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Plumbing Emergency: What To Do During a Flood

Welcome! My name is Sally. This is my blog about plumbing. I decided to start writing about plumbing after a very scary experience. I arrived home from work one day only to discover that a pipe burst in my home. When I opened the front door, I saw a torrent of water pouring down the stairs. I panicked and ran next door to my neighbour. Luckily, he used to work as a construction contractor, so he has a lot of experience in dealing with household problems. He helped me to turn off the mains water and helped me to mop up the mess. After this event, I decided I wanted to learn more about the plumbing in my house, so I went to a night school class.

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Plumbing Emergency: What To Do During a Flood

Reasons why your drains are always getting blocked

by Melvin Owens

It can be extremely frustrating when your drains keep getting blocked. But if you keep treating the symptoms and not the cause, you will constantly be suffering from these problems. Blocked drains also waste time and money. They also leave a bad smell and can cause health problems due to the presence of bacteria. Thankfully, the majority of these blockages are completely preventable. Here are some reasons your drains keep getting blocked and what you can do about it.

Foreign objects

Many small items can easily slip and fall down into the drain. Most people will have some experience of this happening to them, whether it was an earring or a screw. These objects can become lodged in the pipes and drains, resulting in blockages. Pay particular attention when you have small children using the drains. They may be flushing down the toilet any objects they can get their hands on, such as toys and packaging. Some people even use their toilet as a second bin, flushing food and cleaning products down the toilet. It is inevitable that these practices will lead to a blockage sooner rather than later.

Plant matter

Many times it is leaves and roots of plants that will create blockages in drains. Roots are always hunting for moisture and, therefore, will be attracted to the water source that drains provide. They can worm their way into the drains, which may result in cracked pipes as well as creating blockages. When the trees start shedding their leaves in the autumn, you may notice increased levels of blockages due to leaves getting stuck in the drains. It is important to place protective covers over pipes to ensure that plant matter cannot reach the pipes. Also, ensure that all plants and trees are well trimmed when they are located near pipes.

Hair

This is one of the most common causes of drain blockages in the bathroom. While a couple of hairs going down the drain may seem like no big deal, over time this accumulates into large quantities of mass. Hairs can easily become tangled up in the drains, which results in a decreased amount of space for water to pass through. There are many handy devices that you can use on your drains to prevent hairs from entering.

Toiletries

Many people flush baby wipes and nappies down the toilet. This is extremely detrimental to the plumbing system. Most of these materials are extremely absorbent and will expand when dropped into the toilet. Baby wipes cannot be broken down like toilet paper; they remain in one piece and becomes stuck in the drain when flushed. These types of material should be thrown away in the bin.

Try using these tips to avoid drain blockages. But if you do run into any problems, be sure to hire a professional plumber, like those at Haig & Menzel Contractors Pty Ltd, to find and fix the cause instead of just the symptom to prevent continual problems.

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