Four Common Apartment Plumbing Problems

There are many advantages to living in an apartment building, especially if you’re saving money to buy yourself a home. But the plumbing in apartments can also be tricky for renters to deal with since you have no control over how the previous tenants treated the plumbing system. Whether you are a landlord for an apartment building or someone living in a rented unit, you need to know how to deal with common apartment plumbing problems.

Do you need help with an apartment plumbing problem that has gotten out of hand? The master plumbers at Central Plumbing have the expertise needed to solve your issues and stop them from affecting other units in the building. Call us today at 225-925-8552 to learn about what services we provide.

How Plumbing Works in Apartments

Unlike the plumbing needed for a single-family home, creating a functional plumbing system for an apartment building or apartment complex requires a little more care.

In a multi-story building, water needs to reach each apartment unit and also expel waste coming from each of them. In addition, pipes, fittings, and fixtures each have to hold up to heavy use and fluctuating pressure generated from multiple apartments using water at once.

As a result of this complex system, each part must properly work to avoid costly chain-reaction problems. If an issue happening in one unit is not corrected soon enough, it can begin affecting other apartment units and develop into a larger issue. Thus, each renter and the landlord must be aware of the common apartment plumbing problems that can occur.

Common Apartment Plumbing Problem #1: Leaky Faucets

One common apartment plumbing problem many renters encounter is leaky faucets. Small leaks can result in the loss of gallons of water over time, which drives up water costs and wastes resources from the environment. If you live in an older apartment building, this is a common apartment plumbing problem you might be familiar with. Unlike plumbing pipes installed in newer apartment buildings or single-family homes, older buildings may have pipes that haven’t been updated and have suffered damage over time.

If you come across this apartment plumbing problem and your faucet or pipes needs repairing, call our team at Central Plumbing to fix this issue for safe and fast repair without the risk of causing other problems. Our licensed plumbers can make your faucet run good as new.

Common Apartment Plumbing Problem #2: Clogged Drains

Many of us take sink and shower drains for granted until water starts going up instead of down. Oftentimes, clogs are caused by grease, soap scum, and hair that’s built up over time and stopped water from flowing easily. You can attempt to remove those clogs yourself, but it may lead to more of a mess and come back as a bigger apartment plumbing problem. Clogged drains can eventually lead to water damage if not handled correctly.

Use liquid drain cleaner to see if it clears up the clog – follow the manufacturer’s instructions on how to use it, then run cold water through the clog for a few minutes. In just a few minutes, your drain will have nothing stopping it from doing its job. After that, an easy method to prevent debris or hair entering is installing a drain screen. You can buy them easily at home improvement stores.

If you’ve tried removing the clog and water still won’t drain easily, contact a professional plumber right away. Something else may be causing water to drain slowly, and without a professional to fix it, it could lead to cracked pipes and water damage in your and your neighbors’ apartments.

[Related: How to Prevent Clogged Drains]

Common Apartment Plumbing Problem #3: Frozen Pipes

While harsh winters are unlikely in Louisiana, cold weather is always a possibility. When winter falls upon us and the temperature starts going below freezing, the pipes bringing water in and out of your apartment may freeze. This is a big apartment plumbing problem if not corrected in time. Frozen pipes can crack or burst open, leading to serious leaks or flooding to one or multiple apartment units.

While you should call one of Central Plumbing’s plumbers at 225-925-8552 to inspect your pipes for any risks, you can warm up the frozen pipe using hot air from a hairdryer or warm water heated on a stove so the ice can melt slowly. Before cold weather does happen, you can also prevent freezing by insulating your pipes.

[Related: What to Do When You Have a Frozen Pipe]

Common Apartment Plumbing Problem #4: Dirty Water from Faucets

If you’ve noticed your clear, scentless water has recently turned brown or another color, you should immediately call an experienced plumber like Central Plumbing.

While you may think it’ll go back to a normal color soon, there could be a dangerous situation occurring in the water supply. No matter if you’ve gotten sick from it or not, call the emergency plumbing services at Central Plumbing as soon as possible. They can come 24 hours a day, seven days a week to see what is causing the water to change color.

Solve Any Apartment Plumbing Problems by Calling Central Plumbing Today

If you live in an apartment building, you need a team of plumbers you can trust who have experience carrying out plumbing work for residential apartment buildings and the knowledge to fix any issue before someone else is affected. See how Central Plumbing can help solve your apartment plumbing problem – contact us today!