When you have a plumbing emergency, knowing what to do and how to pay for it can expedite the repair process and help limit the amount of water damage on the affected floors and inside the units. Here at Nu Flow, we recommend having a 24-hour emergency maintenance number available for your tenants to call, an emergency maintenance plan and an emergency budget.
What is a plumbing emergency?
An emergency with your plumbing is any type of situation in which your building could experience catastrophic water damage if the problem isn’t remedied quickly. This includes burst pipes, overflowing toilets, flooded bathrooms, leaking water heaters and boilers, sewer backups and plumbing pipes that are leaking in numerous locations.
What should I do if I have a plumbing emergency?
If you have an emergency, you should turn off the water to the affected fixtures or tenant unit. If you cannot turn off the water close to the source, you will have to turn the water off to the entire building. If any hot water heaters or boilers are affected by the water shut-off, you will need to turn those off to prevent damage to the units from lack of water. While your maintenance staff is turning off the water to lessen the amount of water damage, you should call an emergency plumber.
Do you have a plumbing emergency budget?
Emergency plumbing repairs should come out of your emergency maintenance budget, which should be an amount that is set aside in addition to your normal maintenance budget. SFgate recommends setting aside at least 2 percent of the property’s total value for maintenance and repair costs as well as extra money to take care of regular maintenance and building problems. If you have an emergency budget, you’ll either find it as part of your total maintenance costs or as a separate budget that has been allocated for emergency repairs.
What should you do if you do not have a plumbing emergency budget?
If you do not have an emergency repair budget, you could find yourself in a situation where you need to pay your emergency plumber from your general maintenance budget. While paying for the emergency plumber out of your maintenance and repair budget takes care of the immediate problem, you may find yourself short on funds as you near the end of the year. To prevent this problem, you should consult with your building’s owner and/or board members and tenants in order to get approval to create a budget specifically for building maintenance emergencies.
How do I prevent plumbing emergencies?
To prevent plumbing emergencies, you should have regular inspections and maintenance performed on your plumbing pipes. This includes getting a camera inspection at least once a year. Camera inspections can help determine the ages of your pipes, their corrosion levels and if any pipes are in dire need of repair or replacement. You may also want to consider getting a building pipe assessment and conducting a reserve study. These services can help you create a maintenance and repair and replacement schedule that fits with your budget and timeline.
What is a building pipe assessment?
A building pipe assessment is an inspection of your building’s plumbing pipes to determine age, wear and tear and corrosion levels. Here at Nu Flow, we typically perform assessments to determine if pipe lining would help stop current pinhole leaks and leaks around joints and seams and prevent future plumbing leaks, but we can also use it to help you create a pipe repair and replacement plan. We can offer long-term pipe repair and replacement plans that involve both pipe lining and traditional pipe repair services because we partner with licensed Althoff Industries. By utilizing this partnership, we can offer you combination services that involve both traditional pipe replacement and trenchless pipe lining technology. To learn more about how we can help you create a long-term plan for your plumbing pipes and to schedule a pipe assessment, call us at 815-790-9000.
