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A healthy home is key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle for you and your family. But for a growing number of homeowners, drains don’t tend to rank highly on their list of priorities. By familiarising yourself with a number of common health hazards associated with household drains, you can learn how to tackle them before they worsen. Continue reading to find out what they are.

Damp

If a drain is blocked, water may be leaking and accumulating where it shouldn’t be. As well as saturating the interior of your home, it can be costly and time-consuming to remedy. Over time, this can damage the structural integrity of your property. Rising damp is a particularly hazardous problem that can arise as a result of a blocked drain. It is a relatively rare form of damp that occurs when moisture travels in a vertical fashion from the ground upwards through permeable wall structures. To prevent damp, invest in a dehumidifier and ensure your home is sufficiently ventilated throughout the year. Damp-proof paint may also prevent damp from occurring in the first place or returning with a vengeance.

Pests

Water, and stagnant water, in particular, are a breeding ground for harmful pests to grow and multiply. These creatures can carry dangerous germs and diseases which can have a negative impact on the health and wellbeing of you and your family over time. Drain flies are another commonly reported pest found in household drains. Knowing how to get rid of drain flies, however, can be a simple fix. To find out what they are and how to deter them from setting up camp in your drain, this article contains everything you need to know. As well as drain flies, you may also be forced to contend with cockroaches, fruit flies, phorid flies, and centipedes. Inspecting your drains on a regular basis and installing drain covers can prevent pests from laying eggs in your pipes. If you are struggling to get rid of stubborn drain pests, a professional pest control company should be able to help.

Bad odours

A bad odour emanating from a drain can be an indication of a larger problem at hand. This can include a bacteria build-up, trapped food, a full or partial blockage, decaying pipe accessories, or sewage issues. One of the best ways to get rid of a bad odour is to fill your sink with a combination of hot water and bleach before allowing it to drain through your pipes. This can dislodge any trapped dirt or debris and leave your drain smelling sweet again. Alternatively, if you are looking for a natural solution, a mixture of baking soda and vinegar can effectively eliminate any bad odours radiating from your drains. By familiarising yourself with a number of leading causes, you can take steps to prevent your drains from kicking up a stink.

Water contamination

If you ignore a drain problem for a prolonged period of time, excess water can become contaminated. This can present a wide range of health problems for you and your family and invite harmful bacteria responsible for diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid, polio, and even hepatitis to flourish. It can also lead to water flowing backwards, picking up additional waste on the way. If this water ends up in your sink or bath, it can negatively impact the health and wellbeing of you and your loved ones.

To prevent water contamination from occurring in the first place, tend to your drain as soon as you become aware of any underlying problems or warning signs. To safely dispose of contaminated water in your drain, contact a professional drain cleaning company in your local area.

Leaks

Drain leaks can materialise as a result of poor upkeep and maintenance or just general wear and tear. Over time, damaged pipes will eventually succumb to the pressure of stagnant water and begin to seep dirty water. Further neglect can force this water to enter your home’s foundations and damage the structural integrity of your property. As well as triggering the onset of a number of health hazards, leaks can also be costly and time-consuming to fix.

Tackling the problem ahead of time is the only way to prevent it from worsening. A drain leak, however, can also be caused by a loose bolt or screw in your piping. By inspecting your drains on a regular basis or enlisting the services of a professional drain cleaning company or plumber, you can get to the root of the problem and find a suitable solution.

Black spot mould

Black spot mould is a particular type of mould that arises due to leaks, poor ventilation, and moisture in the air. As well as its unsightly appearance, it can also permanently damage the interior of your home and lead to a wide range of health hazards for anyone unlucky enough to ingest its spores. It can materialise anywhere in the home with the potential for dampness and is typically found near burst or broken pipes. As with any other airborne spores, black spot mould can exacerbate a number of pre-existing health issues such as asthma, respiratory or pulmonary conditions. To prevent black spot mould from growing, you must fully ventilate each room in your home throughout the year and carry out furniture inspections on a regular basis.

