I feel like my infrared finally struck gold.

[Mark P]

I’m pretty sure I would not have found this problem without it. I had finished inspecting the 1st & 2nd floors and was doing a scan with my infrared camera before heading to the partially finished basement. In the center of the family room wall, directly above the couch was a wet spot about the size of a nickel. I confirmed with a moisture meter it was in fact wet. To the naked eye and touch it looked like a nail hole had been patched and painted over. It made sense because the sellers were in the process of packing up. I guessed that they had just patched the hole and it had not yet dried. I then go to the basement and find a large (2 feet across) wet area on the finished ceiling. To the naked eyes there was absolutely so staining - nadda. The drywall had a very slight sag were it was wet, but I don’t know if I would have caught the sag if I had not been studying the area due to the find with the IR. It then took me about 15 minutes of scanning, studying, testing, eliminating possibilities before I was confident I knew what was occurring. A picture had in fact been removed from the family room wall, a screw removed and the wall patched. The screw had been in the PVC drain line that ran from the 2nd floor bathroom, through the wall and made a 90 degree turn just above the wet spot on the basement ceiling. When the screw was in it plugged the hole, when it was removed the hole started leaking. The leak had not had time to cause any staining or damage. One of my test was to first run cold water through the drain and then switch it to hot. I watched as the wet spot became warm. I placed a sticker on the wall and told them this is where the plumber had to cut. I got an e-mail this week saying that I had been correct and there were in fact 2 screw holes in the pipe.

This is the basement ceiling. The brighter / warmer area is from running the hot water.

Click to Enlarge

41.3?KB

This is the family room wall. Again the bright spot is from running the hot water. You can also make out the drain line inside the wall.

Click to Enlarge

30.98?KB

This is the picture they sent me. I guess the black stuff is the epoxy used to patch the two holes.

Click to Enlarge

735.45?KB

[Marc]

Good find!

Marc

[Scottpat]

What type of IR camera do you have?

[Mark P]

FLIR B60. I got it around xmas last year. It was a demo model and I got a deep discount on it - but it still had a year warrenty. I'm happy with it.

[John Kogel]

I see you found a water leak, but where was the gold? []

[kieferma]

I try to run my moisture meter over any anomalies I see in a wall...this is just another reminder!

[mlparham]

I’m pretty sure I would not have found this problem without it. I had finished inspecting the 1st & 2nd floors and was doing a scan with my infrared camera before heading to the partially finished basement. In the center of the family room wall, directly above the couch was a wet spot about the size of a nickel. I confirmed with a moisture meter it was in fact wet. To the naked eye and touch it looked like a nail hole had been patched and painted over. It made since because the sellers were in the process of packing up. I guessed that they had just patched the hole and it had not yet dried. I then go to the basement and find a large (2 feet across) wet area on the finished ceiling. To the naked eyes there was absolutely so staining - nadda. The drywall had a very slight sag were it was wet, but I don’t know if I would have caught the sag if I had not been studying the area due to the find with the IR. It then took me about 15 minutes of scanning, studying, testing, eliminating possibilities before I was confident I knew what was occurring. A picture had in fact been removed from the family room wall, a screw removed and the wall patched. The screw had been in the PVC drain line that ran from the 2nd floor bathroom, through the wall and made a 90 degree turn just above the wet spot on the basement ceiling. When the screw was in it plugged the hole, when it was removed the hole started leaking. The leak had not had time to cause any staining or damage. One of my test was to first run cold water through the drain and then switch it to hot. I watched as the wet spot became warm. I placed a sticker on the wall and told them this is where the plumber had to cut. I got an e-mail this week saying that I had been correct and there were in fact 2 screw holes in the pipe.

This is the basement ceiling. The brighter / warmer area is from running the hot water.

Click to Enlarge

41.3?KB

This is the family room wall. Again the bright spot is from running the hot water. You can also make out the drain line inside the wall.

Click to Enlarge

30.98?KB

This is the picture they sent me. I guess the black stuff is the epoxy used to patch the two holes.

Click to Enlarge

735.45?KB

Have you ever heard of paragraphs?

[Mark P]

I’m pretty sure I would not have found this problem without it. I had finished inspecting the 1st & 2nd floors and was doing a scan with my infrared camera before heading to the partially finished basement. In the center of the family room wall, directly above the couch was a wet spot about the size of a nickel. I confirmed with a moisture meter it was in fact wet. To the naked eye and touch it looked like a nail hole had been patched and painted over. It made since because the sellers were in the process of packing up. I guessed that they had just patched the hole and it had not yet dried. I then go to the basement and find a large (2 feet across) wet area on the finished ceiling. To the naked eyes there was absolutely so staining - nadda. The drywall had a very slight sag were it was wet, but I don’t know if I would have caught the sag if I had not been studying the area due to the find with the IR. It then took me about 15 minutes of scanning, studying, testing, eliminating possibilities before I was confident I knew what was occurring. A picture had in fact been removed from the family room wall, a screw removed and the wall patched. The screw had been in the PVC drain line that ran from the 2nd floor bathroom, through the wall and made a 90 degree turn just above the wet spot on the basement ceiling. When the screw was in it plugged the hole, when it was removed the hole started leaking. The leak had not had time to cause any staining or damage. One of my test was to first run cold water through the drain and then switch it to hot. I watched as the wet spot became warm. I placed a sticker on the wall and told them this is where the plumber had to cut. I got an e-mail this week saying that I had been correct and there were in fact 2 screw holes in the pipe.

This is the basement ceiling. The brighter / warmer area is from running the hot water.

Click to Enlarge

41.3?KB

This is the family room wall. Again the bright spot is from running the hot water. You can also make out the drain line inside the wall.

Click to Enlarge

30.98?KB

This is the picture they sent me. I guess the black stuff is the epoxy used to patch the two holes.

Click to Enlarge

735.45?KB

Have you ever heard of paragraphs?

Ha Ha HA LMMFAO, HA HA HA HA ROTFLMMFAO HAHAHAHAHA HA HA HA Ha Ha HA LMMFAO, HA HA HA HA ROTFLMMFAO HAHAHAHAHA HA HA HA Ha Ha HA LMMFAO, HA HA HA HA ROTFLMMFAO HAHAHAHAHA

[Robert Jones]

Over a year old post and it get's brought up over sentence structure? Damn it Mark, get your S*** together;)

[Bill Kibbel]

Have you ever heard of paragraphs?

Hey Parham,

I didn't point out that you don't know how to spell lightning in this thread: https://inspectorsjournal.com/forum/top ... C_ID=16556

Sorry - I guess we should all be more diligent in identifying your errors.
Wait, weren't you the one with the "heat rises" comment too?

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[Stephen Lagueux]

Nice, that my friend will bring you work from word of mouth.