How Do You Know When Your Pipes Are Busted?

It can be challenging to maintain the pipes in your house, let alone a sewer line. Unfortunately, even sewer lines need to be required maintained and sometimes a line of sewer needed repairs to prevent a burst sewage line that would cause more inconvenience. When determining if your sewer line is overdue for maintenance, it’s imperative to pay attention to certain signs.

Any sewage backup or blockages: If this problem becomes persistent every time you flush the toilet, chances are there’s a major issue building in your main sewer line that could lead to a pipe bursting. The average cost for sewer line repairs is $2,523, but you could spend upwards of $4,013 on repairs depending on the severity of the damage. Best way to avoid this? Call a plumber to perform a sewer line inspection.

Molding: Mold only occurs if the broken main line is within your home’s walls. Even a tiny crack in the line can cause water leakage that results in molding over time and poses a high-threat on your health. Molding is a common in homes, because of America’s dilapidated sewer system—an estimated 1.26 trillion gallons untreated sewage is spilled every single year creating a major issue concerning how safe it is to live in America.

Patches of Grass and Prints: This sounds like a strange one, but it’s a telling sign of a sewer line issue—lusher patches of grass are associated with overflowing sewage. Sewage acts as a great alternative fertilizer, making grass extremely green, but this isn’t a good thing—you probably need a sewer line repair. Indentions in the grass could potentially be a sign, too. When the main line is cracked, it creates a bulk of soil, eventually dissipating and sinking into your lawn.

Rodents: The most common sign, unfortunately. Sewage is infamous for attracting all types of undesirable pests within and around your home. Pests have a habit of crawling into and leaving in small crevices like cracked pipes—if you suspect rodents are living inside your pipes, it’s time to call the professionals.

Eroding foundation: Sewage leakages are far more damaging than one could imagine, the toxicity of pure, untreated sewage causes severe damage to any structure through undermining its foundation, and eventually causing sinkholes that can be extremely dangerous and deadly for any homeowner. If this resonated with you, please contact a professional, ASAP.

How To Treat Sewer Line Repairs

A water line repair is not treated through common fixes. It requires a certified professional to assess the severity and/or damages the property has sustained to understand what needs to be fixed. Professionals have the proper equipment to deal with untreated sewage to avoid health issues that first-timers usually don’t—for instance a pipe bursting contractor understands and implements the safety precautions in place to effectively solve the problems through different methods.

How To Properly Care For Your Septic Tank

Septic tanks are were all waste-water flows from your home into the tank. Through time, heavier solids typically sink to the bottom where bacteria reduce them to sludge and gasses while lighter solids remain afloat and form a layer of scum. Approximately 20% of Americans rely on water pipes for sewage disposal— municipal water-treatment plants sever the additional 80%. Typically, most solids have a decomposition time, but if they are not removed during their periodic pumping period of 3-5 years, the bacteria will continue to accumulate and eventually overflow to the drain field causing extensive damage. A septic tank has a typical life expectancy approximately 25 years, but it all depends on how well the system was designed and maintained by its owner. When discussing your typical septic tank knowing when to pump it is important—once a year is ideal for inspecting your septic tank to ensure there are no septic tank repairs required. If so, also knowing how the bacteria appears tells you when pumping is imperative to sustain its warranty: A) When scum in the tank is within 3” of the bottom of the outlet device, the tank needs to be pumped, b) When the top of the sludge layer is close to 12” of the bottom of the outlet, the tank needs to be properly maintained.