The 8 Most likely sources of water damage

2/10/2020 (Permalink)

We all have running water in our homes; it courses through the house like veins with life giving properties. Controlling how it flows is so very critical to having a dry safe place to live. What are the vulnerable places in your home or business that are susceptible to water intrusion? Have you checked them lately?  

We are going to tell you the 8 most common places that water damage can occur and what you can do about it to detect it early.

• Dish washer – how many times have you loaded the dish washer and left the house or gone to bed. Recently the water from a leaky dishwasher was saturated the kitchen floor of an elderly woman’s condo while her and her grandson watched a couple of movies. It was too late water had penetrated the laminate flooring and it had begun to cup.
• Ice maker – Supply lines in general are a consistent threat to have water damage. They are under pressure and will break down over time. You may not even know you have a problem till water is coming from under the refrigerator.
• Washing Machine Connection hoses – Again these are supply lines under pressure and may be bending in a way that may eventually cause a pin hole rupture. SERVPRO recommends that you have steel braided hoses connected to your Washer and Toilet supply lines.
• Toilet connection hoses – Again the supply line under pressure. Check to ensure the seal to the tank is not leaking. That you have a steel braided hose.
• Hot Water Heater – Here we also have supply lines and an additional pressure release valve. Sediment can build up and shorten the life span of your water heater. If rust builds on it, then that could cause a leak. When is the last time you looked in on your water heater? Chances are it is just quietly doing its job. But you should have it serviced once a year.
• Plumbing P-Traps – the more connections you have in your plumbing the greater the chance is for a leak to develop. Take a peek at your P-Traps through out the home and ensure a potential mold source is not developing.
• Bath / Shower doors and curtains - we want to ensure here that we are closing them all the way. We don’t want the water that should be going down the drain splashing out of the ends of the shower. Splash guards can help as well as magnetic shower curtains.
• HVAC – Your air conditioner and or heat pump has a condensate drain line that allows water to flow out of the house. Normally the one at or near the outside unit is running but there is a secondary flow that will be near the soffit of your home. In mine it is over a window so that if I see it dripping, I know I have an issue. But there is another thing you can do.

For all of these you can buy water detectors that can detect as little as a 16^th of an inch of water. They will sound an alarm when water is detected so that you can shut it off quickly which is important to preventing further damage. When you leave for vacation be sure to shut the water off if you are going to be away from your home for more than a day or two. It is also important that after a storm event you check those areas of your home that you don’t often visit for signs of water intrusion.

If you have water damage to your home or business call us 336-946-1131 It’s best to contact us directly.