It’s something no renter ever likes to actually encounter: water leaking in your rental home! But really, if you do discover a leak, there are things that you can do to make the best of the situation. To be sure you play your role in the solution, here’s what you should do when there’s a leak in your rental home.
Turn off the water supply
If you see or hear water coming from somewhere it shouldn’t, your primary measure or action is to turn it off at the source. If the leak comes from a faucet or appliance, you can shut off the water just by turning the handle or powering it off.
If your leak is more serious than that, on the flip side, you ought to shut off the main water supply to the house. To do so, locate your water main shut-off valve. This may be in a basement, utility room, or outside the home. After that, put to use a wrench and some pliers to turn the valve until the water stops flowing.
Contain the leak and minimize water damage
When you turn off the water, your further step is to mop up any water leaking or pooling on the floor, under cabinets, or someplace else. Apply old towels and a mop to minimize the water’s spread and dry cabinets, table legs, and other wood.
If your carpet or rugs are soaked, use towels to soak up as much water as possible. Subsequently, open the windows and turn on many fans to dry the rug quickly. Leaving a wet carpet to sit may result in mold and permanently damage any furniture sitting over it.
Notify your landlord or property manager
After you make the water flow under control, it’s essential to call your landlord as soon as you can. Your landlord needs to know what happened and what you’ve performed to address the problem.
Water leaks are crucial to resolve as soon as they appear, or serious damage can come up. If you let the complication sit way too long, you could be liable for those damages. By calling your landlord, you can act together to organize to have the leak repaired and get any other damage in the home addressed.
Simple checks and maintenance tasks to avoid leaks
The ultimate step in dealing with a water leak in your rental home is to perform better prevention. Right after you perceive what made the leak, you must perform your part to prevent a repeat of the same incident. Protect your drains and pipes from increased temperatures, clogs, and other prevalent troubles if it is possible.
You can equally do all you can to stay on top of regular maintenance matters and notify your landlord when you spot signs of a developing problem. By patching and fixing things up before the pipes burst, you can do more to help prevent water leaks in your rental home.
Real Property Management Bluegrass can help you out in locating a new residence to rent in Richmond or the bordering area. Please look at our available rentals to ascertain more and line up a viewing.
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