Water Damage Restoration – Indicate the Age of Water Damage

One of the more typical complications a home can experience is water damage. As water damage repair experts, Paul Davis knows the complications that water damage leads to, especially when it isn’t in sight. Your house has plumbing everywhere, this includes the inside of your ceilings and walls. When these pipes have condensation on them or a leak, they can gradually erode your walls and ceilings. One of the more frustrating situations to this is determining whether the water damage is old or new.

Because the pipes aren’t visible, you can get an estimate of how long you’ve had water complications by analyzing the water damage itself. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to find out an exact timeline, but we have some tips on how to analyze the damage so you can come up with an approximate time on how long you’ve had water in the damaged space.

Discover the Lifetime of the Damage Caused by Water

The following tips can help you judge whether the damage produced by water is old or new:

  • History of the House: If your home has any spots from water damage, it’s essential to take note of them when finding out whether damage caused from water is old or new. Furthermore, you’ll want to be apprehensive of any weather that could bring hidden water damage to the surface like a rain storm. Know your home, because pipes with a slow drip can take some time to surface, and if you understand what’s new and what’s old, you’ll be able to identify your issue quicker.
  • 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 area such as a heavy rain storm. Water spots can take some time to pop up if the leak is small. If your residence is an older house, the water damage spots might have been there for some time. So it’s essential to take note of the spots you observe while indicating whether this is new water damage or old water damage.
  • Touch the Spot: You can feel the spot, because this can disclose a lot about the age of the damage produced by water. A new spot will feel wet but your drywall or ceiling will still feel durable, while an old spot will be mushy and spongy since your material would have absorbed a good amount of moisture.
  • Look for Rings: Remember how tree rings presents the age of the tree? The same approach can be used towards water spots. An old water spot is going to have rings around it. They can also be shaded differently because the spot gets wet then dries and gets wet again then dries again, etcetera. A new spot will be dark with zero rings circling it.
  • Examine the Materials: Get to know the material in your home, because water can become trapped by thick paint and tiles. So if spots generated by water show up through these, this indicates the accumulation of moisture has been lingering for a period of time.
  • Mold Inspection: When mold has had time to inhabit the space, this indicates that the damage produced by water has been present for about two to three days.
  • Rot: Your material doesn’t usually deteriorate by the first situation of water damage. And when there has been decomposition, this indicates your material has been susceptible to consistent flooding or standing water.

Get Rid of Damage Produced from Water & Call Paul

For all your water damage repair emergencies, call Paul Davis. When there’s a leak that you can’t detect, it’s vital to contact an expert. The professional team at Paul Davis has the industry knowledge and response time you need to get your home back in order. To find a local franchise in your area, reach out to us at (937) 436-3411 and we’ll get an expert for your assistance.