Leak Detection is Detective Work! (Water Leaks)

Leak Detection can be very easy to detect, other times you may feel as though you may need to hire a detective to find the source.  If you do hire a leak detection company, make sure that their conclusions make sense.  I have often found that the most obvious source of the moisture problem is not always the actual source.   The following two scenarios will shed light on what I am talking about. 

Friends of ours had a yellow stain (yellow or brown stain = moisture issue) in the corner of a downstairs room and was told by a leak detection company that the source of the leak was coming from the french doors that were installed upstairs over the center of the room below.  The leak detection company came to this conclusion because the metal french door had rusted and showed some rust signs on the carpet.  I had never been upstairs in their house before but as soon as I got up there, I knew that the leak detection company had it wrong, there were two separate leaks issues.  I came to this conclusion very easily as they had a tile deck over the room below and knew right away that this was the issue.  Due to the floor joists being flat and the leak down below being ten feet away, there was a very slim chance that the water was getting in through the door and then travel horizontally with virutally no pitch to the floor.   Besides, the most obvious place for the stain would have been directly under the door.   I still did not know exactly what was causing the leak over the room below so I brought out my high tech leak detection equipment- a garden hose.  I methodically used the garden hose and gravity to help me detect the leak.  I noticed that the water was pooling on the deck, letting me know that the deck was not pitched, thus reinstating my thoughts that the deck was the issue.  I finally found the issue, water was entering through the railing holes attaching the railing to the deck.  A little common sense, patience, and a garden hose was all it took.  We later found out that the rust on the door was caused from a leak in the roof.  Again we used the garden hose and methodically started directly above the door and over time kept spraying the water a little higher and higher until we got to the roof.  Normally you can tell or see a reason for the leak in a shingle roof, unfortunately this was a tile roof making it more difficult to make the repair.

The next scenario took place in a commercial building, a regional client of ours was complaining that she had a moisture problem in two areas in the same room.  The first place she showed me was the ceiling, which was a drop down ceiling grid with ceiling tiles.  The other moisture area issue was low on the wall below it.  The building’s management company sent a contractor to inspect the issues.  He stated there was a leak in the roof and he invoiced them for the work he did to the roof.  Our client looking for another opinion called me and asked me to examine the two issues.  I looked up in the ceiling and could not see any traces of water on the underside of the roof panels or metal trusses.  Water will stain items it comes in contact with or rust metal over time leaving small clues as to the moisture source.  I was somewhat baffled as to the source of the moisture and decided to leave and work on determining the source of the other moisture issue.  Due to the stain/mildew being low on the wall and not seeing any areas of concern between the two leaks, I ruled out they were related.  My next thought was to figure out if the moisture was coming through the tenant separation wall from the commercial space on the other side.  I remembered it was a concrete block wall separating the two spaces, most experts would have stopped there stating that there is no way that water would transfer through an 8″ concrete block wall but surprisingly enough, if a wall is not sealed or painted, water will transfer through it.  I then paced off the moisture issue from the front door and proceeded next door to the grocery store on the other side of the tenant separation wall.  While inside, I repaced off the steps and noticed that the grocery store’s deli was in the same area with a walk in cooler and a three compartment sink- Bingo!  The source of the moisture issue!  When I went back over to my Client’s space, I noticed there was some water on the air conditioning vent caused by condensation that was slowly rolling to my moisture issue on the ceiling.  I had now found both sources of the issue.  I reported my findings to the Management Company who then sent out three more contractors to look for the issues and all three claimed that it could not come from the grocery store.  My Client then contacted the grocery store’s manager and asked if they had an issue with their walk-in-cooler, he admitted that water was pooling inside it, leaking out, and as a result they were planning to replace it.   Since it has been replaced, I have not received another phone call in regards to the old moisture issue. 

So remember, the most obvious place for water intrusion or a moisture issues may not be the actual source.  Look deeper and if you are hiring someone to detect your moisture issue ask them to explain their thought process for their conclusions.  Make sure it makes sense!  The reason being, if you repair the damaged areas and the true source of the moisture issue has not been resolved, you will end up with the same problem and will have to make more costly repairs.