Finding and Fixing Hidden Water Damage

“It’s not that bad,” “it will probably dry out on its own.” These are famous last words in the water mitigation industry. When water damage occurs in a home or business, most owners focus primarily on the water that they can see. BIG MISTAKE. 85% of a home’s value is in it’s structure, aka the part of your home you don’t see. Carpet, drywall, baseboard, these materials are all relatively inexpensive compared to the framing and structure of your home. So, when you decide the damage in your home isn’t a big deal because it doesn’t “look bad,” you could be setting yourself up for major trouble down the road.

One person who found out what a costly mistake neglecting water damage in a home could be is my mother in law. Years ago, they left the bathtub running and had some water overflow from the upstairs tub down into the formal dining room on the first floor. They checked it out and decided it had only affected a little drywall and that it would dry on its own (this was well before I entered her life and could have saved her some serious heartache). After she and her husband decided not to mess with it and quickly forgot about it all together. Well, that is until they put their home up for sale almost ten years later. Since it was a beautiful home, they found a buyer quickly and thought they were some free…

NOT SO FAST…

During the standard pre-sale home inspection, the inspector noticed some minor damage to the drywall in the formal living room and asked if there had been any water damage. At that point they hardly remembered the bathtub incident, but the inspector knew something was amiss and ordered a mold test to be done. The test came back positive and the buyer freaked out. My in-laws quickly called me to remediate the mold (which was a relatively minor task), but it was too late, the damage had been done. The buyer was so concerned they immediately backed out of the deal. Two months later they decided to make another offer…for $20,000 less than the initial offer. After significant heartache and stress, they finally sold their home, losing $20,000 because of a minor flood almost a decade earlier that could have been professionally remediated for under a thousand dollars!

So next time you are inclined to think that that minor leak in your home or business “isn’t that bad,” remember my in-laws and be smart!

Take care of it now to save yourself the headache later!