Owning a home is a great privilege but also brings with it many challenges and perils that nobody ever tells you about.
Luckily, many experts are willing to share their tips on TikTok, such as one nature and water educator from Minnesota, who is here to tell us how to find out if there are water leaks in your house in a video labeled "Adulting 101: How to check for water leaks."
The scoop
"First step is to figure out where your water meter is," Angie Hong (@mnature_awesomeness) told her followers. Angie then embarked on a journey around her house that took her into the basement, outside, through some spiderwebs, and finally back into the basement, where she found it behind cat litter boxes.
"Now, all we're going to do is look at that number and then go do stuff in the house for a couple of hours without running any water and come back and see if that number has changed," she said.
@mnnature_awesomeness New challenge unlocked: find your water meter #waterconservation #adulting ♬ original sound - Angie Hong
After discovering that the number had not moved in a couple of hours, outside the tiny bit when she washed her hands, Angie determined, happily, that her house did not have any leaks.
How it's helping
"An average house wastes around 10,000 gallons of water per year just from leaks in toilets, sinks, and other plumbing fixtures," Angie said.
By staying vigilant and calling a plumber when they discover leaks, homeowners could save a lot of wasted water — and money on their water bills at the same time.
Even small leaks can add up over time. "A shower leaking at 10 drips per minute wastes more than 500 gallons per year," one utility company wrote. "A leaky faucet dripping at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons per year (that's enough water for more than 180 showers)."
What everybody is saying
"If the average house leaks 10,000 gals, then that's like $60 worth of water a year," one commenter wrote. "So worth investigating."
"Put water leak alarms in leak prone areas. Washing machine and water heater," another said.
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