“There’s got to be a leak somewhere in my apartment,” one Manhattan homeowner recently told us, “because I’ve seen the water bill go up.” They shrugged. “But I’m not seeing any puddles or wetness anywhere that I can find, so it’s probably no big deal, right?”
They wanted reassurance that it was okay to ignore the problem. As a NYC plumber, I just couldn’t do that. The truth is that plumbing leaks – even small ones! – need to be fixed. Leaks do not fix themselves, and the problem just won’t go away. A leak that’s significant enough to impact your water bill is by definition not a small leak. The first thing you have to ask yourself is where is that water – a volume of water large enough to be costing you extra money each month – going?
Investigation revealed that there was a cracked drain pipe inside of the wall of the homeowner’s apartment. Every time water passed through that drain pipe, some sprayed out through the crack. Because the leak didn’t face toward the homeowner’s home, but instead faced on a wall attached to a room management used for extra building maintenance and cleaning supplies, the damage went undiscovered for months. There was damage to the wallboard, as well as to the materials stored in the room. We weren’t able to get exact numbers on the cost of the damage, but given the fact wallboard and part of the flooring needed to be replaced, it was clearly in excess of a thousand dollars. The cost of finding and fixing the leak was only a fraction of that.
In this instance, we were fortunate and no significant mold or mildew growth occurred as a result of the plumbing leak. That’s not always the case! If mold remediation had been required that would have been an additional expense. Save money! If you’re sure you have a leak but don’t know where it is, call your NYC plumber.
