Bulging strips of plaster?

IvyFlood

DEV1L wrote: »

https://activerain.com/blogsview/3378223/sacramento-general-contractor-helps-with-signs-of-water-leak---part-2

Does it look like B. On this link

Hmm kind of except its not as visible as that. You can't tell its there in daylight or when the light is on in the room, even if you look down the side of the wall. Only when its dark in the room and light comes from somewhere else casting a shadow does it show up. You can feel its there though. The wall is painted a brown colour at the moment.

IvyFlood

DEV1L wrote: »

Yeah it was an internal wall. Water from the gutter outside made its throught the house up the wall and gathered behind the interior wall and plaster causing a big bubble, which was dry to the touch. No other signs of a leak or water build up anywhere. I got a plaster out and he put a hole in the plaster and it was wet behind, he traced it to the gutter and a week later the wall dried out and he came back and removed the loose plaster and reskimmed the wall. Job done.

Wow water can do strange things can't it! You've got me convinced its a leak now! I just don't know where from.

G42

When you said "We have lived in our new house less than a month" I took it to be that it was a "new" house but I see now that it was built in the sixties.

Because of that, the different sounds I spoke about when tapping the walls will likely not be there as, if the walls have been covered with plasterboard they could have been attached directly to the brick walls. This would mean little or no hollow behind the boards so they would all sound the same.

It still sounds to me that it is plasterboard and that it's the joints you're seeing, especially going on your description of them being "3 of them equally spaced apart down the wall".

IvyFlood

G42 wrote: »

When you said "We have lived in our new house less than a month" I took it to be that it was a "new" house but I see now that it was built in the sixties.

Because of that, the different sounds I spoke about when tapping the walls will likely not be there as, if the walls have been covered with plasterboard they could have been attached directly to the brick walls. This would mean little or no hollow behind the boards so they would all sound the same.

It still sounds to me that it is plasterboard and that it's the joints you're seeing, especially going on your description of them being "3 of them equally spaced apart down the wall".

Ahh sorry no it is just new to us! I have ran my hand over the wall and patted and it feels pretty solid, not really hollow. I have no idea what's behind it. I just find it very suspect that its the wall where the shower and sink are plumbed but don't know what the plumbing would be like whether it would cause a leak to form symmetrical columns down the wall?!

DEV1L

Just put a small hole in one and wait a week, you will know if its a leak pretty quick or if you know someone with a damp/moisture reader give it a test.
It could just be a little swelling from the previous bathroom leak and is dried out now or is infact just unfinished joints in the plasterboard.

G42

IvyFlood wrote: »

whether it would cause a leak to form symmetrical columns down the wall?!

I think it would be a miracle if it did, especially from ceiling to floor. I wouldn't be surprised if your other walls show the same thing. You could try using a torch angled along the walls.

It's very common for plasterboard joints to show up under some lighting conditions such as you've described but from what you say, a least yours don't seem to be too bad.

IvyFlood

G42 wrote: »

I think it would be a miracle if it did, especially from ceiling to floor. I wouldn't be surprised if your other walls show the same thing. You could try using a torch angled along the walls.

It's very common for plasterboard joints to show up under some lighting conditions such as you've described but from what you say, a least yours don't seem to be too bad.

That's a good idea, I shall be moving round the house in the dark like a detective. It seems all I do since we moved in is look for problems, sigh