What could cause a water leak behind the walls and tiles in your shower?

A typical leak issue that many home bathrooms experience is paint peeling off the walls in (and around) the shower… sometimes to the point where the actual drywall and tiles come off also. What can you do about it? The most likely cause of such a leak in the shower would be the plumbing behind the wall around the showerhead and faucets. All it takes is a small hole in the plumbing at the joint, and the water drips (or sprays) onto the rear side of the plasterboard/drywall. The result end result of water hitting these highly absorbant materials, is fast deterioration of the shower area, and potentially damaging the wood structure behind the wall.

 Once water gets into the wood, you need to act fast because the water will track sideways and get in behind the tiles, around windows (see photo), into other walls behind your bathroom, and if the shower is on a 2nd story of your home, it could seriously damage the ceiling of the room underneath your bathroom. The other problem could be that there is simply to much moisture in your bathroom. You must have a vent fan in the ceiling of any interior shower to reduce the chances of moisture problems getting in behind your walls and shower tiles.

 

So should you open up the wall first, or get a thermal image of the source to assess the extent of the damage?

It only makes sense to use a thermal image to determine the extent of the damage first. All to often people just start ripping down walls all over the place to ‘find’ the source of the leak. Once they do find the source, they still don’t know how far the problem has progressed sideways into the walls of other rooms in your home. Note: By the time you actually see the problem, it’s most likely been leaking for quite a while.

NZ Leak & Heat Loss Detection Ltd uses a high tech thermal imaging camera that to help detect leaks behind bathroom walls. We can determine the exact area that should be investigated for moisture damage before any wall in ripped down. Our infrared camera can also detect temperature differences in the grout between tiles in wet area, to help determine which area is most likely to contain excess moisture.

If you suspect a leak behind any wall in your home, get it checked right away before the costs blow out to get it fixed down the track

Contact us today for a complete thermal imaging scan of the wet areas in your home!