Approaches to Indicate if Your Water Damage is New or Old

One of the more typical complications a house can go through is water damage. As water damage restoration experts, Paul Davis is aware of the problems that water damage produces, especially when it can't be seen. Your property has plumbing everywhere, including the inside of your ceilings and walls. When these pipes leak or have condensation on them, they can begin to corrode your ceiling or walls. One of the more frustrating parts to this is checking whether or not the water damage is new or old.

It's complicated to verify how old or new the water damage is for these areas that aren't visible. After all, you could have a pipe that's been slightly leaking for awhile but because it's not in plain sight, you don't know how long. There's no way to indicate the precise time of the problem, but there are methods to estimate the age of the water damage.

Determine How Old the Damage Produced by Water is with This Guidance

You can get an estimated age of the damage produced from water by taking these steps:

• History of the House: Keep track of any spots on your walls or ceilings and take into account any outside influences such as a heavy rain storm. Water spots and damages can take some time to emerge if it's a slight leak. If your residence is an older house, the water damage spots may have been there for awhile. So it's important to keep track of the spots you see while indicating whether this is new water damage or old water damage.
• History of the House: An old property may already have some previous water damage, so it's critical to keep track of what's there and to note if the damage alters overtime. Tracking the weather is a great idea as well, because if you have a small leak, it can take some time for a spot to appear. Keeping track of your water damages can save you a lot of hassle when finding out whether the damage generated from water is new or old.
• Touch the Spot: You can feel the spot- this will disclose a lot about the age of the damage generated by water. A new spot will be wet but your drywall or ceiling will still be the same, while an old spot will be soft and spongy since your material would have taken in a fair amount of moisture.
• Look for Rings: You know how rings on a tree show the age of the tree? The same approach can be used for water spots. An old water spot is going to have rings around it. They will also be shaded differently because the area gets soaked then dries and gets soaked again then dries again, etc. A new spot will be dark with zero rings around it.
• Examine the Materials: It's fundamental to know about the materials that make up your walls or ceilings, because things such as thick paint or tiles can trap the water. If this is the situation, even a water spot that's small can indicate the accumulation of water has been remaining for a while.
• Mold Inspection: If you see that bacteria, or mold, is present, the damage generated by water has been there for nearly two to three days.
• Deterioration: Your material doesn't usually decompose from the first instance of damage generated by water. So if there has been deterioration, this indicates your material has been exposed to consistent flooding or standing water.

Eliminate Damage Generated from Water & Call Paul

When you're having water damage complications, look to Paul Davis. It's essential to remedy any dripping pipes on your property prior to the damage becoming more extensive. Our water damage restoration experts can find a leak and restore your house back to normal conditions no matter the size of the job. Reach out to Paul now at +1-403-696-8886 and a local franchise will be there to help out.