water and sewer lines

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4 Reasons to Purchase a Water or Sewer Line Warranty

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#1 – Failing Infrastructure

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) recently gave a D (D = Poor) rating to America’s water and wastewater public infrastructure. Homeowners’ water and sewer lines are subjected to the same conditions as the lines that make up the public infrastructure – age, root invasion, ground shifting, fluctuating temperatures and more. While government is addressing the public infrastructure, homeowners are responsible for the cost of repairs to the service lines located on their properties. These repairs can cost between $1,300 to upwards of $3,500, which can be hard on a family budget. With a warranty, the homeowner is covered for the repair costs to fix water and sewer lines that have failed due to normal wear and tear.

#2 – Emergency Repairs are Expensive 

A recent study by the Federal Reserve suggested that more than 50% of individuals surveyed could not afford a hypothetical emergency expense of $400 without selling belongings or borrowing money. Homeowners work hard for their money and it’s no secret that the expense of owning a home adds up over time. In fact, the study by the Federal Reserve also revealed that “more than a third of all respondents said they were worse off financially than five years ago.” With credit hard to come by and many of those eligible for retirement unprepared, expensive repairs are just not in the budget.

When evaluating monthly expenses, such as a water or sewer line warranty program, it’s important for a homeowner to consider what they have in savings and what they can honestly spend each month for protection. For homeowners with limited resources, a few dollars a month to provide peace of mind could outweigh the risk of “if” a failure would ever occur, considering just over half of the survey respondents were putting some portion of their income away in savings and only 39% said they had a rainy day fund.

#3 – Finding a Contractor Can Be Difficult

It can be difficult to find a contractor you can trust to do the job right the first time. According to Rob and Rodman, “There are lots of folks who call themselves contractors, but many of those that do aren’t going to make you happy so brace yourself for an ordeal. Don’t for one second think that someone who arrives well dressed in a nice truck has a clue. They may simply have an MBA, know how the money works, and have enough sense to look like what passes as a contractor.”

Lifehacker.com suggests, “You can’t cut corners here—there are plenty of bad handymen out there willing to do shoddy work and charge you a ton of money, and they give the good ones who are eager for your business a bad name.” With a service line warranty, the vetting has been done, so you know that the contractor sent to make the repair has proper licenses and insurance and is located within the area.

The Service Line Warranties of America  Warranty Program only uses contractors that have successfully passed a rigorous background check, maintain proper licensing and insurance as the warranty program representative and are committed to providing exceptional customer service.

#4 – Water Conservation and Ground Pollution Prevention

Homeowners with a service line warranty are more likely to report a problem and have it fixed quickly, which helps with water conservation efforts and prevents ground pollution.

 

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How Service Line Warranties of America works with your local government

handshakeHow Utility Service Partners, Service Line Warranties’ parent company, works with your local government. 

Service Line Warranties of America (SLWA) operates under a unique public-private partnership model to give homeowners peace of mind that our program is 100% legitimate and a good value for their money.

With the support of your local leaders, we work directly with the public works department to design a custom set of Terms & Conditions that will meet your line responsibility needs.

Our custom Terms and Conditions help ensure that we offer maximum coverage and low denial rates. Through our partnership, SLWA is able to offer consumers affordable prices for coverage, which would not be possible without the partnership. Additionally, SLWA respects your community, which is why we choose not to engage in mass mailing directly to consumers.

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Don’t let the spring thaw wash away homeowner budgets

hand-squeezing-dollar-mainThe winter season has been exceptionally hard on our nation this year as we faced heavy rains, extreme cold, drastic temperature changes and record-breaking snowfalls. As a result, our water and sewer lines were subject to hazardous conditions that could drastically affect their life expectancy.

Homeowners around the nation have felt the pain of what these extreme weather conditions have done to our infrastructure. In Georgia, record-breaking cold weather ruptured water, gas and sewer pipes around the state in early January. Crews worked around the clock to service customers who were left without functional water, sewer or heat. In the northern states, several storms dumped foot after foot of snow, closing schools and causing flooding problems.

As we look towards spring and the ground thaws, for most homeowners, danger is still present. Heavy rains and ground shifts can damage pipes on your property. In addition, long periods of drought can also be problematic for infrastructure because of the hard ground. Protect yourself by knowing how to identify a problem before it becomes a catastrophe.

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Myths Busted! Water and sewer lines never break

Repair water pipe

A common myth is that water and sewer lines never break. Out-of-sight, out-of-mind – because the service lines usually lie underground and buried beneath our homes, we don’t think about them. Yet, more than 850 water main breaks occur in North America every day according to www.watermainbreakclock.com!  It is only when the water or sewer line fails (clogs, leaks or breaks) that we give them any thought. Often the pipes or lines for which homeowners are responsible – those that run from outside the home to the public utility connection – are generally believed to last for 40, 50 or even 60 years.  Many factors contribute to the useful lifetime of a homeowner’s water and sewer pipes or service lines, some of which include the material from which the lines are made, the weather and soil conditions.

What causes water and sewer lines to fail?
Root Intrusion
Do you often admire the saplings the former property owner planted some 40 years ago? The roots of those now full-grown trees stretch deep into the ground and could very well be permeating the small cracks in your service lines that are as old or older. The roots grow in the direction of the water source to thrive and, once a small opening in the service line is found, will begin to penetrate the line. Roots invading sewer lines could cause clogs and result in raw sewage seeping into the yard, not to mention an unpleasant odor and soil contamination.

Ground Shifting
As a result of ground movement or shifting, water and sewer line joints may become loosened or dislodged, often causing the pipes to crack, misalign or collapse. Once this happens, it becomes an easy entry point for clay and debris, which will eventually cause the line to clog.

Especially susceptible to shifting are the areas along the West Coast and Pacific Northwest when an earthquake occurs. The shifts can be of such magnitude that damages to the public water and sewer lines could hamper the delivery of fresh, clean water to communities for several days.

Weather
We’ve experienced some extreme fluctuations in temperature, drought conditions and record amounts of rain and snowfall during the past few years. These extremes can cause water and sewer line corrosion and accelerated soil erosion, which affects the quality of the lines. A slight change of only 10 degrees in air or water temperatures can cause significant stress on service lines. For example, water temperatures below 40 degrees can cause the pipes to become brittle and air temperatures at or below 32 degrees cause the ground above it to freeze, thereby increasing stress on the line.

The bottom line – water and sewer lines can and will break. Check out some recent examples of water line breaks and the headaches they’ve caused for homeowners and their communities:

Water Main Break Causes Problems For North Hills Residents
Jan 24, 2014 – ROSS TOWNSHIP (KDKA) – A water main break in Ross Township erupted with such great force Friday morning that water was seen shooting out of the ground. Nearly two dozen homes in the area were left without service. It was a busy morning for crews …

Sewer Main Break Causing Massive Traffic Delays
Jan 24, 2014 – The sewer main break near 44 Bedford Street is causing massive traffic delays and may not be completed in time for the Friday morning commute.