Water heater leak, drywall restoration

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BogleHead1008
Posts: 156
Joined: Fri Jul 23, 2021 8:44 am

Water heater leak, drywall restoration

Post by BogleHead1008 »

We had water heater leak on last Friday and I heard the sound and shut off the valve to the heater within 2 mins.

Used broom to get the water away from drywall and spent a lot of time keeping the water away from drywall until a contractor came and bypassed the valves completely.

Yesterday, another contractor came and replaced the heater and used his moisture meter to check for water in drywall and gave me a scare that there is a leak and I need to get this fixed ASAP.

He called his buddy who showed up after this guy left and started running numbers which didnt make sense for a 2 min leak.

There is no visible water markings or to the touch, but I can see the baseboard is little loose, like probably 1.8th of inch at one place, and is only 4 inches wide.

The pedestal that the new water heater is sitting on is solid, but the drywall around that 3X3 is all cracked and peeling off.

Wondering if I can get a local contractor, make the hole in the drywall and inspect rather than going with home insurance, which I am pretty sure they will bill in at least 5 K or more.

Any suggestions are welcome and thank you.
hicabob
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Re: Water heater leak, drywall restoration

Post by hicabob »

moisture meters are < $30 on amazon - I'd let a fan blow on the area for a few days.
https://www.amazon.com/General-Tools-MM ... 490&sr=8-8
jlm411
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Re: Water heater leak, drywall restoration

Post by jlm411 »

Go to Lowes/Home depot and get couple of xpower blower fans($99 a piece) and a dehumidifier. Point the fans at dry wall and run it for 2/3 days. Run dehumidifier in the same area. You should be good. I had similar issue in couple of rentals I own over the years and above solution worked.
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galawdawg
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Re: Water heater leak, drywall restoration

Post by galawdawg »

Did you observe any of these drywall issues prior to the water heater leak?

I'd recommend you place a dehumidifier in that area and run it for the next forty-eight to seventy-two hours. You may want to remove the baseboard first and use a wet-vac under the baseboard. Then leave the baseboard off while the dehumidifier runs. As hicabob noted, a fan running in the area will help as well, but you really want a dehumidifier to remove any moisture.

Drywall should be installed with a 1/2" gap at the floor which prevents wicking of moisture in exactly this type of situation. But you still don't want the baseboard holding back residual water and moisture. If your drywall didn't have the recommended gap at the floor, moisture may have wicked up from the water leak.

If any drywall needs to be replaced, a drywall contractor can remove the bottom eighteen inches or so and replace just that section.
Topic Author
BogleHead1008
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Joined: Fri Jul 23, 2021 8:44 am

Re: Water heater leak, drywall restoration

Post by BogleHead1008 »

Thank you all for giving me excellent ideas.

My neighbor who is a general contractor, came over and looked at the dry wall and said it is never wet or is wet now. He said the gap in the baseboard is due to the stress crack in the wall and he walked me to two other places in the garage and showed me the gap around the stress crack.

He said there is nothing to work on, except make the pedestal look good with some plywood around it and with some screws.

I have to run a pipe from the pan under the heater so the water will not go towards the drywall but to the garage and onto the street when this happens again.

I am going to just sit back and relax and let the crooks know I am not going to do the restoration job they suggested.

Once again, thanks to all the folks who chimed in.

@Galawdawg: There were no issues in the drywall, except the stress crack and my wife says the gap in the baseboard was there for a long time. I am going to run fans and put a demudifier (homedepot has it for rent) and let it run for day or two. But definitely there is no wetness in drywall anywhere.
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galawdawg
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Re: Water heater leak, drywall restoration

Post by galawdawg »

Sounds like good news. You may also want to invest in a water leak detector. You can get a detector with several sensors that will send alerts to your phone for about $50. One sensor at the water heater, one at the washing machine, and so on...
Topic Author
BogleHead1008
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Re: Water heater leak, drywall restoration

Post by BogleHead1008 »

galawdawg wrote: Thu Jul 29, 2021 10:37 am Sounds like good news. You may also want to invest in a water leak detector. You can get a detector with several sensors that will send alerts to your phone for about $50. One sensor at the water heater, one at the washing machine, and so on...
I have been on the look out for one for using under the kitchen cabinets. Govee had bad reviews and I cant make up my mind on a good one.
Any suggestions?
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lthenderson
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Re: Water heater leak, drywall restoration

Post by lthenderson »

Krishmk wrote: Thu Jul 29, 2021 10:27 am I have to run a pipe from the pan under the heater so the water will not go towards the drywall but to the garage and onto the street when this happens again.
They also make sensors to fit in water heater pans so that if this happens again, the sensor can among other things alert you via smart phone app or even shut your water off if equipped with a paired valve.
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Watty
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Re: Water heater leak, drywall restoration

Post by Watty »

galawdawg wrote: Thu Jul 29, 2021 10:37 am Sounds like good news. You may also want to invest in a water leak detector. You can get a detector with several sensors that will send alerts to your phone for about $50. One sensor at the water heater, one at the washing machine, and so on...
You can also get those as part of an alarm system and you will be notified even if you are away from your house at the time. I know that Simplisafe has those and I would assume that the others do too.
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galawdawg
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Re: Water heater leak, drywall restoration

Post by galawdawg »

Watty wrote: Thu Jul 29, 2021 1:19 pm
galawdawg wrote: Thu Jul 29, 2021 10:37 am Sounds like good news. You may also want to invest in a water leak detector. You can get a detector with several sensors that will send alerts to your phone for about $50. One sensor at the water heater, one at the washing machine, and so on...
You can also get those as part of an alarm system and you will be notified even if you are away from your house at the time. I know that Simplisafe has those and I would assume that the others do too.
Yep. Mine are Honeywell sensors and installed as part of my home security system. If a leak is detected, the control panel beeps repeatedly, I get a text message alert and the monitoring center calls me. But no wailing siren, thank goodness!
michaelingp
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Re: Water heater leak, drywall restoration

Post by michaelingp »

Check out this thread. The consensus (if there is ever consensus in a BH thread) is that flow-sensitive shutoffs are better than sensor-based.
bighatnohorse
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Re: Water heater leak, drywall restoration

Post by bighatnohorse »

The water heater could have been leaking very slowly over a period of time.
When you heard the noise it had finally sprung a detectable leak.
Okay? This is a "could be" thing. And it is the worst.

Worst because insurance companies (typically) will cover "sudden and unexpected" events. Slow leaks are not qualified.
Glycol ethylene will kill mold and mildew, though most contractors will not tell you so. If they do, then pay attention to what they say.

Also, there are cheap moisture detectors (battery operated) that one can purchase and place where potential leaks can occur and be detected.
They are similar to battery operated smoke detectors but the warn when moisture is detected.
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