When setting up your business site, drainage may be one of the last issues to cross your mind. After all, people often overlook many of the unseen systems that allow their home or business to function without a hitch. But when big drainage issues arise, this invisible and seemingly unreachable system suddenly becomes a lot more important.
When the drainage system of your home backs up or breaks, it’s a huge nuisance. But when these issues occur within your commercial property, it could be a complete disaster.
That’s why you don’t want just anyone fiddling around with your drainage. You need an experienced, professional contractor who is trusted in their field working on one of your most precious and delicate commercial systems.
Drainage Issues
When it comes to commercial drainage systems, there are two important factors that aid in continued performance. They are cleanliness and efficiency. If your pipes become dirty they will, over time, become clogged.
Once fluid is unable to flow freely through the drainage system, the water that was rushing away from your property could make a reappearance. What does that mean for you?
- Flooded property
- Destruction of landscaping
- Foul odors
- Overflowing toilets or sinks
- Burst pipes as a result of pressure building behind a clog
Any of these horrible events could lead to a slowdown of your business. More than one of them could cause a chain reaction that would lead to the temporary closure of the site and suspension of operations. Can you afford to spend a day or two closed due to drainage issues? Most businesses can’t.
This hammers home the importance of skilled installation and continued preventative maintenance performed by an experienced drainage contractor. Anything less could leave you woefully unprepared for a disaster that would place your entire business at risk.
Preventative Maintenance
When it comes to your commercial drainage system, you should never wait until water is flooding your facility to take care of a problem. But how does one police issues with a system they cannot see?
Preventative maintenance.
Preventative maintenance includes regularly monitoring potential issues within your system and correcting them before they become total disasters. This is not something just anyone can do, and it’s another area where a certified and skilled drainage contractor is worth their weight in gold.
So, what goes into preventative maintenance? Regular cleaning is essential to keeping your pipes clog free. By maintaining a clean and clear system, your site will remain safe from the dangers associated with flooding, smell, drain backup, and the ultimate worst cast scenario, a burst pipe.
You should also have your drainage contractor regularly inspect the quality of your system. If they can identify small leaks, you have a chance to patch them up before they become massive business-impacting catastrophes.
Oftentimes, these diagnostic visits include snaking a camera through the drainage system to accurately gauge what is going on underground. This effectively eliminates guesswork and ensures that the correct diagnosis is given right away, and repairs can be made.
The Various Methods of Drain Cleaning
There is no magical cure-all fix for a malfunctioning drainage system. That’s why when you choose a drainage contractor, it’s important to make sure that they are well versed in various drain clearing methods.
Some of the most effective methods for unclogging your system are:
Chemical Drain Cleaning
Using liquid alkaline or acid, organic blockages are dislodged and dissolved. This is similar to pouring Drain-O down the sink, and while it is effective, it also comes with some dangers. A lot of the product typically used for this method are corrosive and can degrade your pipes further. So, you might fix the blockage issue, but in turn take the first step down the road to pipe leaks.
Chemicals are also incredibly dangerous, so it’s better to let a certified contractor handle them.
Air Burst Cleaning
Another popular method to unclog a drainage issue is to use carbon dioxide or other accelerated gasses to either dislodge or disintegrate the blockage. This is a faster method than chemical cleaning which poses no danger to the pipes themselves.
Hydro Jetting
Hydro jetting is similar to air burst cleaning, but it uses water instead of air. A nozzle is inserted into the pipe and high-pressure water is blasted inside at up to 35,000 PSI. The water breaks down the blockage and pushes it away. This is highly effective against mineral deposits and grease.
Snake Cleaning
A long thick snake-like tool is run through the piping with a corkscrew on one end and a hand crank on the other. The contractor uses the snake to drill away the blockage until it has disintegrated. This is most effective for large scale blockages and is particularly useful in clearing away plant intrusions.
Hire an Experienced Drainage Contractor Today
Don’t leave the future of your business in the hands of an amateur. You’ve worked hard to get where you are, and you don’t deserve to let something like a drainage leak force your life’s work out of existence.
Mikula Contracting has over 70 years of experience in the excavation and drainage industry. Not only do we troubleshoot and fix issues, but we educate our customers throughout the process, ensuring their 100% satisfaction.
For more information on how Mikula Contracting can help New Jersey’s Essex, Hudson, Bergen, Passaic, Morris and Union county commercial properties, call us at 973-772-1684, or visit us online.
