Water Damage Repair - Indicate the Age of Water Damage

When you have backed-up sinks, bathtubs or toilets that overflow, you know that water damage repairs will be required. Though, your home can come under water damage in ways that aren’t as visible. Because you have plumbing running all over your property, you can have a leaky pipe or a buildup of condensation between your walls or ceilings. It’s a difficult circumstance since this isn’t visible- you won’t recognize it until you have water damage, and then it’s hard to identify how long the issue has persisted.

You can determine how old or new your water problems are by examining the water damage itself since the pipes aren’t in sight. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find out a precise timeline, but we have some tips on how to evaluate the damage so you can come up with an estimated time on how long you’ve had water in the damaged space.

Find Out the Lifetime of Your Water Damage

You can obtain an estimated age of your water damage by taking these steps:

  • History of the House: Take note of any spots on your ceiling or walls and take into account any outside influences such as heavy rain. Damages and spots caused by water can take some time to present themselves if the leak is modest. Older properties could have some water spots and damages that were sustained previously. So it’s critical to keep a record of the spots you see while determining whether this is new water damage or old water damage.
  • History of the House: Keep a record of any spots on your ceiling or walls and take into account any outside influences such as heavy rain. Damages and spots caused by water can take some time to present themselves if the leak is modest. Older properties could have some water spots and damages that were sustained previously. So it’s critical to keep a record of the spots you see while determining whether this is old water damage or old water damage.
  • Touch the Spot: You can touch the spot, because this can reveal a lot about the age of the damage caused by water. A newer spot will be wet but your ceiling or drywall will still be durable, while an older spot will be soft and spongy since your material would have absorbed a fair amount of moisture.
  • Look for Rings: When you see just one darker spot with zero rings around it, this indicates that the damage caused by water is new. Older damage caused by water will have rings around it, and like trees, the more rings determines the age. Discolored rings shows you that the area has been soaked, dried, soaked, dried, etc.
  • Examine the Materials: Get to know the material around your house, because water can become trapped by thick paint and tiles. And if spots created by water show up through these types of materials, this means the buildup of moisture has been lingering for a period of time.
  • Mold Inspection: If bacteria has had time to colonize, this implies your water damage has been there for about two to three days.
  • Deterioration: Your material doesn’t usually decompose by the first occurrence of damage caused by water. And when there has been decomposition, this means your material has been susceptible to consistent flooding or standing water.

Get a Knowledgeable Water Damage Repair Specialist

If you’re having water damage problems, Paul Davis is here to help out. It’s fundamental to fix any dripping pipes in your home prior to the damage becoming more extensive. Our water damage restoration professionals can detect a leak and fix your house back to normal no matter how big or small the job is. Reach out to Paul today at (505) 471-1357 and a local franchise is there to help out.