Water Damage In Your Kitchen

Your kitchen is the heart of your home: so much time is spent there cooking, eating and enjoying the company of family and friends -- or maybe just some quiet time alone late at night or early in the morning! The fact that our kitchens are so essential to our homes is balanced by an ugly truth: because they hold a variety of pipes, water lines and appliances that use water, they’re also the places where so many leaks and spills can happen, sometimes causing unsightly and even unhealthy water damage. Do you have water damage in your kitchen? Let us show you how to do a thorough inspection and the signs to look for, as well as some proactive steps you can take to minimize the risk of water damage happening in your kitchen in the future.

• The Sink.
  Obviously this is the place where the most water is probably used in your kitchen, so it can create the biggest risk for water damage. Having a properly installed backsplash is one of the easiest ways to minimize water damage issues, and when you do your daily and weekly wipe-downs, you can do a quick visual inspection of any areas where water collects when you run the faucet to do the dishes and prepare food. This routine, basic maintenance to dry your sink, counter and backsplash will go a long way to keeping water damage away from your kitchen. The more difficult area to monitor is the cabinet space below your sink: how often do you really look under there behind all those cleaning supplies, towels and other random items? It’s so easy to overlook this area, but if you miss a leak under the sink, serious water damage can result. Your garbage disposal can cause issues if the drain seal between the sink and the disposal itself deteriorates, or if the disposal’s drain hose comes loose. Your water supply lines to the faucet, and possibly your dishwasher, are also located under the sink -- so a weekly check with your eyes and your hands to look and feel for any dampness or leaks can be a real lifesaver for your kitchen, and your bank account! If you find any wet spots, take the time to clean them up and locate the source of the leak. Fixing the issue might be as simple as tightening a loose connection on a fitting. But if you’re not sure where the leak is coming from, it might be from behind or below the cabinet, and that’s when it’s time to call a professional service provider like AdvantaClean to help you assess the damage.

• The Fridge.
  Your refrigerator and freezer also have a potential for moisture damage issues due to the water lines that provide the ice maker and any dispensers with the water they need. A periodic inspection behind your fridge while you’re cleaning can be a great way to verify that the water lines aren’t leaking. A more easily identifiable issue on an everyday basis will be the area below your water and ice dispensers -- placing a mat there to catch any stray drops or ice cubes is a great way to keep water damage from developing. But be careful here too! If you let a wet mat stay on the floor for too long, water can still seep into your floors and cause damage anyway. So every so often, such as when you’re cleaning your kitchen, make sure you’re picking up the mat to let the area dry out. This will save you the long-term hassle of fixing preventable water damage.
• The Dishwasher.
  This wonderful piece of modern technology can be your best friend -- right up until it leaks and becomes your worst enemy. The problem with the dishwasher is that a leak can be hidden from view because of how it’s installed under your counter. So the best way to prevent a leak is to have your dishwasher professionally installed by an insured service provider from the get-go so that any problems that arise later will be covered under warranty. But after installation, keep an eye on the floors and toe-kicks around the unit. If you notice any warping of the floor, wet spots, or even an unusual softness to the step when you walk around it, that might be an indication of a leak. Be careful if you decide to pull the dishwasher out to do a deeper inspection, because you don’t want to cause a bigger issue. If you’re positive there’s a leak and you aren’t able to locate or reach an intermediate shutoff valve, you can always turn off the main water supply valve to your home to give you time to figure out how to handle the situation.

When in doubt about a water damage issue, contact the service providers at AdvantaClean! We’ve been in the water damage restoration business for 25 years and we have all the water mitigation solutions for your kitchen and every other part of your home or office. Call us now!

More info? To learn more on detecting water damage in your home, read one of our other posts: DO YOU KNOW THE SIGNS OF WATER DAMAGE