Leak Lookout: Here’s How Water Leaks Can Cause Serious Damage in Your Home

Water leaks inside of a home can start slowly — a slow trickle inside a wall here, a slow drip-drop inside a roof there. However, before you know it, a slow water leak can cause serious damage in your home. But how much damage can it really cause, and how are you supposed to know when it’s time to bring in an interior painting expert or a drywall repair specialist? The experts at Nolan Painting are here to give you the lowdown on how to prevent paint damage from water leaks inside of your home.

Watch Out For These Common Causes of Water Damage

When it comes to home exterior and interior issues, more often than not there isn’t only one thing that can cause damage to your home, and water leaks inside of your home are no different. Here are the top four causes that can lead to water damage:

• Snow dams: These form when snow melts and refreezes at the edge of your roofline. When snow and ice buildup aren’t removed, water can’t properly drain from your roof, causing it to backup under the shingles, and ultimately, into your home. To prevent this, be sure to safely remove any ice or snow from your gutters and roofline.
• Clogged gutters: This occurs when leaves, twigs or dirt are not removed and prevent water from flowing off of the roof. When gutters clog, water instead seeps under shingles and can eventually find its way into your home. Avoid this by having your gutters consistently cleaned and maintained throughout the year.
• Lost or damaged shingles: Between the windy and rainy storms of summer, and the snowy and icy weather of winter, your roof’s shingles take a beating, which can cause them to crack, split or fall off. When this happens, it makes your home more prone to leaks, increasing your chances of dealing with interior water damage. Because of this, it is recommended to have your roof regularly inspected.
• Broken pipes: The leak from a broken pipe may not be obvious early on, but you should always be on the lookout for any stains on your walls or water spots in the ceiling in or around the shower or tub — these are the telltale signs that you’re having a pipe issue. A burst pipe can cause severe water damage, so to best prepare yourself for this situation, make sure you know how to locate — and shut off — your main water valve.

Not All Water Leaks Are Equal — Here’s How to Identify Them

As noted above, water leaks can occur from a variety of different sources from a variety of different places, but know matter how or where they start from, all leaks have one thing in common: They can quickly cause serious damage inside of a home. But how can you determine if you have an active leak on your hands? Here’s a step-by-step process of from the Nolan Painting experts of how to locate a looming leak:

1. Draw a pencil mark around the area that you’ve noticed the water
2. Look for running or bleeding outside of this line.
3. If you see running or bleeding outside your pencil mark, it’s an active leak; if this doesn’t happen, the leak is no longer active.

How Nolan Repairs Residential Home Damage

When it comes to addressing a water leak issue, there’s no quick fix — simply painting over the damaged area will do nothing to save your home from the severe effects of water damage. Instead, the first thing you need to do is bring in a Nolan Painting expert who will determine the moisture level in the area of question. If your Nolan Painting tech finds that the water damage is creating a harmful and unsafe environment in your home, such as mold, mildew and a weakened structure, then your next step is to hire a professional to ventilate your home.

Because water leaks can cause serious damage in your home, it is crucial that you contact Nolan Painting at the first sign of water damage! Thanks to our experience and expertise, you can rest easy knowing that our team can repair the damage caused by leaks, but keep in mind, we cannot repair the leak itself.