Water seepage is every homeowner’s worst nightmare. We’ve all had such experiences at least once in our lives where water has destroyed our floors and walls and we’ve had to hire expensive professional help to fix the seepage. However, at times, you can fix the problem yourself too by simply knowing how to repair or replace the leaking fittings and save some money. But before we go on discussing some easy and inexpensive repairing hacks, let’s first talk about how water diffuses into our homes.
Here are five main ways through which water can seep through our homes:
Through cracks in the floor: There are very small cracks (pores) on the concrete floor. Excess water in the soil under the floor can create pressure, causing water to enlarge the cracks and find its way up through the cracks.
Under the footer: At times a small space is left between the footer (a strip of concrete that supports the structures built on it) and the floor structure during common construction methods. Excess water from under the floor structure finds its way up through this small space and spreads around.
From bleeding and sweating walls: Excess moisture will often cause blocked walls to sweat. The pooled water starts to spread around, moving into the floors even.
Through cracks in walls and joints: If the wall in your living room is leaking, it’s most probably because of the hydrostatic pressure caused by excess moisture in the soil. The walls get blocked over time and when the blockage builds up significantly inside the blocks, water seepage becomes visible. It seeps through cracks causing deposits, mildew as well as water diffusion to the bottom of the wall.
Over the footer: At times, there’s a crack between the footer and the wall sitting on it. Excess water seeps through it, dampening the space around it.
A big question is where does excess water come from? Mostly, excess water is absorbed from defective pipes and faulty pipe joints, but broken sanitary fittings can also cause this leakage. Repairs are usually simple and you can easily do them yourself, however, when occasionally the damage is huge, you may need to engage a plumber.
If you have the knowhow you don’t need to call the plumber for every minor repair