Water damage in your home is something that everyone could do without. It is however quite a common occurrence, and one that could be eliminated almost completely if every homeowner were prepared to do some simple checks every once in a while.

It’s impossible to stop all leaks as the inherent nature of most of them means they will happen when you least expect them. However, if you are prepared you can make a difference.

Stop leaks in your home

Every month or so you need to check all the places where a potential leak may occur. This means looking at the condition of the pipes and radiators in your central heating system to check for signs of leaking or weeping joints. A check around your boiler pipes is another prerequisite. Again, check for damp patches or signs of leaks.

Checking the connections on the taps in your kitchen and bathroom is another good place to look for potential leaks. It’s always a good idea to have connectors in the length of the pipes which can be turned off if any tap starts to leak. Remember to check the toilet for leaks too. The washer on the ball cock which lets water into the cistern can fail and water can continue to run into the cistern.

All water drainage points should also be checked once a month. The waste water pipes under your sink or in your bathroom usually only use push-fit connectors and these can become dislodged.

Also, the main waste water pipe which leaves your home can become blocked if the wrong things are flushed down the toilet or scale is allowed to build up inside the pipe. If you have a CCTV survey of the drain, you’ll be able to find out its condition and if a problem may arise. A quick call to a London drainage company should suffice here.

Many of the problems residents face with blocked drains are caused by the residents themselves. It’s not uncommon for drain cleaning technicians to find that an immovable object has been flushed down the toilet or naivety has resulted in an item being flushed which should never have been placed in the toilet.

The water and sewerage companies around the UK are trying their best to make homeowners aware of what can and what can’t be flushed down the toilet.

Some of the items which are commonly flushed, which should not be include:

• Cotton wool buds
• Contraceptives
• Sanitary wear
• Nappies
• Hand wipes

All the above items should be disposed of in the general waste, but are all too commonly disposed of down the toilet instead.

If one of the drainage pipes which leaves your home has a rough inner surface or if scale has built up inside the pipe, it’s more likely that any of the above items will become stuck in the pipe and will need to be removed using specialist drain cleaning equipment.

One of the top ‘sewer flushers’ in London, Rob Smith, who works for Thames Water, has warned customers that ‘sewer abuse’ will not be tolerated when the changes to sewer ownership come into force on the 1st of October.

The number of drains that will become the responsibility of Thames Water will increase by 60 percent when the new regulations come into force, meaning more private lateral will become the responsibility of the water company.

Rob Smith stated:

“Every year we spend £12m clearing blockages, most of which are caused by sewer abuse – food fat, and other sewer ‘no-no’s like wet wipes and sanitary items being wrongly washed down drains.

“Overnight on 1 October the total length of our sewer network will increase by about 60 per cent, which we reckon may lead to a near fivefold increase in blockages.

“It’s really important people remember that just because certain sections of drainage are going to become water companies’ responsibility from 1 October does not mean that we can mistreat our sewers by putting the wrong things down them.

The transfer of drains will depend on what type of property you own, however shared drainage installed before 1937 will not be affected, as the water company already look after these pipes.

Drain maintenance work in New Malden is continuing apace, as Thames Water repair a sewer under Kingston Road.

The sewer under Kingston road has been deteriorating rapidly over the last few years and since January, Thames Water and their drainage contractor have been working tirelessly on the sewer to instigate a repair. Work has been hampered however because the location of the sewer makes it difficult to work upon.

Around 500 metres of sewer have already been relined using no-dig technology and the complete length of the sewer has been investigated using CCTV cameras. The next phase of work will see engineers upgrade the section of sewer between Elm Road and Montem Road. Thames Water’s operations manager stated:

“The sewer in Kingston Road is cracked and corroded, and in desperate need of repair. Earlier this year is collapsed, flooding the High Street. We cannot take the risk of another collapse or more flooding.

“Upgrading this sewer is a massive piece of work, and we would like to assure local people that we are doing everything we can to complete our work here as quickly as possible and reduce disruption where possible. Unfortunately due to the scale of the work required here, we are unable to confirm when this work will be completed. We are really sorry for any inconvenience.”

It’s really important that you treat your waste water pipes with the respect they deserve, as one problem can cause thousands of pounds of damage.

Many people are not aware that they can’t flush anything they want into the drainage system. The drainage system is only able to cope with certain types of waste and incorrect waste disposal will only cause a blockage.

When drain maintenance companies repair faulty pipes, they commonly find that the problem has been caused by the homeowners themselves. Things that can’t be ‘flushed’ include:

• Wet wipes
• Nappies
• Cotton buds
• Grease and fats
• Face wipes

Many of the blockages that drainage experts in London remove are caused by the disposal of warm fats in the sewer. When warm fats are poured down the drain, they quickly cool and solidify and block the length of sewer pipe. When this happens, drain cleaning experts need to remove the congealed fat by jetting the drain with highly pressurised water or by manually removing it from the pipe. This takes time and is inconvenient for the homeowner, but can so very easily be avoided if they watch what they flush.