It can make for a very uncomfortable car ride when you must travel for a long time down a road somewhere that is riddled with potholes. Potholes can be terrible for the front end and undercarriage of your car especially when you do not see them coming. When you hit a deep pothole doing fifty or sixty miles an hour, it can do some real damage when you do not have time to slow down.
Although all states in our country try as they might to keep up with repairing state highways and interstates, it can be a never ending job to try and keep up with the destruction that roads endure year after year. Focusing so much on the main roads in a state can sometimes leave little funding for back roads that many of us have to use to get back and forth to our homes when we live in more rural areas, but we must drive on them anyway.
There are several things that cause potholes and shoulder erosion to roads, but one of the most severe causes is water. There is no way to stop rain, snow, and sleet from falling on roadways everywhere. Once the roads get wet, it begins eroding the pavement surfaces. It weakens the structure and when heavy vehicles drive over these weakened areas it causes the potholes or cracks. Then as more rain, sleet, or snow falls into they cracks and freeze the pavement, it only causes them to crack and broaden even more. It is an endless process.
Of course, states with larger amounts or rain and snowfall encounter the most damaged roads because some roads have to be salted to prevent hazardous driving conditions. The salt that is used will further weaken the road surfaces. Sometimes there is just nothing that can be done to prevent these potholes that are so annoying. About the best we can do is to try and pay closer attention as we drive to avoid these obstacles in the road.
It is ironic that as much as we detest poor road conditions, it seems that we despise the road work that it required to fix these problems just as much. When we are in a hurry and run into the road crews that are patching or repairing, we get annoyed by the inconvenience of having to wait while they work. We just have to face the fact that life can be annoying sometimes and in order to make one thing better, we might have to be annoyed by the cure occasionally.
You might not be able to stop a hurricane or a flood from causing water damage to your home, but what you can stop are a lot of things in your home that can cause the same kind of damage, just on a smaller scale. They are quite simple and although you might forget to do them from time to time, as long as you make sure to check at least every once in a while, you (and your wallet) will be better protected against the surprise expense of water damage remediation.
One of the most frequent offenders of water damage tends to be the water heater itself. This should be located somewhere on the lowest floor of your home and in a drain pan connected to a pipe or hose that drains back into the sewer. This will make sure that even if your water heater does burst or begins to leak slowly, the water will not go into the floor, but down the drain. Most water heaters should be located in the basement and a leaky water heater down there is not going to be as much of a problem as one on the second or even third level of a home.
Make sure you have your rain gutters cleaned out at the end of autumn when the leaves have stopped falling. Your rain gutters are what keep water from simply sliding off your roof and settling around the foundation of your home. Water that collects around your home's foundation can cause it to sink into the ground and even though this is a slow process, it can do a significant amount of damage to your home's value. The downspouts should also be clear of any debris and water channeled away from the foundation. Soil around the base of your home should also be at such an angle that water naturally flows away from it.
Keep an eye on the pipes or hoses that go to your dishwasher and your clothes washer in the laundry room. Hoses can develop weak spots over time and develop leaks that can leave you in a huge mess, especially if you happen to be away from home at the grocery store or a friend's when the leak begins.
Water damage can also be prevented by not forgetting that you have bath water running or water running in the kitchen sink. Overflowing sinks and tubs account for a lot of damage like this and can coat your floor with more water than you think in a very short period of time.
Both Rachel Yoshida & Jim Corkern are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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