Tips for Preventing Water Damage When You’re Away on Vacation

1/18/2018 (Permalink)

Vacations are great for relieving stress and reconnecting with family and friends. Opening the door to a flooded North Hollywood, CA, home on your return, however, can bring that stress right back. Dealing with a broken pipe and finding a plumber for water pipe repair are not what you planned on doing when you first got home, but you can’t put it off or you risk further damage to your home.

Check Off These Tasks

There are several things you can do to help prevent flooding before your next vacation. Make a checklist that includes these tasks:

• Turn off the water to your home and drain all the pipes by turning on faucets until water stops flowing.
• Flush toilets after turning the water off to remove as much water from the bowl and tank as possible.
• If you vacation during the winter, pour nontoxic marine antifreeze into the bowl to keep water from freezing.
• Wrap exposed pipes and open the cabinet doors beneath sinks. Opening cabinets allows air movement around pipes and can prevent the need for water pipe repair.
• Do not turn off the HVAC system, which keeps air moving and helps prevent condensation, which encourages mold growth.

Have Someone Check On Your Home

It’s also a good idea to give a trusted neighbor or friend a key to your home and ask the person to check on your home daily. If pipes do burst, water damage only gets worse the longer it sits because it has more time to soak into drywall, insulation, flooring and even ceilings. Harmful bacteria and mold can begin growing in 48 to 72 hours, which may require additional remediation.

A vacation is anything but relaxing if you worry about having a broken pipe and flooded rooms when you get back to North Hollywood, CA. If you do experience flooding despite your best efforts at prevention, having a friend or neighbor on-site can help limit the damage by getting a plumber started on water pipe repair. For water removal and repairs, leave instructions for them to contact a professional restoration company.

Visit SERVPRO of North Hollywood at http://www.SERVPROnorthhollywood.com/ for more information about water restoration.