Drains & Pipes

What is the True Cost of a Leaky Faucet or Leaking Pipe?

Will your home insurance cover water damage that results from a leaking pipe or leaky faucet? As it stands, the answer is likely no.

As a rule, most home insurers will cover the cost of water damage resulting from a pipe suddenly bursting. However, most insurers won’t cover the cost of damage resulting from minor leaks being allowed to worsen over time.

A Leaky Faucet or Leaking Pipe Needs to be Fixed Fast

At face value, a leaking pipe or dripping faucet is nothing more than an inconvenience. However, minor leaks can exasperate quickly. Worse, even a simple leaky faucet can see up to 20 gallons of water wasted every 24-hours.

The True Cost of a Leaky Faucet

Modern home toilets use approximately 1.6 gallons of water per flush. Given that a dripping faucet can drip up to 20 gallons of water each day, this is equivocal to 12.5 extra toilet flushes.

Water rates differ from area to area. However, wasting the equivalent of 20 gallons of water each day can easily add up to $100 to annual water bills.

How Much Water Does a Leaking Pipe Waste?

Have you recently noticed a leaking pipe in your kitchen, bathroom, or elsewhere in your home? If so, your first concern likely rests with the potential for serious water damage. However, you might also be shocked to learn how much water even a minor leak can waste.

As a basic rule, a pencil point/pinhole leak in a pipe can result in a loss of between 170 and 3600 gallons of water per day. Even in the best case, this amounts to over 106 extra toilet flushes.

Why Home Insurers Wriggle Out of Water Damage Claims

Most homeowners appreciate the fact that a leaking pipe represents a serious problem. However, many homeowners often put off attending to leaks. Others rarely perform home maintenance checks.

When maintenance checks and home plumbing inspections aren’t carried out at least bi-annually, leaking pipes often go undetected. The first sign of a problem will subsequently manifest in the form of damp, mold outbreaks, and sometimes even serious structural problems.

  • Drywall forced to absorb water from a leaking pipe will stain, buckle and warp, before needing to be completely replaced.
  • Stains and discolorations on walls and ceilings are often attributed to damp, rather than potential leaky pipe problems.
  • Left undetected, leaks can compromise the integrity of support beams and even a property foundation.

Because costs associated with water damage escalate quickly, home insurers do everything they can to wriggle out of paying repair costs. It can also be said that they are justified in doing so.

How to Find Hidden Water Leaks

Leaks which cause the most damage to American homes are those which are notoriously difficult to detect.

A leaking faucet or a leak in an exposed pipe is easy to identify. However, leaks in pipes hidden behind ceilings, drywall, and in basement slabs, can persist for years undetected. Thankfully, there are a few DIY ways to detect hidden leaks.

  • Carefully monitor your water meter and water bills. A spike in water consumption over a sustained period will almost always be indicative of a hidden leak on a property.
  • Investigate damp, mold, and yellow stains on drywall areas as soon as they appear.
  • Test to see if a toilet is running by adding food coloring to your toilet tank.
  • Always be on the lookout for peeling wallpaper, damp smells, and damaged flooring.

If you are experiencing damp in your home, it will also pay to invest in a professional plumbing system health check.

Modern plumber use specialized leak detection equipment to detect leaks in even hard to reach foundation slabs. In most cases, plumbers will also be able to neutralize leaks which are detected quickly.

Are you pouring water down the drain? If so. make sure to act fast to avoid spiraling repair costs by seeking professional help today.