Moisture Appearing on Carpet Traced to Dishwasher Leak

Have you noticed moisture on your carpet in a place that seems unexplainable as to how it could actually get there in the first place?

What if there are no wet areas near the leak?

A lady called me for a leak detection in an Auckland city apartment today. She was totally confused (and for good reason) as to how a moist patch could appear in the middle of her carpet on the 5th floor… on top of a cement slab!

dishwasher leak

After a small investigation, I managed to trace the leak back to the source (behind the dishwasher). The interesting part is that it certainly was not a direct water line from the source of the leak to where it appeared. In this case, the kitchen backed onto a bathroom, so the leak could have been from the combined shower/toilet/laundry area also.

Through non-invasive moisture testing, it turned out the leak had followed the skirting board to a certain point, then under some bathroom floor tiles and ended up leaking under the carpet and settling at a low point on the concrete slab.

This was an interesting leak detection, but we got it through process of elimination. We double checked by testing the surrounding apartments to confirm water wasn’t coming down the wall from up above. Unfortunately we found moisture damage in the apartment bathroom below caused by this particular leak.

Suspect a leak? Contact us today for a free thermal imaging and moisture scan quote!