There are upsides and downsides to having plumbing in your bathroom. The upsides, well, they’re obvious. You get to shower, wash your hands, be hygienic, and ensure the space has a function to begin with. The downsides, though much less prominent, are still there. You have to manage damp and steam, so good airflow is essential. If you’re not careful, you can flood the space easily, such as by forgetting you had a bath running.
Every now and then, a pipe can burst too. That doesn’t often happen, and it may never happen to you. But sometimes it does. Or, alternatively, a leak in an old pipe can lead to a drip effect, which isn’t as bad as a full burst, but still causes problems.
How are you supposed to deal with this? Consider the following:
Turn The Mains Water Off
The tirst thing you need to do is stop more water from making the situation worse. Find your stopcock, which is usually under the kitchen sink or where the water pipe enters your house, and turn it clockwise until it stops.
If you can’t find it or it won’t budge, don’t panic, just keep looking or ask a neighbor. Water can do serious damage pretty quickly, so cutting off the supply gives you time to think without watching a puddle grow bigger. Then, of course, make sure everyone in the house knows you’ve turned the water off so nobody gets confused about why the taps aren’t working.
Call The Experts
Unless you’re handy with plumbing and know what you’re doing, this isn’t really the time to start learning through trial and error. A proper plumber can usually tell you over the phone whether it’s an emergency that needs immediate attention or something that can wait, like a small drip you can put a bucket under. Don’t be embarrassed about calling, they’ve seen it all before and would rather come out for a false alarm than deal with major water damage later.
Attend To The Area
While you’re waiting for professional help, do what you can to minimize damage without getting in over your head. Move anything valuable away from the affected area, and put down towels or buckets to catch drips if possible. Take photos of the damage for insurance purposes if it looks like it might be serious as well.
Consider Repair & Remodeling
You may wish to think about whether this is a sign that your bathroom needs more than just a quick patch-up job and if repairs are needed. Old pipes often fail in multiple places around the same time, so fixing one leak might just be buying you a few months before the next problem starts. If your bathroom is looking tired anyway, dealing with plumbing issues could be the perfect excuse to give the whole space a refresh. You can also use a bathroom remodeler to help you replace and restore any of the bathroom areas that have been irretrievably harmed or impacted by the water, and give you a new start in the space.
With this advice, we hope you can manage that bathroom leak well!
