Your home’s drainage system is always working. You don’t see or hear it most of the time. However, you can tell that the system is functioning because every time you use the shower, flush the toilet, or wash something in the sink, the resulting dirty water magically disappears.
According to Richey Property Management, this quality of drainage systems is the best thing about them. By embedding drainage pipes in walls and underground, we preserve the aesthetic quality of homes and minimize the risk that people will come into contact with the unsanitary contents inside those pipes.
But this design has some significant flaws. It is harder to access buried pipes to check their physical condition for maintenance and repair. As a result, there may be major problems in your drainpipes or sewer lines, and you would not even know it.
These problems can go on for a long time until they ultimately escalate into bigger issues that damage your plumbing and building or even endanger your health. This is the major reason why a lot of drainage problems in homes result in plumbing emergencies.
But you can stop this from happening in your house. Most drainage problems in the home leave a subtle sign. By paying attention to these innocuous signals, you can intercept the issues in your drainage before they explode into plumbing emergencies in your building.
7 subtle signs of drainage problems in your home
- Multiple slow drains
If more than one fixture drain in your home is slow, it is often a ripple effect from clogs downstream of where those fixture drains empty into the main drainage pipe. Water will pool in the drainpipe due to the blocked section, causing the drains in your home to be slow.
- Recurring drain clogs
If a fixture drain appears to be chronically clogged and nothing you do seems to have an impact on the problem, the root cause of the issue can often be found in your main drainage pipes. Clogs in your main drainage pipes may be responsible for the problems you see in that fixture’s drain.
- Gurgling sounds
Gurgling and bubbling sounds from your drains, especially the toilet, are a sign that you have trapped air inside your drainpipes. This problem is due to a clogged pipe or blocked vent preventing the trapped air from exiting the system via the normal route into the atmosphere.
- Sewage odors in your home
This is also caused by trapped sewer gases in your drainpipes. Pressure imbalances within the drainage system force trapped gases to flow backward until they emerge through your toilet. This is the cause of the foul smells inside your home.
- Overflowing drains
If this problem is caused by blockages in the main drainage system, water will back up from the lowest drains on the ground floor (showers, floor drains, and toilets). However, if only one drain is overflowing, the blockage may be found inside that fixture’s drainage pipe.
- Soggy yard or lush green patches
If your main sewer line is clogged and leaking wastewater into the surrounding soil, you may find that one section of your yard is always wet. Also, the grass in that area will be greener than the rest of the plants in your yard.
- Pest infestation
If it is also leaking sewage into the soil, a clogged sewer line will attract pests to your home if it is also leaking sewage into the surrounding soil. If you are suddenly seeing a lot of mosquitoes, roaches, centipedes, and rodents in your yard or fruit flies in your kitchen, you may have a drain problem.
What to do about your drain problems
If you have any of these problems in your home, here is what you can do:
- Inspect your drains: A sewer camera inspection will help you uncover the problem inside your drainpipes, as well as the location and extent of the issue. Sewer camera inspections allow for accurate diagnosis of drainage issues. By providing the geographical coordinates of identified problems, they ensure targeted repairs are possible.
- Get professional drain cleaning: Professional drain cleaning is a method used by professional plumbers to clear debris out of drainage lines. The two most used methods are hydro jetting and sewer rodding. The right option for your drainage system depends on the health and age of your pipes and the blockage in the system.
- Preventive drain maintenance: This is the practice of not waiting for drainage problems before performing drain maintenance. Preventive drain maintenance plans for inspecting and cleaning the pipes on a schedule instead of reacting to drainage emergencies in your home. This strategy lets you detect and fix drainage problems early.
Finally, you need a competent and reliable plumber to oversee the maintenance of your drainage system. Your preferred plumber should have a deep understanding of the common drainage issues in your area. They should have a track record of working on drainage systems that are similar to yours.