Spring is here! Goodbye, yucky winter weather and short days. Say hello to budding leaves, blooming flowers and rain, lots and lots of rain. While spring brings the excitement of warming weather, it also brings hazards like heavy April rain showers, basement flooding and damaged pipes.
Here are some ways your pipes can be affected by April rain showers:
1. Moving water can erode soil where a pipe is buried; exposing it.
Heavy rain can create rushing water that becomes a powerful force. This force can erode the soil around buried pipes, exposing them to damage. This is particularly concerning for the plumbing lines coming to your house from the city’s system.
Make sure you know where your pipes are buried and take extra care during and after flooding to avoid those areas. Once the rainwater has subsided, do a thorough check to make sure they are still buried. If the soil has been eroded, inspect the pipes for damage or have one of our plumbing experts come out and inspect them for you.
2. Pipes can burst.
Flooding brings debris as well as lots of water. This debris can easily gather in a storm/drain pipes causing them to back up. If the pressure is high enough from the water draining, this can lead to bursting. You can minimize the risk of bursting by keeping your yard clean so there is less debris to back up your drainage system.
3. Pipes can corrode faster.
Depending on the material of your piping, exposure to flood waters and any changes in water chemistry can cause it to rust faster. This most often happens over a number of seasons of flooding and heavy rains. Inspect any visible piping for signs of rust, particularly if you have old cast iron piping in your home. Copper also corrodes and gets pinhole leaks so you still have to inspect those pipes as well.
4. Dirt and debris in the water supply can erode pipes internally.
Erosion is another way pipes can be damaged. Floodwaters carry sediment that destroys the
internal wall of drainpipes. While you cannot inspect the inside of pipes, you can call in one of our plumbing experts if you are concerned that you might be at risk for damaged piping from dirt and sediment erosion.
5. Prevention and cure.
Let us inspect your home’s plumbing to make sure it can withstand this April’s showers. When the floodwaters subside, we can help you find and repair any damage you may have incurred. Give us a call and we will keep your piping in shape for many more years of spring weather!