Bathrooms are one of the most common places for water damage to occur. How does this damage take place and what can you do about fixing it?
Sources of Bathroom Water Damage
The shower, toilet, bath, and sink are all connected to a plumbing system in your home. This means there is a possibility for leaky or dripping pipes—or even pipes that completely burst and cause possible flooding. However, there are more causes of bathroom water damage than plumbing.
- Shower Steam: After many uses of the shower without a fan or open window to disperse steam, the condensated water may gather on walls, baseboards, and floors. This continuous accumulation of water can lead to water damage.
- Drips and Splashes: The floors and baseboards are the main places that get damaged due to dripping or splashing. This also takes more than one occurrence, but things like stepping out of your shower and dripping on the floor, water always splashing up around the sink, or children splashing water out of bathtubs can cause water damage when not dried up afterward.
Identifying the Damage
How do you know if your bathroom has water damage?
- Visible Mold: Mold is one of the main effects of water damage. If you can see mold on any surface, it can be harmful to both your health and your home.
- Discolored Walls and Floors: When the interior structure of your home begins to have brown and yellow discoloration, it’s often a sign of rotting due to water.
- Musty Smell: This may come from mold or rot, but it still needs to be addressed!
- Crumbing or Bubbling/Blistering Walls: Water may cause walls and baseboards to crumble or blister underneath paint.
Preventing Water Damage
The damage caused by water can have disastrous effects on your bathroom and the rest of your home. However, there are ways to prevent it from becoming a big issue.
- Perform regular inspections: Looking over the areas around baths, showers, and sinks can help you quickly spot beginning signs of damage. The earlier you repair and seal them, the less work you’ll have to do later on.
- Maintain your plumbing system: Check up on pipes, valves, and your plumbing as a whole. Again, the earlier your fix leaks or replace deteriorating parts, the less damage there will be later.
- Keep drainage areas unclogged: When drains get clogged, water will begin to pool and cause damage.
- Use fans or crack windows: Giving shower steam and humidity even a little bit of an exit can help keep down the accumulation of water.