and around your home this summer.
If struggling with mold in and around your home, call the remediation team at RCS for professional mold removal and prevention.
