A Water Leak Case Study
We had an interesting week with two separate clients calling about unknown water leaks. In both homes, we found that there had been a small water leak, but from an unknown source. We did our normal routine—first a visual inspection, and second, we pulled out our protimeter. The protimeter is a great way for us to look behind the walls and get a better idea of where there is moisture. It does this by quickly penetrating the wall or floor with a radio wave.
In both homes, we could see that there had been some moisture behind the sheetrock or directly on the wall. The first home had another restoration company that had tried its best to find the water leak but was unable to pinpoint the problem. They had made a cut in the wall and taken out mold, but didn’t see any source of water. I’m sure it must have been baffling to them, as it was to us at first. But we kept searching. We pulled down the insulation from the wall in each home. When we did this in the second home, we found black mold and quickly set up a containment barrier with a HEPA filter. This is a precautionary step to prevent mold from spreading further.
Containment barrier: This helps seal in spores from black mold. Inside is a HEPA filter that removes harmful particles and debris.
We had hoped that without the insulation, we would easily be able to see the water leak. But removing the insulation did nothing to reveal the problem. Our mysterious water leak seemed to have no origin. We checked the wall with our camera and still saw no water pipe or leaking source.
It started to become apparent that our mysterious water leak was coming from the foundation wall of the home. Our inspection quickly led us to the outside of the house. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. We began spraying water down the outside of the foundation. Within minutes, the foundation had sprung a leak, and we had found our culprit!
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Sources of Mold
A foundation A foundation leak caused both water damage and mold growth.
You couldn’t believe the shock and gratitude of each homeowner that we had found the source of the leak. We will now begin the steps for both mold remediation and well as water remediation. We found that a little dedication and detective work go a long way when you’re helping someone in need…especially in the case of an unknown water leak!
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About the Author: Alan Seegrist
