So many of the everyday features of our homes can be taken for granted. Unless, of course, you wake up one morning and step into a wet bathroom floor you likely do not often think about the plumbing in your home. Once you have had a toilet overflow while you are asleep or away from the house, however, you begin to realize that there are many kinds of maintenance tasks at a home that can keep you from running your day as planned. In fact, there are few things more frustrating than a small plumbing problem becoming a big issue because you ignored early signs. We all know, for instance, that a small drip in a bathroom sink can eventually become problematic or that it is a good idea to call nearby plumbers as soon as you realize that the shower handle continues to turn past off frequently. Unfortunately, too many of us wait until there is an emergency before we call a plumber for help.
It is these emergency local plumber calls, however, that are the most expensive.
Finding the Right Plumber Can Help Property Owners Maintain the Value of Their Home
Just as you would want to check out the references for a family physician or pediatrician before you make an appointment for you or someone in your family, you also want to make sure that you are checking the references for the plumber that you hire to come into your home. In addition to knowing that you are hiring someone who is reliable, you also want to make sure that you are scheduling someone who is skilled in assessing a situation and completing the necessary repair or replacement work.
Consider these facts and figures bout the many ways that plumbers can help property owners deal with both small ongoing problems, as well as much bigger long term issues:

• A leaky faucet that drips at the rate of one drip a second can waste more than 3,000 gallons in a year. That is the same amount of water that is needed to take more than 180 showers.
• In comparison, a shower head leaking at 10 drips a minute wastes more than 500 gallons every year. This is an amount of water that is equivalent to what it takes to wash 60 loads of dishes in a dishwasher.
• Even when new property owners install the latest and most efficient plumbing and sewer systems, at some point these new pipes meet up with the older pipes in a city. this can be especially problematic when you realize that America’s aging sewer system spills an estimated 1.26 trillion gallons of untreated sewage every single year.
• A plumbing pipe that breaks open with just a 1/8-inch crack, if it is not staunched quickly can leak out as much as 250 gallons of water in a single day.
• A trillion gallons of water, worth an estimated $6 billion, is wasted every year as the result of running toilets, leaking faucets, or other problems.
• The average family in America uses more than 300 gallons of water every day at home.
• In addition to the amount of water that is wasted with plumbing problems it is also important to note that there are natural resources used as well. In fact, since 1963, enough copper piping has been installed in American homes to wrap around the Earth 200 times, nearly 5.3 million miles.
• The plumbing system in every home is composed of two separate subsystems. One subsystem brings freshwater in, while the other subsystem takes wastewater out. Both of these systems have to be working properly to make sure that a home is running as efficiently as possible.

Purchasing a home is typically the largest investment any of us will ever make. As a result, it is important to make sure that you are doing everything within your power to constantly not only maintain your home, but add to its value. This is easier to achieve if you are in the practice of calling in professional contractors when they are needed. Licensed plumbers, for instance, can not only deal with an immediate problem, but also make sure that they are helping you look forward to future problems that they may be able to help you avoid.