Two Tips to Follow If You Have to Call an Emergency Plumber in the Middle of a Pandemic
When a pandemic occurs, it is generally safest to keep your distance from others and to avoid inviting people into your home. However, there are situations in which you must make an exception and allow someone onto your property. A plumbing emergency is one such situation, as the longer a cracked water pipe or severely-blocked drain is left unresolved, the more damage it will do to your home.
Here are a couple tips to follow if you need to let an emergency plumber into your home in the middle of a pandemic.
Disinfect your home in preparation for their arrival
Even if you have not left your home very often since the pandemic began, it is still possible that the pathogen that caused this pandemic could be present in the building. As such, to minimise the chances of the emergency plumber being exposed to this pathogen whilst they're resolving your plumbing problem, you will need to do some disinfecting before they enter the building.
Ideally, you should apply disinfectant to any surface that the plumber will need to touch. For example, if you need them to fix a blocked drain in your bathroom, you should spritz all of the surfaces in this space, including the floor and the walls (as the plumber might need to kneel or lean on the wall whilst they're working), with disinfectant. Additionally, you might need to disinfect the lever that controls your home's water supply if the plumber will need to switch this off and on when they're doing the repairs.
Lastly, if you plan to offer them any refreshments, you should put on a fresh pair of latex gloves before handling the drink or snack you have prepared so that you don't contaminate it.
Make sure you can communicate with them from a distance whilst they there
The plumber might need to ask you a few things whilst they're in your home. For example, if they need to turn off the water supply in your basement, they may ask you to tell them where exactly in the basement the lever is located. Similarly, they might need to ask you a question about the best way to access a specific pipe (for instance, they might need to check that it's ok for them to remove your bath panel in order to access the pipe behind it).
To ensure that you can answer their questions whilst maintaining as much distance between you and them as possible, you should charge up your phone beforehand and keep it by your side whilst they're in the house. This will mean you can speak to them by phone from another part of the building instead of having to stand very close to them or having to bellow at the top of your lungs whilst standing quite far away.
