Heavy rain and stormy weather can have major effects on your Sydney home’s plumbing system. While this type of weather is usually quite common in the warmer months, it still sometimes comes and can be quite a shock for homeowners, in the winter. This type of weather, rain especially, can have a huge impact on your plumbing system as it often causes lots of movement around our pipes. Many issues can come from heavy rain and storms including the below:
Excess water in sewers
You’ve likely noticed when there is extreme rain your toilets will start making weird gurgling noises and potentially even strange smells coming from the toilets. This is because when heavy rain begins to fall it typically will flow down into the sewers. When enough rainwater backs up the sewers, depending on the areas surrounding your home, it can very easily cause a backup within the sewers. When the sewers start to back up in your home it will often lead to some minor plumbing issues and can lead to basement flooding or water damage within your home.
Flooding & Backups of water
The first thing you likely think of when you think of heavy rain is potential floods and backup of water. Water backups can, as mentioned previously, happen in the sewerage systems, but they can also happen in your household pipes. If any of your pipes have holes or damage, no matter how minuscule, with enough heavy rain these holes can lead to excess water flowing into your pipes and causing a backup of water. If this happens, in the days after the rain you may notice things like blocked drains, leaking taps, strange noises, and issues with your overall plumbing system.
Shifting soil & tree roots
As the rain falls and hits the ground of your property, where all of your plumbing pipes are buried, it can cause a surprising amount of damage. This can cause small cracks or holes in your pipes which can lead to backups of water as mentioned earlier, or debris and soils getting into your pipes. Heavy storms can also cause shifts in tree roots that are near your pipes. Tree roots are one of the most common causes of broken pipes and contaminated water so it’s fair to say that this can be a major issue.
How to avoid the damage
These outcomes of rain and storms can be avoided, or at the very least there are things you can do to help minimise the risk or get any problems fixed quickly. Making sure that your plumbing system is well-maintained and looked after is essential in protecting your home from these plumbing disasters during wild weather. If you haven’t had your plumbing system checked out and updated recently, it may be worth booking in to make sure everything is ready to go in the case of any wild weather.
If it’s too late for you to prevent the outcome and your plumbing system has already been affected by any weather events, then you don’t need to worry! Hello Plumbing is the local Sydney plumbing team that is trusted by thousands of residents and homeowners throughout Sydney and we’re ready for you to be our next customer!
