How to Improve Water Quality During Home Remodeling – 8 Things You Should Know

If you are doing a home remodel, or any substantial upgrades to your home, it’s worth considering how the work you are doing might affect your plumbing and water system.

This may be a good time to upgrade certain aspects of your water delivery system, including upgrading old, problematic pipes and fixtures, or installing a water filtration system while you are making other changes to the home.

Improve Water Quality When Renovating

Renovation projects sometimes necessitate hiring a plumber to reroute existing plumbing lines, so there are plenty of opportunities for upgrading or streamlining your water delivery system while remodeling your home.

Common Water Quality Issues During Remodeling

Depending on the nature of the job you are doing, you may often have to turn off the incoming water supply. This is so your building crew can cut existing plumbing lines, reroute lines, or add on new plumbing systems.

If your builders are knocking down walls, or engaging in major structural changes to the home, then there is a good chance that they will run into some plumbing and piping work that needs to be done. This is a great time to check whether or not any old lead pipes are in use in your home.

If you live in a house that was built before the 1950s, then your home may have lead pipes installed. Lead is very malleable and makes for an excellent metal for making pipes.

The health dangers associated with lead leaching into the water are too great, however, and lead was discontinued decades ago as a live option for piping, with things like copper and PVC taking over.

As regards the water in your home, cutting into and rerouting pipes introduces plenty of opportunities for contaminants to get into the system. So once the new routing is complete, it is a good idea to thoroughly flush the entire system before using it.

Key Steps to Maintain Water Quality During Remodeling

Planning and careful execution of renovation plans are crucial while doing a home remodel, and water requires special attention and planning. Working with experienced contractors such as Infinity Home Remodeling can also help ensure projects are coordinated properly from the start.

Water damage is terribly expensive, a burst pipe or sudden gush of water onto unfinished flooring during a construction job is a nightmare that nobody wants!

Even with careful planning, accidents can still happen, and when they do, a fast and professional response is critical to minimize lasting damage. Renovation projects can sometimes uncover hidden issues like deteriorated plumbing or structural vulnerabilities that can lead to water intrusion.

In such cases, having access to reliable water damage restoration services can make all the difference. These experts are trained to quickly assess the extent of damage, dry affected areas, and restore your home before further problems like mold or structural decay set in.

It’s a safeguard worth having in place as part of your remodeling contingency plan.

However, to make sure this doesn’t happen;

• Ensure that your team knows exactly what they are doing before they start breaking down walls and cutting into existing plumbing.
• Make sure that you have access to an independent source of clean, potable water for the duration of the job, as your water line may be cut off for an extended period of time.
• If piping is being cut, make sure to keep any open piping clean and free of debris.
• Open piping should be sealed up as soon as possible to prevent any contaminants or foreign objects from entering the pipe.
• If any substantial time is going to elapse before the new weld or joint can be made, then the open pipe should be temporarily capped off somehow.

Pre-Remodeling Assessment

Before you begin the remodel, assess all piping and water fixtures that will, or could conceivably, be affected by the remodel. Determine what materials you want to use in advance as well; consult with a local plumber to figure out the best option for your home and situation.

This choice could be affected by several factors, such as the quality of the municipal or well water you are on, and the existing configuration and materials used in the water system of the home.

That’s why it’s a good idea to use water testing services to better understand what’s in your water before making material or system decisions.

Selecting Safe Materials

The most important thing when selecting your materials is to ensure they are safe and appropriate for your water. Most modern piping should be fine, and a plumber can offer you more specific guidance here, but make sure that the materials you select will play well with the other components in your home.

They need to be able to handle whatever contaminants are present in your local water supply. A quick Google search for your area’s most recently federally mandated water quality report can help you here.

Sealing Off Water Sources

As mentioned above, if you are going to be doing any extensive plumbing or pipework, it is highly advisable to adequately cap any open pipes if a job requires pipes to be left exposed overnight, or for any extended period. An open pipe is an invitation to contaminants, so don’t leave your water system exposed.

Make sure that everyone in the household knows that the water will be off for an extended period, and have a backup source of water for drinking. In big remodels, it is often necessary for the family to temporarily relocate while the job proceeds, so that they aren’t living in a construction zone, and have reliable access to water.

Upgrading Water Filtration Systems

One of the best ways to improve your water quality during a remodel is to install a home water filtration system.

Water filters have never been more advanced and accessible than they are today, and you can choose from a wide variety of whole-house and under-sink models, as well as basic inline filters, refrigerator filters, shower filters, and more.

A great home upgrade is the installation of a water softener, which removes calcium and magnesium from water through a process called ion exchange.

Softeners help to protect your pipes and fixtures from unsightly and potentially costly limescale buildup, make water smoother for showering and bathing, and make laundry softer. Softened water can make an Epsom salt and baking soda bath even more soothing by helping the minerals dissolve fully, creating a relaxing and refreshing experience.

If you are looking for something more localized, you might consider an under-sink unit. Point-of-use systems go right under a sink and can consist of many types of filtration technology, including sediment filters, carbon filters, and reverse osmosis membranes.

The “best system” is one that addresses the problems in your water, but in general, you can’t go wrong with a multi-stage under-sink reverse osmosis system, which combines all three of the above-mentioned technologies into a single system to treat a wide range of contaminants.

Plumbing System Upgrades

While you are doing the remodel, consider upgrading any older pipes or components in your home’s water system. Old faucets leak over time, develop limescale, and simply work less effectively.

Pipes eventually corrode or begin to leach contaminants into water, so ask your plumber or installer if any problematic elements ought to be upgraded or swapped out. Now is the time to do it–putting it off means another costly tear-down in the future.

Post-Remodeling Water Testing

Activity stirs things up, and when a home is being cut into, reformed, and remade, things get stirred up quite a bit. This can lead to contaminants getting into your water system.

After you finish your home remodel, you must have your water professionally lab-tested to ensure that there are no heavy metals, VOCs, or other contaminants in the water system supply that may have gotten in through the restoration and rebuilding process.

Best Practices for Long-Term Water Quality Maintenance

Knowledge is power when it comes to water quality maintenance, so test your water regularly, and be willing to adapt your filtration and water treatment strategies if you aren’t getting the results you want.

Change your filters regularly, and pay attention to your water pressure, as a sudden dip in pressure can be an indication that your sediment filter needs replacing, and possibly other filters in your system as well.

A home remodel can be a great family project, and it’s a lot of fun to see something taking a new shape and form before your eyes.

Just be cognizant of the effects your choices and changes will have on your water system, and jump on the opportunity to upgrade your home’s water with a filtration system for the whole house, or one in the kitchen, depending on your water conditions and your needs.

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