Bathroom leak led to damp wall - advice would be appreciated

browsingid

Hello everyone

I hope someone on here can give me a bit of advice. I have scoured the web looking for some useful help with my problem, but all I seem to be finding is information about rising damp, which isn't really my problem as the affected area is an internal wall and the problem was a bathroom leak.

Here's the situation:
Our bathroom shares a wall with our spare bedroom. I was sure I could smell damp in the bedroom for quite some time, but OH couldn't, so I thought maybe I was just paranoid and imagining it. We were preparing to decorate the bedroom, and when we moved a big cupboard against the wall, we found that the plaster behind was a bit damp to the touch and crumbling. Our bathroom plumbing is on the other side of this wall, and thus we deduced that there must be a leak.

Nothing was too obvious in the bathroom, although the pipe that fills the toilet cistern was a little damp to the touch - which we previously had attributed to condensation. This pipe disappears behind a tiled-over and boxed-out section behind which a lot of our bathroom plumbing lives, against the wall in question (which in the bathroom is tiled up to about 120cm from the floor).

We have just repaired this leak (a disintegrated washer seemed to be the cause - looked like it was made of cardboard??) and now no more damp is noticeable on the pipe.

My questions:

Assuming that this slow leak (maybe for years?) was the source of the problem, does anyone have any idea how long our 100-year old wall might take to dry out to the stage where we can plaster over and decorate? I am currently running a dehumidifier in the room to help the process a bit.

Is there anything else I need to worry about, or can I just assume it WILL eventually dry out?

The damp patches in the bedroom have spread to a higher level than the height at which the leak is in the bathroom - can I get away with leaving all my tiles on in the bathroom or do I need to hack them off to let it all dry out properly?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Plumber suggested that a week or two should be enough to dry the wall out, but this seems to be insanely optimistic to me.

pic attached for your info:

bestyman

Hi,
I work as an emergency plumber and see a lot of leaks. The slow un noticeable ones like yours are the worse.

Its difficult to say exactly what to do without seeing ( in person, but nice pic though- how did u do that?) the damage but in a lot of cases walls are replastered after a leak. My gut feeling is that it will not dry out but you could always wait and see.

My advise would be to contact your insurance company as you will probably be insured for this. Tell them you want walls replastering, new tiles etc and take it from there . They may send someone out someone to inspect the damage or may even send out their own builders or sometimes they will ask for quotes . You might as well get the job done properly.

Also check that floor joists and floorboards are ok. Check ceiling below isn`t about to fall down.

Hope this helps

Bestyman

browsingid

Hello! Thanks for your response.

The wall is definitely drying out since the leak got fixed. We have been running the dehumidifier all day and I think it is definitely having an effect (albeit with the slight worry that we are just pulling out the surface water quicker than it is being replenished by a hidden leak - yes, paranoia I know!).

I have already had to file a massive claim on my insurance this year, so I am not really keen on going down that route again - especially since my excess is quite high at the moment. That bedroom already needed some attention from a plasterer anyway, so I think I am just going to suck up these costs and hope the problem never reoccurs. We are ground floor flat with no party walls anywhere near the link - so at least don't need to be too concerned about affecting anyone else

also FYI - I used the little 'postcard' icon above the text of my post while i was writing it to link to the picture I had uploaded to my webspace - v handy!

Attached picture taken this evening - we hacked off plaster a few days ago, and it is definitely getting dryer. Wish us good luck!

plumb1_2

It should dry-out in a couple of weeks imo

Softstuff

plumb1 wrote:

It should dry-out in a couple of weeks imo

I'd agree with that, especially when running a dehumidifier.
I'd play on the safe side with it... if it was my wall, after patching the plaster I'd give it a couple of coats of damp proof paint. It doesn't cost much but will stop any small residual bits of damp ruining your new decor.

ben500

Don't forget to give the dehumids a rest now and then otherwise you will risk damaging that floor and a lot more expense