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4 WAYS PEST PROBLEMS AND PLUMBING PROBLEMS CAN BE RELATED
admin • March 19, 2019
Sometimes multiple home maintenance issues can feed off each other. For example, an HVAC problem could allow pests to enter the ductwork, where they cause further damage to the system. Similar effects can occur when you have plumbing problems and pests. One can cause or encourage the other and vice versa.
Take a look at four ways pest problems and plumbing problems can be related.
1. Drips or Leaks Provide Water Sources
If you have a slow-dripping faucet, you may think of it more as a nuisance than a serious problem. But if you don't deal with it, you could unwittingly attract insect pests.
Pests living in your home typically rely on the food and water sources they can find indoors, especially when the weather outside is prohibitively cold. A steady, reliable water source can both attract pests looking for somewhere to infest and help support a growing infestation.
Many plumbing problems can double as this pest-supporting water source. A dripping kitchen sink can mean water is always available no matter how clean you keep your kitchen, promoting the possibility of a roach infestation. Other insects a dripping faucet could attract include silverfish, carpenter ants, earwigs, house centipedes, and even camel crickets.
Like a dripping faucet, a slow-leaking pipe somewhere inside your walls can support insect life, which can allow a hidden infestation to flourish until it's difficult to eradicate. Even a sweating pipe, offering just the amount of condensation produced by a cold surface in a warm home, can support a pest problem. So make sure both your hot and cold water pipes are well insulated.
2. Pests Can Eat Pipe Insulation
Rodents such as mice and rats are incorrigible chewers. If you have any insulation in your home that's made of organic materials (such as paper), they may head for that first. But that doesn't mean they won't chew through other materials as well. Mice love fiberglass insulation, and they'll even chew the foam insulation that's typically used on pipes.
While a bit of chewed pipe insulation isn't a high-grade plumbing emergency, the damage can reduce energy efficiency by allowing heat to escape or allowing pipes to freeze in winter if they're in an unheated spot. Plus, the damaged insulation costs money to replace, and if your pipes are plastic, the rodents could chew on those as well. That's one more reason to boot rodents from your home ASAP.
3. Pest Can Cause Drain Clogs
Although most pests will typically not live inside water or drain pipes, you can occasionally get an infestation that results in roaches living in certain parts of your drains. The part of the drain they tend to live in is called the trap. The trap is designed to keep bugs and sewer gases from entering your home through the drain, but roaches may make it through.
Because the trap holds water, it can then become a water source for roaches, which will feed on debris such as food particles that wash down the drain. The roaches can even cause clogs in the trap once the infestation has taken hold.
4. Water Damage Can Attract Termites
Water isn't the only thing that can attract pests. Termites are typically attracted to damp or waterdamaged, even rotting, wood. And with a hidden leak, you could allow rotting wood to fester inside the walls of your home without knowing it.
For professional help with plumbing maintenance or for repairs after a pest infestation, get in touch with us today. At Art Douglas Plumbing Inc., we will be happy to help you with any plumbing care or repair.
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