The bathroom, restroom, outhouse, privy, washroom, toilet—whatever you call it, every home needs one, and it needs to be well maintained. But are you taking as good care of your bathroom as you could be?
5 Bad Habits That Harm Your Bathroom
The bathroom is one of the most heavily trafficked rooms in your home. One misstep, and you could be dealing with a major clog, water damage, or a safety hazard. Some problems can be a quick and easy fix, while others can be more costly or damaging.
Here are five bad bathroom habits to break this year:
Forgetting to turn on the ventilation fan
The ventilation or exhaust fan in your bathroom is an essential part of managing the humidity in your home. After a long, hot shower, your mirrors fog up from the steam. When your bathroom fan is turned on, this steam is vented out of your bathroom to help prevent moisture from sticking to the walls and ceiling. If you forget or opt not to turn this fan on, the moisture sits in your bathroom and can lead to major issues such as mold and mildew growth, or even water damage.
Simple solution: Turn on your bathroom fan during bathing and leave it running for at least 20 minutes after you leave the bathroom–this gives the fan enough time to vent out all moisture.
Ignoring small leaks
To some homeowners, an incessant drip drip drip of a leaking faucet is enough to send them over the edge. But for others, it may seem like more of a hassle than it’s worth to call a plumber for a small leak. But is a leak really just a leak?
According to the EPA, “A leaky faucet that drips at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons per year.” To put it into perspective, this much water could be used in over 180 showers over the course of one year!
Simple solution: You can find many DIY tutorials online to fix a leaking faucet, or you can call a plumber to take all the work out of the process.
Using harmful bath products
Luxury bath items like bath bombs and exfoliating scrubs feel great for self-care, but they can cause major issues for your drains. Popular exfoliating scrubs like coffee ground scrubs may be great for your skin, but ground coffee beans can make a gritty mess in your drain. Bath bombs are made with heavy oils that can congeal in your plumbing and create sticky clumps of hair and other bathing products. Even bath oils have their dangers–they can cause your tub to become slick and create a greater chance of slips and falls in the bathroom.
Ignoring hard water buildup
Hard water buildup looks like white or cream-colored stains on plumbing fixtures. These deposits can be mostly aesthetic, but over time they can add up and start to create problems in your bathroom. The buildup can affect your water pressure and the softness of your skin and hair.
Simple solution: Clean fixtures with vinegar regularly to prevent deposits from building up to harmful levels. Install a whole-home water filtration system to cut back on minerals and other substances in your water.
Letting hair flow down the drain
Do you know how much hair you lose in each shower? If you clean your drain, you’ll likely learn that it’s a lot. Cutting down on the hair that flows into the drain will help reduce the amount and severity of bathroom clogs.
Simple solution: Purchase and install a drain cover to catch hair before it flows down the drain.
Contact the plumbing professionals at Steve’s Plumbing & A/C Service (808) 563-4054. for any problem, repair, or installation needs you may have. Contact us at (808) 563-4054 today to get started!