How Spending $1,000 Could Have Saved $50,000

By MICHAEL EDLEN | Special to the Palisadian-Post

Sometimes, the smallest of details results in significant costs in home maintenance and repairs. This is especially true regarding the constant battle with water-related issues in or around a house. Vigilance can save huge expenses.

Scenario One

A home we sold had a refrigerator with a built-in ice maker. Water entered the fridge from a line connected to it from the rear.

Several years after it was installed, that line began to leak, and a small amount of water came out on the floor underneath the unit. The owner’s housekeeper thought nothing of a tiny bit of water on the floor and wiped it up.

After several months, the owner also noticed the small amount of water. She, too, assumed it was nothing of consequence.

After a year or so, the flooring showed signs of slight warping in front of the refrigerator, and the owner mentioned it to a friend. Although urged to have a refrigerator repairman come out to investigate and repair whatever was causing the leak, the owner turned off the icemaker and assumed that would take care of the problem, at least for the time being.

Although periodically some moisture was noticed again on the floor, no further action was taken for another year when a relative noticed an odd odor in that area of the house. It did not take long to realize that the source of the smell was immediately around the refrigerator, and no spoiled food was found to be the cause. Subsequently, it was discovered that there was some mold on the back of the cabinet adjacent to the refrigerator.

Remediation of the problem became a complicated process because by then, the mold had spread several feet in the wall in each direction behind the refrigerator and under the wood flooring for more than 10 feet, fed by the continuous flow of moisture from the small leak in the line.

Eventually, when the owner hired a remediator to clean all the mold and replace the damaged materials, new cabinetry and countertops were also required. The new flooring alone was costly, as the entire kitchen and breakfast area had to be replaced.

Scenario Two

We recently sold a home that had been well maintained by a meticulous owner for many years. During the inspection process, someone discovered that water had often entered the crawl space, creating several problems.

The water source was a mystery at first since it was not low on a hill where water would logically come downhill and either into or under the foundation, and it looked like far more water had gotten in there than would be probable from a leak in the plumbing system.

The problems included surface mold from apparent continuous moisture, uneven settlement of the foundation because the soil was much softer where the water tended to flow, some cracking in the foundation due to the soil movement and several supports that had become dislocated by the other issues.

The solutions proposed by a drainage expert included repairing all of the under-house issues, installing an entirely new property drainage system, regrading all the soil around the perimeter and increasing the number and size of the ventilation holes on all sides.

A structural engineer was called out for a second opinion, as the drainage expert’s proposal was quite costly. It took about 20 minutes of general exterior assessment for the structural man to identify the causes of the problem—and without even having been under the house yet.

A simple attention to landscape changes years before could have prevented the entire scenario. It would have required two actions: change the sprinkler heads so they only sprayed away from the structure, rather than in a full circle toward the foundation, and slope the ground away from two ventilation openings rather than toward them.

Conclusion

In many instances, costly problems stemming from water issues could be avoided entirely by simple and inexpensive actions if taken as soon as an issue is noticed. Many other signs of apparent water-related problems might cost a fraction of the later repairs and remediation expenses required if dealt with promptly upon discovery.

Have you ever noticed paint bubbling on a wall below a window sill? It could be a sign that water from rain or sprinklers is getting through the frame or that a tiny hole in caulking needs attention.

Do you have a shower with some deterioration of the plaster at the bottom outside corner near its door? It could indicate a leak from the fixture inside the wall or that the door seal requires caulking.

Is there a slight staining visible on the ceiling below a bathroom? Possibly there is a small pipe leak under a sink or the toilet seal has begun to fail.

Are there darkish spots in the back wall of a closet? Maybe your clothes or shoes have been a source of moisture that has resulted in surface mold. Improving the air circulation in any way and watching not to put damp things in the closet until they are dry could eliminate the situation before it becomes a possibly serious mold issue.

There are many more such examples of how to win the battles with moisture around your home. The key lies in being proactively aware of potential problems and regularly assessing at least a few times yearly to check all possibly affected areas.

Michael Edlen has counseled thousands of homeowners on various home maintenance and safety issues. Please contact him for a confidential, complimentary conversation about any questions about such issues or any other real estate matter. He can be reached at 310-600-7422 or michael@edlenteam.com.