By definition, there's no way to tell when a plumbing emergency might come up. Homeowners in Bellingham need to know who to call when they do, particularly if it's outside of normal business hours. Having an emergency plumber on speed dial can make the difference between getting a problem resolved swiftly and winding up with water damage on top of plumbing problems.
The True Cost of Plumbing Emergencies
While it's true that calling an emergency plumber service can be expensive, so is ignoring the problem. Homeowners with burst pipes on their hands, for example, can wind up paying thousands of dollars or more to repair damage and replace their lost possessions. The cost of hiring a 24-hour plumber pales in comparison to that.
Sometimes, it's hard to tell whether it's worth the cost of calling an emergency plumber. There are two unambiguous circumstances when after-hours plumbing problems need to be addressed immediately.
1. Avoiding the Potential for Greater Damage
If failing to take action and call an emergency plumbing service will leave the homeowner dealing with more significant damage, it's always worth the cost of hiring an emergency plumber. Common examples of this kind of problem include dealing with frozen or burst pipes, drains that are backing up onto floors, or sump pumps that stop working during a storm.
2. Keeping the Family Healthy and Comfortable
Sometimes, emergency drain cleaning is also a necessary expense. Families need to be able to flush the toilet, use the sink, and take showers. If the drain gets clogged over a weekend or on a holiday, calling an emergency plumber service is the best option.
How to Reduce the Risk of Plumbing Emergencies
There's no way to prevent every plumbing emergency. However, homeowners can reduce the risk of needing to rely on expensive after-hours plumbing services by taking good care of their pipes under normal use. The best thing to do is to schedule regular plumbing inspections and maintenance visits. Unfortunately, few homeowners take this step, which could eliminate the need for emergency plumbing repairs entirely.
Aside from scheduling plumbing maintenance visits, homeowners can also pay close attention to the state of their pipes, drains, faucets, and fixtures. Many calls to an emergency plumber could be avoided if homeowners dealt with problems immediately while they were still comparatively minor and could wait until normal business hours.
Clogged drains are a great example. Emergency drain cleaning is one of the most common situations handled by on-call plumbers. More often than not, what they find when they arrive is that an inappropriate object has been washed down the drain. Flushing things down the toilet other than waste and toilet paper, for example, can lead to serious clogs and even wastewater backups.
Taking the time to winterize pipes before winter hits is another good example of how homeowners can avoid calls to the 24-hour plumber. Frozen pipes always need to be considered plumbing emergencies because they can burst and cause extreme damage. However, adequate insulation can prevent the pipes from freezing, to begin with.
Commercial Emergency Plumber Services
Homeowners aren't the only ones who need to worry about keeping an emergency plumbing service on speed dial. Commercial businesses have even more to lose if something goes wrong and they can't address it immediately, which is where the help of an emergency commercial plumber can come in. These on-call plumbers specialize in working with business owners to address problems in commercial establishments ranging from restaurants to retail stores, offices, and more.
Wondering why business owners need to call an emergency commercial plumber? The answer is simple. Commercial plumbing systems aren't the same as their residential counterparts. They tend to be much larger and more complex and sometimes have components that aren't seen in residential homes, such as grease traps in commercial kitchens. These different kinds of systems and components can have their own plumbing emergencies, and even if they're not directly involved in whatever is wrong, the plumber will still need to know how to work on or around them.
Know Who to Call for Help
Property owners in Bellingham, WA, need to know who they can turn to for help when serious plumbing emergencies come up. Not all plumbers offer emergency services, but here at LaVergne's Plumbing, we think about things differently. We know that our customers can't always control when they wind up dealing with plumbing problems, so we offer round-the-clock emergency services that can help. Call (360) 685-8098 to schedule an emergency call today.