There's nothing more pleasurable after a tough day than to at last relax, pour yourself a refreshing drink, get the newspaper or a magazine and take a long, warm bath. All the frustrations from the day are soothed away and at last you can relax and your life appears to be a wonderful thing.
Then you notice a drip, just a minimal drip, but in the quietness it grows into a very loud drip. Then your mind clicks into focus and you understand this might mean there is a serious problem. You try to forget it, you just want to forget all your concerns and relax, but that drip just keeps on loudly dripping.
This is the time when it's important to defeat your tiredness and make sure you do something about this drip. At the very least, it's wasting your water and water is becoming a precious commodity in these days of a changing climate. Any opportunity to preserve water is going to help everybody to protect the world. One small drip may not seem much, but if you times that by the countless numbers of homes which have dripping taps, that is a significant amount of water. You are also wasting away your well-earned money, particularly if it's hot water. And there's a considerable risk from the impact of mould and rot on your house.
So, depending on your personality, it is probable that you will either grimace and resolutely get out of the bath, or you might yell and shout, or you might smile sweetly and see this as one of life's small challenges.
However choose to react, you do need to do something about the leak. Water has a way of seeping into places that can generate mould and rot and inflict damage on different other things.
If there's just a drip as I have described, it's one of the easier issues you may venture across in your house's plumbing. The very first thing to test is if it's a worn out washer.
If it is, turn off your water supply. Yes, it does appear too simple to even bother mentioning, but you'd be surprised at the amount of people who don't and are confronted with a room that is flooded as the water shoots up and out of the tap.
This may be only frustrating in the warmer months as you can dry out easily enough, but it's unfortunately unpleasant to experience in winter as the water can be numbingly cold. So, turn off the water and once you have completed this, then take off the tap. You will then quickly be able to see if it's the washer that has worn away.
If it is not the washer, it may be the brass seat to be found behind the washer. If you have the proper seating wrench and you know what you are doing, it is not too difficult to solve. However, if you have not done it previously, call your local plumber. You might just make the issue even worse by guessing how to solve it.
As I have previously outlined, if there's just a leak inside the tap then you're in luck. Even if you have to call the plumber it is not a large task. If, on the other hand, as you are enjoying a bath after a especially frustrating day and you notice that there's an unaccounted for pool of water somewhere in the bathroom, you aren't going to become happier in a hurry.
The leak from the bath may be from underneath the bath itself, but the pool of water is all too often to be found to a degree away from the bath. This is because the water is running alongside the pipes prior to dripping. It is important to call the plumber in to investigate immediately. Water has an frustrating way of generating greater issues such as mould and rot and, if you ignore it for some time, you may require to get a drywall repair or replace your floor.
Once the plumber has dropped by to take a look, make sure you ask whether it will be cheaper to replace the whole bath than repair it. This may oftentimes be the case, and if you have a standard modern bath, it's a good option. You might, on the other hand, have an older designer bath which you especially adore, probably because it's deeper and longer, in which case fixing it rather than buying a modern bath will more than likely be the preferred option.
The plumber may advise that the bath repair bill will be greater than you can currently afford. If this is the case, do make sure that you repair the damage to your house caused by the leaking water. You may do without a bath for some time, but leaving water damage can result in considerable issues in the long ans short-term. This is especially the case if your bath is upstairs. It may be that the water has caused your ceiling to crumble and crack and you will have to telephone a contractor experienced in drywall work. You will also need to make sure you call in somebody to get rid of any mould so that you don't have any issues in in the long-term.
Delimited Author Bio Resource Box
Scott Rodgers has recently retired as a Los Angeles
plumber and is an expert in bathrooms and plumbing. For more useful tips and information, visit Scott's website: http://eLocalPlumbers.com
Scott Rodgers is a recently retired Los Angeles plumber and he loves to share his many years experience of baths and
plumbing. For more useful tips and information, visit Scott's website: http://eLocalPlumbers.com