As temperatures rise and rain becomes more frequent, sewer and drain professionals are seeing a surge in service calls — and one veteran technician says many of the problems could have been prevented.
- It's the time of year for ice to thaw and rain to come
- Many drainage and downspout issues come from lack of regular maintenance
- Local expert suggests checking gutters and downspouts twice a year
Jonathan Finney has worked with Minuteman Sewer and Drain Cleaning for nearly 27 years. I caught up with Finney on a job site Thursday, where he said the recent weather has driven a sharp increase in demand.
"We've been super busy this last couple of weeks just due to all of this water we've been getting with the thaw," Finney said.
Finney said the root of many springtime plumbing problems comes down to drainage systems that haven't been properly maintained.
"All that moisture has to go somewhere and if the drain systems haven't been maintained, these problems reveal themselves," Finney said.
Among the most common issues Finney sees this time of year are clogged downspouts — a problem that often goes unnoticed during colder months.
"When the downspouts are plugged, they tend to hold water and eventually freeze. When the weather is really really cold and they're solid ice, you don't notice that," Finney said.
Left unaddressed, those issues can become expensive. When asked what can happen if homeowners don't keep up with maintenance, Finney was direct.
"It can be a very costly repair, sometimes resulting in extensive property damage," Finney said.
Finney said many of the calls he's responding to now are the result of problems that could have been handled earlier.
"A lot of the plumbing issues that we've been seeing lately are the result of, unfortunately, people not paying attention to things that they perhaps could've taken care of when the weather was a little better," Finney said.
His advice is simple: check gutters and downspouts twice a year — once in the spring and once in the fall.
"A lot of this trouble, all these expensive repairs that we kind of touched on, can be avoided with just a little bit of care. Paying attention as you go along," Finney said.
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