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12 Plumbing Tips For Landlords in Chicago

plumbing tips for landlords.

As a landlord in Chicago, it is crucial to ensure that the plumbing systems in your rental properties are well-maintained and functional. Plumbing issues can lead to costly repairs and unhappy tenants. By following these 12 plumbing tips, you can minimize the likelihood of plumbing emergencies and maintain happy, satisfied tenants.

1. Regularly Inspect Plumbing Fixtures

Perform routine inspections of all plumbing fixtures such as sinks, toilets, showerheads, and faucets. Look for any signs of leaks, drips, or damage. Early detection can prevent small issues from turning into major problems.

2. Test Water Pressure

Check the water pressure throughout the property regularly. Low water pressure can indicate underlying plumbing issues like clogged pipes or faulty pressure regulators. Addressing these issues promptly can prevent long-term damage to the plumbing system.

3. Educate Tenants

Provide your tenants with essential plumbing tips and guidelines to prevent common issues. Inform them about what should not be flushed down the toilet, how to use garbage disposals properly, and how to report any plumbing problems promptly.

4. Install Drain Strainers

Encourage tenants to use drain strainers in their sinks and showers to catch hair, soap residue, and other debris. This simple measure can significantly reduce the chances of clogs and blockages in the pipes.

5. Insulate Pipes

Insulate any exposed pipes, especially during the colder months in Chicago. This helps prevent frozen pipes and burst pipes, which can cause extensive damage and costly repairs. Insulation materials are readily available at hardware stores.

6. Maintain Hot Water Heaters

Regularly inspect and maintain the hot water heater in each rental unit. Flush the tank annually to remove sediment buildup, test the pressure relief valve, and ensure that the temperature is set to a safe and efficient level.

7. Address Leak Repairs Promptly

If you receive reports of leaks from your tenants, address them promptly. Ignoring leaks can lead to water damage, mold growth, and even structural issues. Timely repair work will save you from costly repairs in the long run.

8. Winterize Vacant Properties

Before winter, if any of your rental units are vacant, take the necessary steps to winterize them. Shut off the water supply, drain the pipes, and install antifreeze in fixture traps. This will protect the plumbing system from freezing and potential damage.

9. Schedule Routine Plumbing Maintenance

Contact a professional Chicago plumber to conduct annual inspections and maintenance checks. They can identify potential issues before they escalate and perform necessary repairs or replacements.

10. Test Sump Pumps

If your rental property has a basement, ensure that the sump pump is in working order. Test it regularly, especially before heavy rainfall or during spring when snow is melting. A functioning sump pump helps prevent flooding and water damage. Contacting a plumber for any repairs or replacements of a sump pump is the best bet if needed.

11. Know the Location of Shut-off Valves

Inform your tenants about the location of shut-off valves for the main water supply and individual plumbing fixtures. In case of emergencies like burst pipes, quick access to shut-off valves can prevent further damage.

12. Hire Licensed Plumbers

Whenever plumbing repairs or installations are required, hire only licensed and reputable plumbers. This ensures that the work is done correctly and up to code, reducing the chances of recurring issues.

Conclusion

By following these 12 plumbing tips as a landlord in Chicago, you can maintain well-functioning plumbing systems in your rental properties, prevent emergencies, and keep your tenants satisfied. Regular inspections, timely repairs, and educating tenants will go a long way in ensuring the longevity and efficiency of your plumbing infrastructure.

Common Plumbing Issues for Landlords to Watch for in a Rental

common plumbing issues in a rental.

Unless you plan to keep them under control, plumbing issues in your rental property can quickly spiral out of control. How the plumbing in a rental is treated always changes because tenants constantly come and go from the property.

Although most renters are decent folks who do their best to look after a landlord’s property, many are not just equipped with the knowledge to do a good job. Moreover, it takes effort to care for the plumbing, and tenants don’t usually have the incentive to make that investment.

Furthermore, the property owner is away from it most of the time, limiting their supervisory oversight level. The result is that plumbing maintenance costs in a rental property can get very high. But what can you do to prevent this?

There are important processes every landlord should make an integral part of their rental property management strategy. A few of them include the following:

  1. Thorough tenant screening to reduce the risk of leasing to problem renters.
  2. Proper orientation of new tenants on how to treat the plumbing system in the rental.
  3. Detailed and easy steps for reporting plumbing issues and dealing with emergencies.
  4. Clear and promptly enforced penalties for tenants who fail to respect the lease terms.
  5. Preventative care of the plumbing via seasonal inspections and scheduled maintenance.

Doing the above will help you avoid major issues with your rental property’s plumbing. You can also reduce the cost and effort of maintaining the plumbing further if you know where problems are most likely to happen in the rental’s plumbing system.

Common plumbing issues in a rental property

Clogged drains

Clogged drains are the number one plumbing issue that happens in rental properties. This is because tenants are often not careful to watch what they flush into the home’s drains. When clogs occur in the kitchen drain, it is usually because a tenant has been washing fats, grease, oil, and starchy food into the drains. Shower drain clogs are often caused by hair and soap scum getting into the drain. Sanitary products, wipes, diapers, dental floss, etc., may block toilet drains. 

Educating your tenants on what not to flush into the drain can help limit the problems; only human waste and toilet paper should enter toilet drains. Also, tenants should never use chemical drain cleaners to unclog blocked drains. You should advise your landlord and let them know you need professional drain cleaning services from a local plumber.

Leaky faucets

Leaky faucets are a huge financial drain because they can inflate the rental’s water bill. But unless the constant dripping of a faucet is upsetting your tenant, most tenants will not pay attention to the seemingly insignificant drops of water coming from the faucet. That is unless the tenant is responsible for paying their own water bills. 

This is why seasonal inspections of the rental’s plumbing system are so important; they let you detect minor issues that would have gone unnoticed. A leaky faucet is not a hard problem to fix; you can resolve the issue in less than one hour.

Water pressure issues

For your tenants, low water pressure is a nuisance, but high water pressure is good because they get more water out of faucets and showerheads. But high water pressure is a huge problem for landlords because it can cause massive damage to the home’s plumbing pipes and water-utilizing appliances. 

The possibility of leaks in your rental’s plumbing system is greatly multiplied by water hammers from high water pressure. The moment the water pressure exceeds 50 psi, you should be worried. You can install a pressure regulator in the plumbing to prevent this problem.

Pipe leaks

Leaking pipes in a rental home are caused by various issues, but frozen pipes are the biggest. If the rental property is in a region where the winters get very cold, there is a huge chance that some pipes in the home may become exposed to cold air. If this happens, the water inside the pipes will freeze and exert enough pressure inside the pipes to burst them. 

Pipe leaks in a rental can also result from aging pipes, corrosion, or sedimentation from hard water. Educating tenants on protecting pipes during winter and preventative plumbing maintenance can help prevent this problem. 

Running toilets

Running toilets not only waste water, but they may interfere with the normal function of a toilet by making flushing less effective. This is another problem tenants are likely to ignore if they don’t pay the water bills and if the issue does not affect their use of the toilet. 

Running toilets are caused by old or damaged components inside the toilet tank, and the problem is quite easy to fix. Seasonal inspections of the rental’s plumbing will help you detect and solve this issue.

Once again, the plumbing systems in your rental benefit when there is a good understanding between the landlord, renters, and the plumber. Designing a system that allows all three parties to work harmoniously is the best way to prevent and solve plumbing issues in an investment property.