Often times in rental properties, items get ignored or forgotten. And in our experience, when taking over the management of a property these items seem to creep up. Here’s the story of a recent issue that may have been overlooked and could have caused thousands in damage if not repaired.

When making our rounds to the property one of our Property Managers noticed water on the laundry room floor. So much water that it had crept under the back wall and the wood of the wall was sitting in water, soaking it up and potentially creating a stability and health problem. At first, with no notice from tenants, we thought the worst – The shower or toilet on the other side of the wall must be leaking. Great… This will be fun to explain to the owners.

Well, let’s make the problem temporarily worse by turning on all those fixtures to pinpoint the problem. So, begin the toilet flushing and shower running episode of trying to create a flood. Then, nothing… Everything was flowing into the ejector pit which was pumping it correctly. Back to square one and head scratching.

Back to the laundry room and with the sop sink running full blast I checked the drain line into the wall and found still nothing. Everything was draining correctly and it couldn’t have been the washer. If that wasn’t working right then surely a tenant would say something. But what else did we have to try?

I inserted some coins and ran the washer. It held water just fine. Nothing came out the bottom. No leaks. Following the drain from the washer it clips to the side of the sop sink where it’s filtered and dumps in to the same sink we checked earlier and that drains great. Not slow at all!

Then I found it. It wasn’t the washer, the sink, or even a drain line. It was the mesh sock at the end of the washer drain that collects the lint from pouring into the drain line and eventually the ejector pit. The dirty sock was so backed up that the water couldn’t pour through it fast enough and it would shoot out the top, off the wall, side of the sink and washer and fall to the floor where it make a huge, potentially dangerous mess.

With a quick run to the hardware store I replaced the sock before the next load of laundry was done. Problem solved! Now for a breakdown for pricing:

• Time: $0, we were there anyway to check on the property.
• Parts: $2.49, this is actually the cost for two socks. So we have a backup to replace it with when the new one gets full.
• Repair time: Less than 30 minutes to investigate, purchase, and zip tie the filter into place.
• Savings: Thousands!

Water can quickly destroy a property. Simple leaks become major issues when left to drip and destroy wood, drywall, flooring, etc. This simple repair potentially saved our new property owners thousands of dollars down the road all because a minor issue was overlooked or neglected.

With a quick run to the hardware store I replaced the sock before the next load of laundry was done. Problem solved! Now for a breakdown for pricing:

• Time: $0, we were there anyway to check on the property.
• Parts: $2.49, this is actually the cost for two socks. So we have a backup to replace it with when the new one gets full.
• Repair time: Less than 30 minutes to investigate, purchase, and zip tie the filter into place.
• Savings: Thousands!

Water can quickly destroy a property. Simple leaks become major issues when left to drip and destroy wood, drywall, flooring, etc. This simple repair potentially saved our new property owners thousands of dollars down the road all because a minor issue was overlooked or neglected.