Buildup of excess moisture and unexpected water leakage can damage the plaster of your walls and ceilings, and over time this can get worse and worse. Addressing the cause of your leak or excess moisture is always the first step, but this doesn’t help you with the damage that’s already been caused to your walls and ceilings. Thankfully, our water damage repairs service will have you sorted in no time.
If you’re experiencing a leak or excess moisture, the first step is to address the cause. Make sure your gutters are clean and clear of debris and that downspouts are properly attached to the gutter to help move water away from your house. Once this has been done, make sure that all drain spouts are free from blockages and that your downspouts are properly attached.
You’ve now checked the physical cause of your leak or excess moisture, but how do you tackle leaks within your home? The areas where mould is likely to develop are close to water pipes or near sources of moist air such as showers and bathtubs.
Common Water Damage Problems
There are a number of common water damage issues that can affect your walls and ceilings. These can vary in severity and also depend on the area of your home that has been affected.
mould build-up
discoloration of the plasterboard
cracking
sagging
cave-in / collapse
rotting of skirting boards
Water Damage in the Bathroom
These issues can be even worse in the bathroom where inadequate waterproofing has caused major damage to the wall itself over years of deterioration. In such a scenario you’d be looking at almost a complete rebuild of the shower and possibly even bathroom, including waterproofing and tiling. Luckily, most wall and ceiling water damage repairs are fairly straight forward.
Many of our clients are in a situation where they need to get the repairs done quickly and at an affordable price. For this reason, we don’t make you wait for weeks on end whilst we research solutions that may not even be suitable for your walls or ceilings. Instead, our experienced team can give you direct advice straight away, and if we do find that your walls or ceilings are beyond repair then we’ll tell you right away.
Minor Damage
Minor water damage repairs for issues like mould and wall discoloration only require cleaning, sanding and painting. As long as the leaks have been repaired, this sort of minor damage is quick, easy and fairly cheap to sort out.
Serious Damage
Moderate water damage repairs include things like rotten skirtings and wall and ceiling cracks. Depending on the severity, these can be patched and painted, or cut out and replaced. Damage like this should be fixed ASAP to stop the small problem turning into a much larger one.
Severe Damage
Severe water damage repairs include things like caved in ceilings, or entire rotted sections of walls. These jobs are extensive and depending on the location and severity can often include the involvement of many separate trades. If you’ve let a problem get out of control, then you need to get someone to attend to it right away. If you don’t take action now, you might end up spending tens of thousands fixing the problem. With a prompt response our team can ensure that you don’t spend anywhere near that, as long as you act now.
Damage Beyond Repair
When it comes to the more serious forms of water damage; rot, cave-in and bulges in your ceiling or walls caused by an issue that can’t be fixed, you’ll need a complete rebuild. We’re able to source materials for these sorts of repairs from all over Melbourne which means there’s a very good chance that we can provide what you need. You won’t be charged extra for this because we never want to give you the runaround, but if your walls and ceiling are beyond repair then you might have to do some work yourself in order to get the materials in. We’re happy to help with this and ensure that it’s done as quickly and easily as possible.
Have you addressed the cause of your water damage? There's no point in doing a quick surface fix like painting over discoloration if it's going to reoccur and potentially worsen!
Frequently Asked Questions
This depends on the sort of wall, and in many cases it’s not possible to tell how severe the wall water damage is without fairly ‘invasive’ exploration. If you know it’s just a minor leak that’s been sorted out straight away, and there’s some discolouration on your wall or ceiling, then you might be lucky and that might be it. But if you’re talking about a wall in a bathroom where tiles are coming away from the wall and the grout is all disintergrating, it could be much more serious. We’ve removed tiles from water damaged walls, and found that the entire wall behind it has completely deteriorated, and the only thing holding the tiles together was a bit of grout. Until things are fully investigated, we won’t be able to tell how far it goes, and how much it reasonably should cost to repair everything.
It depends on the extent of the works required. If it’s incredibly minor and just needs painting, or patching and painting, it might only be a few hundred dollars. If we have to completely rebuild a wall, waterproof it and tile it, it will be thousands and thousands of dollars. The longer you wait for repairs, the worse the deterioration, and the more it’ll cost.
It really depends on the cause of the rising damp and mould build-up. It’s sometimes an indicator of something worse, though it might just be the ventilation issue. This would need further investigation to confirm, but if you are retaining moisture it’s worth your time to check.
Use a putty knife or similar tool to remove any loose veneer; clean debris with a vacuum cleaner. Apply a wood-repair compound to gouges, cracks or holes in particle board. Most are made to seal small areas quickly. Stainable versions of products such as Minwax Wood Filler are available at home centers and specialty stores for large jobs; they match most standard compounds.
Don’t confuse particle board with OSB (oriented strand board), which is made of strands and glue. Both are inexpensive, but repair problems can be similar. If water damage has caused a lot of warping in your board, you might need to replace it and not just patch it. Your flooring may also have to be replaced.
Once you have dried out the main source of water damage then you need to repair your damaged flooring. A repair may be done by using a piece of similar laminate in the same color and size as your damaged floor that you cut from an extra board or sheet that is not immediately needed. A new piece of laminate can be found at most home improvement stores, which usually have pieces for just each room such as kitchen or bathrooms.
First clean your new piece very well and then carefully place it on top of the damaged area without overlapping any edges and press down firmly with all your weight to make sure it adheres properly to the existing surface . The new material should fit perfectly without leaving any gaps underneath. Finally use some wood putty to fill up any holes where there might still be moisture under the surface.
