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Maintaining your drainage system is easy to forget until something goes wrong. Most often, the need for drain cleaning doesn’t become evident until a blocked drain damages something. It can damage your home’s structural integrity and negatively impact your health. If you’ve ever wondered whether your blocked drains are making you sick, here are the top harmful effects of blocked drains on your home and health.
What are the harmful effects of blocked drains on our overall health and home environment?
1. Contaminated Water
When clean water mixes with wastage and other unsanitary liquids, this contaminates the water. Consumption or use of this water will spread various diseases throughout the household.
Blocked drains that are left unattended increase the chances of water getting contaminated because drainage pipes also process other wastage. Blocked pipes due to wastage prevent the water from passing through and cause them the flow backwards. This contaminated water can spread various diseases in your household.
2. Foul Smells
As drains get blocked, stagnant water and waste build up within the pipes and produce foul odours. This may end up affecting your entire household, causing headaches and nausea due to the toxic air circulating. Blockages make the pipes dry out as they block the free flow of water. The foul-odour-producing waste is not flushed out by moisture and water flow.
A way to avoid these adverse effects is to make sure the area is well-ventilated. Try opening windows to let fresh air in to promote circulation in the room that will minimise the noxious fumes.
3. Aggravation of Allergies & Asthma
Blocked drains provide an environment that causes bacterial growth that can lead to diseases and allergies that impact your health. As waste materials build up in pipes, the blockage causes the drained water and waste to flow back. This sewage and waste flow back into the sink with contaminants that can can trigger respiratory symptoms for asthma and other allergies that pre-exist.
4. Leaks & Dangerous Mould
Water always needs to flow somewhere. So, when pipes get blocked, the stagnant water builds up pressure, causing pipes to crack and leak. Evidence of this leak can be seen on the surface of walls and floors as water damage. If water leaks reaches a certain amount, it may cause flooding and that water damage then because the breeding ground for mould and mildew. Also, multiple leaks in the house make for a cold and damp environment that can get you sick. Common side effects of mould inhalation include headaches, coughing, allergies, dizziness, and even eye irritations.
5. Breeding Ground for Insects/Pests
Stagnant water is an ideal breeding spot for pests like mosquitoes and other insects that thrive on standing water. These pests can bring a host of diseases with them, such as encephalitis. It is important to immediately clean up excess or stagnant water surrounding a plumbing disaster to prevent insect breeding. Cleaning up puddles surrounding your blocked drain is also an excellent habit to have.
At Sydney Blocked Drains, our skilled team of drain experts are trained in diagnosing & repairing blocked and broken drains. Call us now at 1300 403 201.
