Monitoring moisture condition case studies

The following method is simple but can be used in many situations.

The client had been annoyed by water seeping into the front storage area, a dark and dingy place under the front steps near the pavement, where you often find electricity meters, gas meters and mains water pipes. There was mould on some carpet off-cuts and a distinct musty odour. The floor was wet, but where was the water coming from?

Pulling back some of the accumulated boxes and bric-a-brac the surveyor finally got to the far left-hand corner. It was from here that water could have been getting into the storage area. There were a few stains on the tops of boxes that could well have been caused by dripping water.

Monitoring was the order of the day (nothing sophisticated). An old saucepan was taken from the kitchen, and a dry card placed in the bottom, photographed and dated.

The trap was set: all they needed to do was wait.

A day or so later it rained, quite hard. So a quick trip to the leaky house was made. Pulling back the boxes a tiny drip was heard, and then a few drops were actually seen crashing down, sometimes into the saucepan, now wet in the bottom. The surveyor now knew that dripping water was probably not linked to the myriad of pipework nearby, nor any defective drains, nor condensation, but almost certainly to rain penetration. The position was measured from the main wall, and a tape measure used outside. It was quite clear that a crack in the steps above outside lined up with the leak position inside. The cracks were promptly made good, and the damp was well and truly remedied. There was no more dripping water, and the floor was seen to visibly dry. No instruments were needed to remedy this problem – just sight and hearing.

Figure 1: The front corner of the under-steps storage area suffers dripping water - from where?

Figure 2: A saucepan was placed in the vicinity, with a dry, dated card within. It rained a few days later, the saucepan became wet and a drip was seen and heard

Figure 3: Measurements show what was now certainly rain seepage via a crack across the yard at the bottom of the steps

Figure 4: The crack was made good, the damp remedied