The Most Common Sources of Water Damage

11/1/2021 (Permalink)

Let us be your emergency contact (316) 260-9011.

Water damages occur in so many ways that sometimes it feels like water could come in for any reason. Since SERVPRO of Southwest Wichita is called on daily to help with water damages we have seen a lot of examples of water intrusions and their causes. No matter what the cause of your water damage is it is always important to know where your water shut off is, to have towels or another absorbent material on hand and to move any furniture or items out of the area of water damage to prevent further damage.

 In this post we are going to go over some of the move common sources of water damage and things you can do to prevent them from happening or minimize the effect if something goes wrong.

Take these tips into account when dealing with any kind of water based loss. One tip you can always employ is when you leave your house empty for several days turn off the main water supply to your home. It may save you a huge headache.

Causes of a water loss:

• Broken pipe
  • Turn off water supply immediately after finding a loss
  • Sometimes if you notice a large spike in your water bill that might indicate a broken pipe in a crawlspace or an area which you normally do not go around
  • Keep the broken part of the pipe after it has been fixed
• Appliance water supply or drain line
  • Many times after moving into a new home or buying a new appliance installation of the water features of an appliance cause water damage
  • Take extra care to check the installation of supplies and drains
• Water supply line to toilet
  • Changing out the plastic supply line for a metal braided line is something that could have prevent many water losses we see.
• Water supply line to washing machine
  • Similar to the appliance installation make sure both the supply and drain are properly installed
  • Opting to use a metal braided line may prevent a water loss entirely
  • Make sure the drain lines are secured, many losses are caused by a drain line coming out of or loss from the drain line connected to the home
• Broken sump pump
  • Having a new sump pump ready to swap out in case your current one breaks can prevent a huge loss from happening especially during a storm event when many pumps might be sold out.
  • Have a water based back-up pump in case you lose electricity. The water pressure is not affected by the loss of electricity and will continue to work.
• Water coming in from the outside
  • This can be addressed with improving the drainage from your home to move as much water away from your home as possible
  • The easiest thing to do is to add gutter extensions
  • Check this blog for all the steps you can take to protect your home

If you are concerned about any kind of moisture intrusion in your home feel free to call us for a free inspection where we utilize all of our restoration tools to examine your home. Our 24/7 emergency line is (316) 260-9011.