Pay close attention to furniture that has been positioned against internal or external walls as this can be one of the most common sites for excess humidity and poor insulation. Kitchen and bathroom drains, in particular, should be subjected to regular upkeep and maintenance to prevent moisture leakage and to safeguard your home from the health hazards associated with black spot mould.

Poorly maintained drains can trigger a number of dangerous health hazards for you and your family. By knowing which threats to look out for, you can take steps to avoid them from materialising in the first place. Examples include damp, pests, bad odours, water contamination, leaks, and black spot mould.

I have heard people saying when one thing goes wrong, everything starts going wrong. However, today I actually experienced this and it was not just one of those bizarre days where I couldn’t get anything done properly.

This was a bit more serious for me. It involved several appliances around the house suddenly deciding it was time for a break.

It started with my refrigerator. All of a sudden the inside light stopped working. I was in panic mode and hoped against hope it was a simple light issue and not a machine fault. Apart from all the food getting spoilt, I was also really trying to avoid a refrigerator repair job as I simply didn’t have the time or budget for it. Of course the worst case scenario of buying a new refrigerator was completely out of the question.

After some frantic searching on the internet, I tried some troubleshooting. I unplugged the refrigerator, plugged it in again and ensured there were no power issues. I also used the old school method of simply putting my hand on the sides of the refrigerator to feel for the usual vibrations. I could feel it and the fact that even after a while things seemed quite cool inside the refrigerator told me it was not a machine issue.

Well after a few calls here and there, I had a friend bring in a new bulb for my exact model from the nearest hardware store. He helped fix the bulb as well and thank my lucky stars the light came on as soon as I switched on my refrigerator once again. It was unplugged before changing the bulb.

I felt a sense of relief as I can’t imagine not having the refrigerator working for days before it gets repaired. Unfortunately though, my sense of relief soon faded when I realized my heater in my small work from home office was not working as it should.

I have one of those portable halogen heaters that swivel around slowly and distribute heat evenly. It is a simple heating solution for a small space like my makeshift home office. However, when I sat for my work, I noticed the heater was not swiveling. The fan from the heater was also making an unusual noise and was quite loud.

The heater itself was working though as I could feel the heat but it was definitely not functioning as it should have.

Now for the worst part. I tried fixing the heater as much as I could going through tutorials online on my mobile. However, nothing helped and I thought its not really that cold so this can be something I can do later. Anyways the portable heater was meant only for my workspace which I built for my work from home situation.

However, as soon as I sat for work and switched on my laptop, well guess what. It wouldn’t come on or boot up. It stayed at the Windows logo with those dots going round and round but absolutely nothing happened. It was my worst nightmare. All my files, data, clients waiting for their designs. All held hostage by my non-booting laptop.

I waited for more than 10 minutes before I forced shut the machine and tried booting it again. Same issue. Back to searching for a solution on my mobile. Most suggestions said to boot windows in safe mode and go from there. However, my laptop refused to even get to the safe mode screen. I waited and waited and waited.

Now I was really cursing my luck. First my refrigerator, then my heater and just when I thought things could not be worse, my laptop.

However, I read that sometimes when a windows update is going on it can take even couple of hours for the machine to boot and I remembered there was an update when I was shutting down the machine the previous night. So then I waited for a couple of hours patiently. Well – it did nothing. Still the dots going around in a circle.

This time though, I can again forced shut the machine and booted it once more. Thankfully this time I got the windows update notification with a percentage showing up. This went on for few minutes and finally my laptop was back on. It was crazy. The relief was incredible. I had no time to relax though as I had missed most of my work day and had to frantically get back to working.

So finally, after a day where it felt as if everything in my house needed repair, I am now back on the couch with my herbal tea, almost afraid of thinking what is going to go wrong next.

Also if you are wondering, the heater is not okay and has now stopped working completely.