Water damage rarely starts with a flood. It starts with a slow drip behind a wall, a gutter that overflows every time it storms or a crawl space that never quite dries out. By the time you see a stain or feel a soft spot in the floor, the water has usually been at it for a while. Between heavy rain, tropical storms and long, humid summers, homes in Eastern North Carolina deal with a lot of moisture.
Here are the five places we’d check first, and the signs that tell you something’s wrong.
1. The crawl space
Many homes here sit over a crawl space, and it’s usually the first place moisture builds up. Water comes from rain draining toward the foundation, plumbing leaks, ductwork that sweats in the summer and warm, humid outdoor air coming in through the vents and condensing on cooler surfaces underneath the house.
Look for standing water or wet soil, a torn or missing vapor barrier, insulation that’s sagging or lying on the ground, rusty nails and straps, and mold or dark staining on the joists. Inside the house, a musty smell and floors that feel soft or have started to cup are often the first hints.
A damp crawl space does more than rot wood. It draws termites and other wood-destroying insects, and it can make the whole house feel muggy. If yours stays wet, our moisture control service can help, and our termite inspections are free if you’re worried about what the moisture may have invited in.
2. Under sinks, toilets and tubs
Kitchens and bathrooms have the most plumbing connections in the house, and every one of them can leak. Supply lines crack, drain fittings loosen, the wax ring under a toilet fails, and caulk and grout around tubs and showers open up over time.
Here’s what to watch for.
- A warped, stained or soft cabinet floor under the sink
- A toilet that rocks, or flooring around the base that’s stained or spongy
- Loose or cracked tiles and soft spots in the floor near the tub
- Stains on the subfloor when you look up at the bathroom from the crawl space
Open the cabinet doors and look under every sink a few times a year. Old rubber supply lines are worth replacing with braided stainless steel ones, which hold up better.
3. The roof and attic
Most roof leaks start where something breaks through the roof, not out in the middle of the shingles. Chimneys, skylights, valleys, plumbing vents and the spots where the roof meets a wall all depend on flashing and seals, and the rubber boots around plumbing vents crack as they age.
Inside, you might see a brown ring on the ceiling or peeling paint at the top of a wall. In the attic, look for water stains on the underside of the roof decking, damp or matted insulation and daylight around pipes and vents. Bath fans that dump moist air into the attic instead of outside can cause damage that looks a lot like a roof leak.
Our home inspections include a free drone roof inspection, flown by FAA-certified pilots, which gives a clear look at flashing and penetrations that are hard to see from the ground.
4. Windows and exterior doors
When caulk fails or flashing was never installed right, rain can get in around a window and run down inside the wall. Look for peeling or bubbling paint below a window, stains on the drywall at the lower corners, swollen trim and sills that feel soft. Push the tip of a screwdriver into a wood sill. If it sinks in easily, the wood is rotting.
Exterior doors take a beating too. Check the bottom of the door jambs and the threshold, where water splashes and collects, for soft or darkened wood.
5. Around the AC system and water heater
Your air conditioner pulls a lot of water out of the air in summer, and it has to go somewhere. When the condensate line clogs, the drain pan overflows, often onto a ceiling below an attic unit or into the crawl space. Ductwork in hot attics and crawl spaces can sweat and drip too.
Water heaters eventually leak as the tank corrodes, and the relief valve can discharge water if pressure or temperature gets too high. Rust at the base of the tank, puddles on the floor or water in the drain pan all deserve a call to a plumber.
Finding the water you can’t see
Moisture can spread a long way inside walls and floors before it shows on the surface. Every home inspection we do includes infrared scanning, which picks up the temperature differences that wet materials usually cause and points us to spots that need a closer look.
The best defense is a regular walk around the house. Keep the gutters clean, make sure downspouts carry water away from the foundation and peek into the crawl space after a heavy rain. Catching a leak early almost always costs less than fixing what it leaves behind.
