Commercial water damage doesn’t come from the business-specific fixtures you may expect. Although the causes of such damage are painfully ordinary, their cost remains the same. Learning to spot and understand the top causes of commercial water damage may help cut losses in a future accident.

Sewer Line Blockages/Flooded Bathrooms

No one likes to think about the bathroom, but it’s one of the most frequent commercial water damage offenders. Legal codes require just about all businesses to have toilet facilities available for employees and potential customers as well. The more bathrooms there are, the higher the chances of a blockage in the sewer line. Such obstructions are all too common. Thankfully, you can solve most small ones through aggressive plunging or other basic maintenance steps.

However, most blockages don’t get discovered right away. Some clogs also represent far too great an obstacle for any regular maintenance measures. These often lead to smelly flooding. To make things worse, even if only one toilet floods, you may still need to repair walls and flooring. At the very least, you’ll need specialized equipment to dry them expediently. Any lingering moisture in these areas may lead to mold and other health risks.

Broken or Leaking Pipes

Unless you operate a small business in a remote shed, you have some degree of plumbing in your building. These pipes probably lead to the bathroom facilities we just discussed, but it’s possible that they also support cooking areas, emergency sprinkler systems, outdoor sprinklers, and indoor wash stations. This list doesn’t even include any unique machinery or tools of the trade that require water. It doesn’t matter if an old pipe is in a private or commercial setting. When it deteriorates, it leaks. Eventually, it breaks.

Depending on where the pipe breaks, you may have a hard time tracking down the source of your flood. After all, if a pipe bursts inside a wall, it could easily damage a lower floor before apparent symptoms of the problem emerge closer to the source. Water follows gravity, after all. Bringing in a professional is the surest way to identify a leak and address the full scope of the damage.

Malfunctioning Sprinklers

Although Hollywood has romanticized the indoor rain malfunctioning sprinklers provide, the movie industry is the only entity that enjoys these incidents. Of all the types of commercial water damage, this often causes the most damage. This indoor rain destroys paper copies of vital files, damages computers, and other electronics, and ruins flooring. Since sprinklers are mandatory safety measures, it’s impossible to just do away with them, and repairing some water damage is infinitely better than dealing with a burnt-down business. Still, it pays to bring in experts quickly to stop the sprinklers, clear the water, and halt any ongoing damage.

Sewage problems, broken pipes, and sprinkler issues are the top causes of commercial water damage. Although they don’t all have the same, immediate consequences, they all deserve equal scrutiny and mindfulness. Even if a flooding toilet doesn’t threaten your computers, it can still damage your walls, floors, and even your wiring. There is no such thing as insignificant commercial water damage.