Is Hidden Water Damaging Your House? This Tool Helps Home Inspectors Find Out
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You find a water stain in your ceiling or perhaps in the ceiling of a home you want to purchase, but is it old or new? Where did it come from? Is there an active leak, or is it from something that’s already been resolved? A moisture meter will help with answering those questions!
When our home inspectors find evidence of leaks or water damage, moisture meters are the invaluable little gadgets that tell them whether moisture is present behind the walls, under the floors, in the crawl space, and in all the places you can’t see. The device can help them investigate and figure out where that water is coming from to root out the source of the leak.
Here are some examples from the field of issues that were detected by moisture meters:
Crawl Space Conundrum:
Inspector Travis noticed the discolored and damaged looking wood in the crawl space, so he used his moisture meter to check to see if water damage was the culprit. He was able to go back through the area and find the source of the leak: a pipe that was spraying water directly into the crawl space. This is damage that needs to be evaluated by a plumber and a structural engineer. It’s also extremely valuable information for any potential buyer. It’s not something you’d want to be surprised by down the road.
Flooring Flop
At first glance, you might think the flooring in this bathroom just needs to be replaced, but Inspector Alex looked a little deeper, checking to see if water damage might be what’s causing it to buckle. Sure enough, there appears to be a leak under the flooring coming out to the exterior. If enough water has leaked to affect the flooring, the repair will likely involve ripping up the floor — an extensive project that a buyer will want to be aware of.
Pipe Problems
Sometimes the foundation repair itself can be what’s causing the issue, like in this home where the PVC pipes under the structure got disrupted during the repair and are now leaking underneath. Something like this would be even more important to address pre-sale because if the repair is what caused the damage, you’d want the sellers to be able to contact the company that did the work, which would be so much more complicated later.
Again, the moisture meter comes in handy, showing whether water damage is current, active, and in need of further investigation. A handy tool indeed.
It always pays to get a home inspection if you are planning to purchase a home so that such hidden problems don’t surprise you later on. But even if you aren’t buying or selling your home, you may have problems lurking behind the walls, floors, or in the crawl space that you may be concerned about. You can have home inspectors out to do a maintenance inspection to check these issues out at any time.
