What Do You Do With Leaky Pipes?

Whether your leaky pipes have the potential to flood your house or are just leaving small puddles of water droplets on your floor, imperfect pipes can be terrible nuisances. Certainly, one question is on your mind: How do I fix this?

Sweating or leaking?

The first thing you must do when preparing to take action on those annoying pipes is determine whether the pipes are leaking or sweating. If your pipes are sweating, which refers to condensation that builds on the pipe, the problem might be much less severe than you originally anticipated.

The condensation builds when cold water runs through the pipes and the pipes are surrounded by warm, humid air. The dripping can be easily solved with pipe insulation. This can be as simple as wrapping the pipes completely with drip tape.

A leak, however, is an altogether different story.

Small leaks vs. big leaks

Many problem leaks can be solved by collars, clamps, waterproof tape, or other “pipe patches.” However, old pipes might need to be replaced. Fixing one part of the pipe might even spur on a leak in a different section of it.

Though it is certainly possible, you might not want to replace the pipes yourself. Poor pipe replacement can cause serious problems down the road, including but not limited to flooding your house on accident.

The biggest thing to remember is to shut off your water before replacing the pipes though.

If you want your pipes to be in good hands, talk to your Chicago pipe experts!