Water Damage – How Old is it? – Find Out by Taking These Steps

When you have backed-up sinks, bathtubs or toilets that flood, you know that water damage repairs will be required. Unfortunately, your home can sustain water damage in ways that aren’t as obvious. Because you have plumbing running through your residence, you can have a leaky pipe or a buildup of condensation between your walls or ceilings. It’s a difficult situation since this isn’t in sight- you won’t notice it until you there’s water damage, and then it’s difficult to diagnose how long the issue has lingered.

Yet, when you catch damage to your walls or water spots on your ceiling, these are clues indicating a pipe that’s leaking or condensation generating the issue. Because the space is unseen, though, it’s tough to determine how long the problem has lasted. Even though there isn’t a way to know precisely how long your water damage issue has lingered, there are some ways to indicate whether the water damage is new or old.

Determine How Old or New Your Water Damage is with This Guidance

By practicing the tips listed below, you can learn how new or old the damage induced by water:

  • History of the House: Keep track of any spots on your walls or ceilings and take into account any strong weather you had in your location like a heavy rain storm. Water spots and damages can take months to pop up if it’s a slight leak. Older properties may have some water spots and damages that were sustained previously. So it’s critical to keep track of the spots you perceive while determining whether this is old water damage or old water damage.
  • History of the House: An old home may already have some previous damage provoked from water, so it’s fundamental to keep track of what’s there and to note if the damage alters over a period of time. Tracking the weather is a great idea as well, since, if you have a a slow leak, it can take awhile for a water spot to surface. Keeping track of your water spots and damages can save you a lot of hassle when figuring out whether your water damage is new or old.
  • Touch the Spot: Go on and feel the spot- this will inform you a lot about the age of the water damage. A new spot will be wet but your drywall or ceiling will still be durable, while an old spot will be mushy and soft since your material would have absorbed a fair amount of moisture.
  • Look for Rings: When you see just a dark spot with zero rings around it, this demonstrates that the water damage is new. Old water damage will have rings around it, and just like a tree, the more rings indicates the age. Different shades and colors of rings exhibits that the spot has been saturated, dried, saturated, dried, etc.
  • Examine the Materials: Get to know the material in your house, because water and moisture can get trapped by tiles and thick paint. So if water spots show up through these types of materials, this means the accumulation of moisture has been lingering for a period of time.
  • Mold Inspection: If you see that bacteria is there, your water damage has been present for approximately two to three days.
  • Rot: Your material won’t decompose from the first instance of damage created by water. And when there has been decay, this means your material has been vulnerable to repeated flooding or standing water.

Call Paul – Your Expert Water Damage Restoration Specialists

The extent of your water damage doesn’t matter, Paul Davis is here to assist. Our team of skillful water damage repair contractors can resolve the problem and have your residence in a great state. Remedy the issue today before it gets in a worse condition and reach out to us at (317) 357-5396 for a local franchise near you.