Plumbing emergencies are unfortunate and often costly incidents that, largely, cannot be prevented. They can, however, be planned for in advance, and, if you prepare your home or place or business for the inevitable beforehand, you can get through them much easier when the unexpected happens.

Major Types Of Plumbing Emergencies

Being prepared for problems with your plumbing involves looking ahead with a little bit of foresight as to what could go wrong in your particular building and how you would respond. There are a few major types of plumbing issues that tend to pop up relatively frequently, and always when you least expect them:

1. Overflowing Toilets. Due to blockage or mismatch of pressure in your waste pipes or septic tank, every once in a while, you may find your toilet working backwards. This can be devastating if not immediately addressed – especially if the water that is flooding outwards is not clean water.
2. Leaking Pipes. Depending on the location of the leak, this can be a minor nuisance or a major problem. Water that is leaking through the infrastructure of your building can cause extraordinary amounts of damage in a short time.
3. Contaminated Water. This is more of a risk for commercial and industrial locations that may suffer from vicinity to chemical plants in the area. The biggest problem here is that your water can get contaminated without you knowing about it right away.

The First Thing To Do: Stop The Flow

Every building has a main shutoff valve that you need to identify and have easy, quick access to. It can also help to have the location of this valve easily recognizable from within the home or place of business, so that other employees or family members can respond quickly to problems even if you are not present.

Whenever a plumbing issue that could cause damage to the infrastructure of your home or business develops, the very first thing you need to do is to shut off the flow of water. In most cases, this will stop the immediate problem and allow you the time to get a 24-hour emergency plumbing service at your location.

Plumbing problems do not always happen at the most convenient times, and are known to strike in the middle of the night. When this happens, you need to be able to quickly reach the main shutoff valve and have a local emergency plumber available by phone.

If you can shut off the flow and get a plumber to your location within an hour, you can save thousands of dollars in damages – all it takes is a quick response to your emergency plumbing needs.