What Happens to Plumbing When a Holiday Home Sits Empty for Months?
Needless to say here, holiday homes sound so lovely in theory, don’t they? Like, it’s a little place by the lake, near the beach, it’s placed somewhere in the woods, somewhere warm, somewhere slow, somewhere that’s meant to feel like a proper break from normal life. A lot of people dream of this, so when you do have it, well, it’s paradise.
But okay, the house itself doesn’t exactly go into vacation mode. For the most part, it’s fairly easy to maintain a holiday home, but at the same time, here, if things go unused for months, well, that can be a surprising problem too, especially when it comes to plumbing. Actually, that’s the thing that really throws people off: there are some plumbing issues when no one has been living in a house.
Water Can Get Stale When it’s Been Sitting Around
If a home hasn’t been used in months, the water in parts of the system can start to seem off. Like, really off. Alright, so maybe it smells strange when the tap first runs, and possibly the color looks a little weird. Oh, and just maybe there’s that stale, closed-up-house feeling that makes everyone pause for a second and go, “Okay, is this normal?” Yeah, that can actually happen here!
Sometimes, running the taps for a bit helps clear things out. Like, sometimes the water is brown or red when you first turn on the tap, but it goes away in a few minutes while you run the water, easy stuff.
But with that said, if the smell sticks around, the water looks strange, or it just doesn’t feel right, it’s worth taking seriously. So in a case like that, you might honestly want to look into Bluefrog Plumbing. It’s not too uncommon for some folks to get a plumber to go to their holiday home if they haven’t been for months or even years, because there could be damage. Obviously, the last thing you want is to get comfortable and then instantly deal with these issues. Plus, like a normal home, even holiday homes need some regular maintenance too.
Sometimes, Drains Can Start Smelling Gross
Now, this is one of those plumbing things that sounds small until it happens. So, drain traps need water in them to block sewer gases from coming back into the home. But if a sink, shower, tub, or floor drain hasn’t been used for months, that water can evaporate. Now, this is one of those plumbing things that sounds small until it happens. So, drain traps need water in them to block sewer gases from coming back into the home. But if a sink, shower, tub, or floor drain hasn’t been used for months, that water can evaporate.
No, really, it will evaporate, and it doesn’t help that bugs, specifically gnats, come from drains. So, not only are you going to deal with smells, but you’ll deal with gnats, too. It’s far from being a good start to a trip in yout home if you’re dealing with that, right?
Tiny Leaks Can Turn into Bigger Problems
Well, think about it for a moment, it’s not like anybody’s around to notice the little stuff. So, a tiny drip under the sink, a toilet supply line that’s starting to fail, a water heater leak, an outdoor faucet issue, all of that can sit there for ages if nobody checks. Basically, in a holiday home, a small problem can have way too much alone time, and you better believe it can use that time badly.
