When you have backed-up toilets, sinks or bathtubs that flood, you know that you’re in need of water damage restoration. Unfortunately, your residence can suffer from water damage in ways that aren’t as evident. Since you have plumbing running all over your residence, you can have a leaky pipe or an accumulation of condensation between your ceilings and walls. It’s a difficult circumstance because this isn’t in view- you won’t know until you there’s water damage, and then it’s difficult to identify how long the problem has persisted.
Nevertheless, when you detect damage to your walls or water spots on your ceiling, these are clues indicating a pipe that’s leaking or condensation generating the problem. Since the space is concealed, though, it’s hard to figure out how long the issue has been at hand. While there isn’t an approach to know exactly how long your water damage problem has persisted, there are some ways to diagnose whether the water damage is old or new.
Determine the Lifetime of Your Water Damage
The following steps can help you gain insight in figuring out whether the damage generated by water is old or new:
- History of the House: An old residence might already have some previous water damage, so it’s effective to keep track of what’s there and to note if the damage changes over a period of time. Tracking the weather is a great idea too, because if you have a a slow leak, it can take some time for a spot to surface. Keeping track of your water damages can save you lots of time when finding out whether the damage generated from water is old or new.
- History of the House: Take note of any spots on your walls or ceilings and take into account any strong weather you had in your location like heavy rain. Damages and spots caused by water can take some time to develop if it’s a slight leak. An older home might already have some water spots and damages that were sustained previously. So it’s important to keep track of the spots you perceive while indicating whether this is new water damage or old water damage.
- Touch the Spot: You can touch the spot, because this will disclose a lot about the age of the damage generated by water. A new spot will be wet but your ceiling or drywall will still be strong, while an old spot will be spongy and squishy because your material would have absorbed a good amount of water.
- Look for Rings: Remember how rings on a tree indicate how old a tree is? The same method can be used for water spots. An old water spot is going to have rings around it. They will also be shaded differently since the area gets wet then dries and gets wet again then dries again, etc. A new spot will be dark with no rings around it.
- Examine the Materials: Materials like thick paint and tiles can trap water and moisture, so when you have a water spot leaking through one of these, this can mean there’s been a buildup of water for a period of time. Being aware of the materials can help you focus on your water damage problems more efficiently.
- Mold Inspection: Bacteria, or mold, development typically indicates the damage generated by water has lingered for about two to three days.
- Decay: When your materials decay from damage created by water, this is typically the consequence of consistent flooding or standing water. Decay typically won’t happen from the first case of leakage.
Water Damage Restoration Technicians – Contact Paul Davis Today
When you’re having issues with damages that are created by water, look to Paul Davis. It’s vital to fix any leaks in your residence prior to the damage becoming more extensive. Our water damage restoration experts can find a leak and fix your property back to normal conditions no matter how big or small the job is. Call us now at 207-827-4205 and in your location will be there to help out.
