Found a hidden water leak behind my bathroom mirror using a dry sponge trick

Last Saturday I was redoing the caulk around my upstairs tub and noticed the mirror felt weirdly warm. Touched it and the backing was peeling off. Pulled it down and found a slow drip from a pipe joint behind the wall that had been going for months. That one drip cost me about 40 square feet of drywall damage and a mirror I gotta replace now. Whole thing started because the caulk seam above the mirror was cracked and water from shower steam was getting in. Has anyone else found hidden damage behind bathroom fixtures like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

margaret_jackson7320d ago

Ouch. That's a rough lesson in how expensive humidity can be.

the_xena19d ago

And that's exactly why I tell everyone to get a dehumidifier before they even think about buying a house in a humid area. We had this happen in our first rental (a total nightmare, honestly) and the landlord just shrugged like it was our fault. The wood warped so bad the door wouldn't close right for months after we fixed the leak. You really gotta stay on top of checking the humidity levels in basements and crawl spaces too, not just after a big storm. A cheap little moisture meter can save you a ton of headache (and money) down the road.