How to deal with water damage, wet walls in flat

[amsel07 64]

When you set up a Luftentfeuchter in your kitchen, get one of these little electric reader devices. I'm sorry I don't know the proper word for it in German or English, something like measuring device for how much electricity the Luftentfeuchter will need. We've had it in our bathroom for several weeks now, (water damage from the flat above) it's about 10 Kwh per day!

Plug this little device into the main plug, then the Luftentfeuchter in it and don't take it off until the wall has been fully dried.This way you won't have to pay the extra electricity, but can claim it back from the insurance.

[Elfenstar 1,676]

Just an update. Turns out there was a burst pipe in the bathroom of a tenant in the building(senior residence) next door. Their bathroom is adjacent to our kitchen, but for whatever reason, the building is about a meter or so higher than our building. This explains why the water damage begins where it does. The apartment below ours is empty and when they examined it right as we made our complaint, there was no damage.

 

fast forward 2 weeks later, the walls in the kitchen of the flat below us are overly moldy, the wallpaper is falling off the walls, small puddles of water are starting to build up. the water has now seeped down to the floor below this. our facility manager finally goes to the next building and gets them to turn the water off.

 

we removed the wallpaper from the part of the kitchen because there was so much mold and the wallpaper was ruined. now the walls are just drying out as much as they can.

[westvan 9,705]

Geez. Well that'll teach them - they've got their work cut out for them now since they didn't get to it sooner. And they can't blame it on you, thank goodness. :D

[Elfenstar 1,676]

Ok, finally they installed the machine to suck the moisture out of the wall. It's loud as hell. Can I shut it off at night, for sleep, then turn it back on in the a.m.? I unfortunately wasn't here when they came, my neighbor took care of all this for us, so i couldn't ask the company. There is a kwH reader on the machine, but I don't know the values of when they turned it on. I'll need to get that info.

 

Do I also need to leave the kitchen door, balcony door and window shut, plus the pantry door (outside of kitchen at end of hallway, but sharing a wall with the neighboring building) while the thing is doing its magic?

[sosarx 1,661]

Just note the kw value you found right now. If the machine is plugged in a regular socket in your apartment it will not take more than 2 Kws per hour, 1 kw costs about 20 cents.

 

You can turn it off whenever you want, of course. It just takes longer to dry it all. Keep doors and windows closed in those rooms which are affected by the water.

 

There must be a reservoir for the condensed water in the machine ,check and empty this reservoir, otherwise the machine will turn off itself.

[Elfenstar 1,676]

thanks for the quick and helpful info!

[rak1975 4]

We also have a problem with relation to water damage that appeared around one of the windows in our flat after a heavy storm. The windows in the flat (top floor flat) above have been recently updated and our window is located roughly under this particular window. We think it is likely that there is a leak relating to this recent work. We spoke to the owner of the flat above and he sent around his builder to look at the damage. He naturally claimed this was nothing to do with his work and it was probably a fault with the brick work around the window itself. We asked the Hausverwaltung to come and look at the damage. The claimed that the leak probably came from the roof. They promised to get someone to come and look at the roof. That was 2 weeks ago and we are still waiting for news as to when someone will look at the roof. The Hausverwaltung agency will not return our calls for information about what is happening.

 

I would appreciate advice on what we can do to get the Hausverwaltung to check out the roof as promised.

 

Many thanks for your help!

[robinson100 12,635]

I own a flat in the next town, and on Saturday my tenant contacted me to say that an interior wall of the flat seemed to be getting damp, and the paint was flaking off.

I went to look at it yesterday, and yes, the wall is very damp, but this is clearly not coming from my inside my flat.

We rang the neighbours´ bell and she said that everything looked fine on her side of the wall.

To be honest, I am not sure what to do now other than call the Hausverwaltung.

Any ideas?

 

 

 

 

[LeonG 14,582]

6 hours ago, robinson100 said:

Any ideas?

 

Maybe it's coming from above.  Is there a flat above it or just the roof?

[dstanners 1,424]

Which room/rooms? Is it in a bathroom, kitchen, laundry room (having showers/cooking/drying clothes with inadequate ventilation)?

Where is the dampness in the room? From the top of the ceiling down (typical damp/mould signs?), ground up (rising damp in ground floor flats), by a window (leaking window), by plumbing?

Where is the flat in respect of the building?:

Ground floor - could be damp coming from the ground up - you'll need better drainage.

Middle floor - could be damp from condensation (heating on, windows shut, tenant cooking and ironing in the room etc) or plumbing or leak from upstairs

Top floor - check the roof (missing tiles)/guttering (blocked or broken) /chimney 

You can buy a moisture meter from a baumarkt. Whilst these aren't hugely accurate, you should be able to get a better idea as to where the damp is at its worst: that should give you an idea.

 

 

 

 

 

[fraufruit 40,215]

Start with the Hausverwaltung and then maybe they can recommend a specialist.

[robinson100 12,635]

Thanks for the comments.

The flat is on the second floor of the three-storey building.

The wall is in the entrance hall of the flat - actually on the opposite side to the bathroom. Not sure what is on the other side of the wall as it is then part of the next flat.

We did ask the neighbour to take a look at her wall, and she said that there was nothing visible on her side.

The dampness seems to be at floor level, up to about 60cm above...

 

I phoned the Hausverwaltung and they are going to send somebody "to take a look at it".... I´ll report back as and when I have more info.

 

[Shenandoah 82]

Robinson100,

 

Call the Hausverwaltung as soon as possible.  We had this happen in the Altbau where I have an apartment in Belrin. On one of the 1st floor apartments there was dampness on the wall and peeling paint.  Turns out the hot water pipe from the boiler had cracked/split and was spraying a fine mist of water.  They fixed the pipe and then set a dehumidifier for three weeks to make sure everything was dry and no mold.  After that they patched the wall and all was good.  

 

Or it could be from the apartment above as was mentioned in an earlier post.  Either way, call the Hausverwaltung.  

 

S.

[pmd 684]

Ask if the occupants in the flat above tried to fix a blocked shower. I tried to years ago to remove the drain cover from ours and all I succeeded in doing was loosening the seal. Subsequently, every time we had a shower, water leaked into the flat below. The Hausmeister said that this happens all the time. Luckily the insurance paid out. Lesson learned - call the Hausmeister if you're renting, don't attempt DIY.