Damp Lawn - Do You Need a Plumbing Service?

So, you have just called your local plumbing service to discuss what you see as a problem with your lawn. Sound like a sketch from Monty Python? Well, you might be surprised to know that things like that can actually happen.

Odd requests

Now it is true that plumbers occasionally get some very odd calls for help. Some people seem to think they are able to deal with every domestic problem, ranging from a hole in the roof to a broken window. Of course, if you call your local plumber and start asking their advice on your plants, flowers and lawns, you might get an initially baffled response – but strangely problems outside in the garden can indicate that you do, in fact, need the help of a plumbing service.

Let’s have a look at just a couple of real-life examples.

Hey, we have a lake!

If you discover that you have an unexpected pond or lake in your garden that you didn’t know was there, as new buyers you might be very pleasantly surprised. However, if you’ve been living in the property for some time, the garden is relatively small and that pond wasn’t there the night before, it probably indicates either that there was an incredible downpour overnight or it’s time to call your expert tradesman.

That’s what happened to one family who had been living happily in a house for some years, when one morning they found they had a pond in their garden, which they hadn’t seen previously. That might have been something of a delight except for the fact that the pond concerned was, well, rather odorous! To cut a very long story short, part of their property vented some of its waste products into an ancient septic tank, even though the property was connected to mains waste systems elsewhere. As neither they nor the previous owners apparently knew the septic tank was there, over time the system had become increasingly overloaded due to zero maintenance and it simply collapsed. Waste contaminated water was just soaking away into the garden and eventually rose to the surface when the area became saturated. So, that unexpected arrival of the garden feature on the lawn necessitated a pretty big job to fix things!

Is it me or the wall?

Another couple came home one day and, after much discussion and checking of their own equilibrium, came to the conclusion that one of their brick-built garden walls no longer appeared to be perfectly vertical.

Although some distance from the house, they also thought the surrounding ground looked surprisingly moist given that the weather had been relatively dry. So, they picked up the phone and asked their local plumbing service to come and have a quick look at their garden for them.

After some puzzled interrogations the tradesman duly arrived, and following a quick test dig, discovered very quickly that water was escaping under pressure from somewhere in the vicinity of the wall’s foundations. After more help arrived in a form of muscle and diggers, it was found that a mains water supply pipe had been built over when the wall had been laid. For one reason or another, the pipe had fractured and high-pressure water over time had washed away the wall’s foundations. Hence the leaning wall problem!

If you see outside damp patches or unusually wet soil when it really shouldn’t be, particularly if it is closely adjacent to your property, it just might be time to pick up the phone to the plumbing service.

Sarah Saadoun works for HMS Plumbing, a family-owned business in Manassas, Northern Virginia. If you need a plumbing service, Herve and his dedicated employees at HMS are proud to be serving the plumbing needs of Northern Virginia residents and businesses. For reliable Fairfax plumbers HMS Plumbing is your first choice.