Hidden Pipe Leak Behind Walls in Marysville, WA

Speed matters with a hidden pipe leak in Marysville because by the time anyone sees it, the water has usually been there a while. A slow drip inside a wall soaks the back of the drywall, runs down to the bottom plate and spreads under carpet or laminate, or into the subfloor of a crawlspace home. In exterior walls, wet fiberglass insulation holds the water against the sheathing, and damp Puget Sound winters give a closed cavity no chance to dry. Every week a leak runs, the opening needed for repair gets bigger and mold gets more established on the hidden face of the drywall.

In the first hours of a hidden drip, nothing shows, because the water soaks into the back side of the drywall and the insulation. After a day or two, the bottom plate is wet and the baseboard starts to swell. At 48 hours mold can begin inside the cavity where nobody can see it. After a week, paint bubbles, a stain spreads, and laminate or hardwood next to the wall starts to lift. After a month, the drywall can crumble, the framing stays wet, and a musty smell fills the room.

Framing is usually the part that dries in place. Studs, bottom plates and top plates are solid lumber, and once the wall is open they release moisture well under dehumidifiers and directed air. Subfloor next to the wall can dry from above with air movers and, in crawlspace homes, from below at the same time. Drywall a little way from the leak that is only damp, not soft or stained, can often stay and be dried through small vent holes behind the baseboard. Tile walls in a bathroom may be dried from the room on the other side instead of being torn out.

Drywall that has been wet for weeks usually has to go, because it softens, loses strength and often has mold on its back side. Wet insulation in the cavity comes out too, since it will not dry inside a closed wall. Laminate and engineered flooring that has swelled at the edges along the wall seldom recovers, and MDF baseboard that has swollen is replaced rather than dried. If the leak was on a drain or waste line instead of a supply line, the water is category 2 or 3 and more material is removed.

Hidden leaks show up across Marysville, in every age of home. In older houses near Downtown and Jennings Park, an aging fitting or valve behind a bathroom or kitchen wall is a common source. In newer homes in Smokey Point and on Getchell Hill, the leak is often a connection behind a shower valve, a refrigerator water box or a laundry box that nobody has seen since the walls were closed. In townhomes and apartments near State Avenue and Lakewood, a hidden leak can move through a shared wall or ceiling and show up first in the neighboring unit.

The same detective work is needed in Everett, Mukilteo and Arlington. North Everett has the oldest homes in the area, and a Harbour Pointe home in Mukilteo or a Gleneagle home in Arlington can hide a slow drip just as well. Call the number on this page and describe the stain or smell, and you are connected with a local restoration pro who can find the wet area and dry the wall.