Testing the water

Locating the source of leaks and dangerous mold should be a part of every home buyer's inspection plan

BY GARY DYMSKI
STAFF WRITER, Newsday.com, May 21, 2004

The shower wall in Ebrahim Jaffer's upstairs bathroom was crumbling. Obviously, the wall was absorbing water -- but from where?

At first, Jaffer thought the water was from leaky pipes behind the upper portion of the wall, between the showerhead and the ceiling. "But there was really no way to tell," says Jaffer, of Lake Grove.

Only after a contractor ripped out the interior wall and removed a portion of the exterior vinyl siding was any light shed -- literally -- on the problem. As Jaffer shined a flashlight on the inside of the wall, the contractor, perched on a ladder outside, could see light through a 1/4-inch sliver in the wood sheathing. "Water from rain and the snow was coming down from the roof, and it was getting behind a small opening in the vinyl siding," Jaffer says.

It cost Jaffer about $3,500 last year to solve the problem by having the contractor seal the opening in the wood sheathing, replace some vinyl siding and rebuild the interior shower wall.

A common frustration

Jaffer's experience illustrates a homeowner's common frustration with leaks. Whether it's in a newer home like Jaffer's, built in 1998, or an older home that appears dry to the bone -- or even a remodeling project -- water can find even the smallest of openings.

"It's often hard to say where the water is coming from," says Warren Cronacher, whose Rockville Centre company, Tauscher Cronacher Engineers, has inspected about 160,000 buildings in 47 years.

Though it can be difficult to detect a problem until damage begins to appear, in many instances, experts say, home buyers can make visual inspections and hire a professional engineer or inspector to spot potential water problems that could cost thousands of dollars.

Even after buying a house, it's a good idea to regularly conduct your own home inspection with the change of the seasons to help keep water outside, experts advise. Simply look over the roof, basement foundation and plumbing systems, inside and out.

Handle problems quickly

Common warning signs can include something as large as the efflorescence of white saltlike crystals on concrete walls and drywall or as small as drips from a pipe or a wet spot on a carpet.

Paul Gressin, a building inspector and indoor environmentalist in Woodmere, says ignoring warning signs can lead to larger problems. "If you don't handle water problems quickly, then mold can appear," he says. Mold needs three things -- water, food and temperature -- Gressin says. "The food source is cellulose, which is the wood and paper in building materials. And the temperature is difficult to control. But we can do things to control water intrusion."

Missing or cracked asphalt shingles, loose flashing (the metal around roof openings), sagging gutters and disconnected downspouts are among water's favorite entrance ways.

At the foundation, the grade of the soil, cracks in concrete and gaps around pipes and vents also can be invitations for water intrusion.

In plumbing systems, home buyers or owners should watch out for dripping faucets, leaky pipes and rusted or loose drain traps under sinks. Any appliance that uses water could be leaking, so check around them.

Use some common sense, Gressin says. Rotted wood and peeling paint are common signs of water problems.

Water also leaves its mark indoors. Yellow stains on interior walls and warped wood floors are common red flags. "If a basement or a room smells musty, then there's a good chance there's a water problem," Cronacher says.

Monitor the air for mold

Even if you can't smell something, there might be a water problem. A small but constant water leak could lead to a buildup of mold, Gressin says, so it's not a bad idea to conduct an air-quality check -- which determines a mold spores count per cubic liter of air. "Every house has mold, but abnormal levels can reveal water problems," he says.

Gressin conducted an air-quality check -- about $550 for a 2,000-square-foot home -- about two summers ago in a Port Jefferson home. Shortly after purchasing the home, the family had begun to experience respiratory problems. "The readings were off the charts, and we found black mold on the inside of walls in the basement," Gressin says. The home's concrete foundation had a severe water problem.

Ken Stoller of Kings Point had a similar problem when he remodeled and expanded his basement in 1998. Stoller says he hired an architect and an experienced contractor to dig out the crawl space of his estate home, which was built in the mid-1930s. "The North Shore is notorious for underground streams and water problems," Stoller says. "But we thought we had everything under control."

Stoller had a basement drainage system installed around the interior of the foundation wall to collect water into a sump pump. But shortly after the project was completed, he found a small water leak. He had another drainage system installed on the exterior wall, and he had the exterior walls of the basement addition coated with a waterproof material.

"Even then, we still had a water leak," Stoller says.

Only after a third drainage system was installed did the leak disappear.

Stoller says he probably spent $100,000 on the basement expansion -- and $15,000 more for the pump, the waterproofing and the drainage systems.

But, just like the little Dutch boy who put his finger in the dike, he solved the problem -- before it got bigger.

Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.