Hidden Water Damage in Bathroom Walls
Shown on the left is typical under cabinet rot found in many homes. Take a flash light and inspect under all cabinet sinks. Many homes have particle board type cabinet and the bottom of it has been wet on more than one occasion. The bottom is rotted and needs to be replaced. When installing new cabinets it is a good idea to caulk the seams down here so future leaks don't travel beneath the cabinets and do more damage. Some people like to put those stick on floor tiles in here to further waterproof the area. I keep a low cut, plastic storage container under my sink. It holds my cleaning products and will also contain water if any future leaks occur.
The bottom cabinet shelf is not too hard to replace, what you need to be on the look out for is damage that may have occurred underneath. In older homes it is quite possible that you may want to replace the cabinets. There are lots of resources on the web for DIY cabinet installation. Larger kitchens have more cabinets and counter tops and naturally cost more to renovate.
What type of water supply pipes does the house you are going to buy have? Are they copper, galvanized, CPVC, or maybe defective polybutylene? You really should know what you are buying!
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The picture on the top left is inside the bathtub access panel and on the right is where I cut open the wall next to the access panel. You can see the rot spread all the way through the stud and there was even some damage to the inside of the sheet rock. Everything looked fine on the outside. Without an access panel you would never know this damage was there. Dry rot is a fungus that eats wet or damp wood, it can lie dormant in dry wood and become active again if the wood is re-wetted. This damage was not caused by a one time leak. This was caused by slow unseen leaks and dampness in the wall. If you don't have an access panel this type of damage can occur very slowly over the course of many years. I hesitate to buy a house without access panels in the bathrooms. In an older home I pretty much assume that some water has been in the bathtub wall at one time or another. Damp rotten wood attracts termites!
Bathtubs Need Access Panels - Bad Bathroom Design Could Require Expensive Repairs
I looked at a house I really liked except for one major flaw. The house had fairly new floor tile, new paint, siding had been replaced, the roof and the heater were less than 10 years old, I loved the floor plan. The problem is the bathtubs as you can see in the image to the left. These are your typical bathtubs with tiled walls on 3 sides, but there is no access panel. Instead of facing the plumbing end towards the sheetrock wall or the outside wall they faced them towards each other. So to work on the water pipes or replace rotten wood that is no doubt inside the wall you need to tear out perfectly good tile. Then you are still faced with the problem of reaching the drain pipes. The bad design of these bathrooms is going to lead to costly repairs.
This is a view looking into a bathtub access panel. I laid down on the floor stretched out to replace the overflow gasket which was rotted and also to replace the seal on the tub drain. Now looking at the image above, I think it would be very hard to make this repair with both tubs in place. Unless of course you like standing on your head. Here in Houston with most homes built on concrete slabs, pipes usually come down the wall from the attic, installing the tubs in this fashion no doubt saved the builder a few bucks, copper is not cheap. I'm sure an extra 10 or 20 feet of copper would have been much cheaper than what it is going to cost the new owner of this home for repairs.
One tub could have been turned around so the plumbing would face the sheetrock wall and an access panel could have been made. Turn the other tub around and the plumbing would face an outside wall which is brick in this case. That also would be very expensive to remove. One possible solution would be to put a freestanding tub in one of the bathrooms or maybe even a drop in tub with an access panel on the side. Whatever the solution it is going to be expensive and the seller did not take this into account when pricing the house. No inspector can see inside the wall to see if there is rotten wood. The seller can't see inside the wall and won't disclose anything. A first time home buyer won't know this is a problem until the day comes, and it will, when there is water leaking.
Pay attention to these types of things when you are out looking for a house. Look carefully around the faucet and faucet handles of shower/tubs. Where the metal meets the tile, water can get through if it has not been sealed correctly with plumbers putty or caulk. That is a large part of what happened to the tub in the above image. It was installed by a professional plumbing company who used no caulk or plumbers putty. A few little drops of water day after day for years can do a lot of damage over time. Small cracks in grout can cause the same problem. The above photos show what happened AFTER the tub and tile was replaced 10 years ago. Click to read more details on this sloppy job.
Video that shows how to find and repair leaks in bathroom shower. A little teflon tape, plumbers putty and caulk can save the inside of your walls.
I suppose real estate agents find it a bit strange but one of the first things I do when I walk into a house is check the bathrooms for access panels. Kitchens and bathrooms are the most expensive rooms in a house to repair and one of the most likely places for hidden water leaks. Sometimes you will find bathrooms that have a place where an access panel could easily be made but there still isn't one. That could make a person suspicious. Is the homeowner trying to hide something?
It seems to be common practice to NOT use a vapor barrier when building bathrooms here in Houston. Plastic, tar paper or other types of vapor barriers do not cost much money. The benefit they provide by protecting the homes framing from moisture, far outweighs what little extra cost there is for installation. If you are viewing a brand new home, ask the builder what if anything they used to prevent moisture from getting into the bathroom wall. Until people start asking about construction methods, builders will continue to do shoddy work. Many people are now using cement backerboard instead of greenrock. Cement backer board will not deteriorate when it gets wet. It does get wet, it does allow moisture to pass through to your studs. Do you want wet moldy studs or would you rather have a vapor barrier?
Leaky Shower & Bathtub Wall Photos
Rotted Shower Studs & Sheetrock
Sites that recommend using a vapor barrier on bathroom tub and shower walls.
Home Energy Magazine - Scroll down to the Bathroom Walls - Hot Climate heading.
Ask the Builder - Explains how vapor barrier should overlap tub lip to direct any water back to the tub.
Forum Discussion on Vapor Barriers in Bathrooms
Cement Backer Board & Vapor Barrier
Laticrete Waterproofing Membranes
Kerdi Schluter waterproofing system for showers and tiled walls
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