I believe that everyone knows the effects of water damage on a home’s resale value right? When something like flooding occurs, it can be very devastating to an extent that you will be forced to spend a lot of money to deal with the damages.
Most of the times we might assume that everything is okay when it is only a leaking water pipe mainly because it can’t be that serious. Little do we know that the simple Leaking Pipe can cause just the same damage as floods or even a burst water pipe.
Below are some of the consequences that you can face with just a simple water leaking from a pipe.
Reduces property value
If you still haven’t got the memo, water damage can reduce the value of a property, in this case your home.
Even after you have fixed the leaking pipes, some lingering effects might still remain and this in turn will affect your position when bargaining suppose you decide to sell the house.
This of course will only see you sell your house at a lower price than it should be going for. You should be taking care of this problem immediately as it occurs to prevent your property’s resale price to go down.
Growing of mold and fungi
This is also one of the health hazards posed by water damage from leaking pipes. When they are left to grow for a long time, they can cause a long time health effect to those living around since they always produce spores that pollutes the air.
These spores can stay dormant for a long time but when they come in contact with water, their growth will be triggered hence they will reproduce and begin polluting the air. Young children can face the risk of developing asthma when living in a mold infested area.
Sneezing fits, coughs, breathing difficulties and nasal congestion can be some health effects to people living around the areas affected.
Damaging structures
For many people, health problems caused by the growth of mold and fungi would be the worst thing they thing could happen only to find out that there are some other damages that can be caused by the leaking water.
I am talking about structural damage. Structural damages can even become more expensive than the health issues brought by the growth of mold and fungi.
These damages usually includes discoloration, streaks along the walls and astatic staining. This should be enough to tell you there is a water leak somewhere in the house.
How to detect water damage
If you can detect that somewhere in your house there is some water leaking, you can act quickly and save yourself and those around you some long term health problems and also ensure the safety of your house.
Anyway, discovering a water leak can be quite difficult since it can take quite a while for this to manifest. Below are some of the ways in which you can use to detect water damage. You can also find additional tips here.
- Paying attention to strange odors
When there is some water leak in your house, you will always notice some nasty smell around the house. This should be enough to tell you that something is wrong somewhere.
When you try to follow where this smell is coming from, you might just find out that you have a water leak or any other problem in your house.
- Discoloration in the walls
This should act as another warning sign that you might be having a water leak somewhere in your house.
You will always notice an off-white or some yellow stain appearing on your white wall. This is a sign of water leak inside the wall.
- Sagging ceiling or walls
Obviously when there is a water leak somewhere in your house, the water will always try and find a place to accumulate.
The water will flow towards this point and accumulate there and this is the point where you will be able to notice the sagging or some other effects which can be visible.
Well, this might not happen immediately but with time you will notice some negative effects on the structures of your home including the sagging.
Anyway, if you see this somewhere, most probably you have a water leak somewhere that needs to be dealt with.
Water leaks don’t always show the effects immediately, as you have seen most of these effects usually occur sometimes later.
It is advisable that you don’t ignore these signs as you might incur some serious damages when they are assumed. Always try and find out what is really happening from the first time you notice the above signs.
This way, you might be able to save yourself some money you could have used for repair and maybe settling of some hospital bills.