What’s lurking under your house and in your walls? Some of the scariest things are those you can’t see. Pinhole leaks in corroded pipes, grease slowly choking off the sewer line are issues that go un-noticed until things suddenly go sideways quickly.
Once the problem rears its head, its best to have a few reputable plumbers in your phone’s contact list. As property managers in Montgomery County, we have plumbers that are close to our properties in Rockville, Gaithersburg, and Germantown as well as across the county in Silver Spring and Bethesda.
The first step is to stop the flow, often by turning the main shut-off (do you know where yours is and how to operate it?).
Once a plumber is on site, the search for a cause can sometimes involve opening up walls and ceilings or sending cameras or “snakes” down drain-lines. As the visit and repair will normally not be cheap, we always encourage our rental property owners to have an emergency fund built up for unforeseen issues like this.
Repairs are sometimes quick and easy and prices in the $100s and sometimes involve tens of thousands, insurance claims, large machinery and tearing up floors and yards.
Finally, the repair of the aftermath often requires a different contractor and skills such as drywall, carpentry and paint. Again, an extensive rolodex of Maryland approved contractors is part of what a local professional property manager brings to the party. As well as the experience and ability to orchestrate the response.
We hope it doesn’t happen to your Montgomery County property, but we are ready if it does.
PMI Potomac
