Home
It rained badly a couple days ago, could it make water leak through laminate floors???
Discussion
Water is probably getting in and under the floor. The. Seeping up through the cracks. Could be leaking down a wall to get there.
I mean, what’s under that floor? Is that level sitting directly on the ground? If so, yeah, potentially, water could be seeping up from the ground through whatever that layer is made of and that’s definitely its own problem. If it’s not the lowest floor (do you have a basement or space?), then you probably have water coming in from a window, the roof, or elsewhere (a coincidentally leaking pipe, etc.), and tracking through a wall then under the flooring.
You’re likely going to have to rip up at least some of that flooring and figure out which direction it’s coming from and go from there.
Regardless, leaving it there is going to lead to bad things.
Assuming you’re not into major DIY, probably time to call in a contractor or company dealing specifically with water remediation.
My unit has no basement or crawl space, and yes the floor is sitting directly on top of dirt so yeah this townhome was probably just built poorly
In that case, whenever they installed this floor, maybe they didn’t prep the slab properly. There should have been a vapor barrier to prevent moisture like this, almost like you would do under tile in a bathroom. I bet anything they just laid down plank on bare slab.
Vapor barrier under the slab does not prevent condensation i have seen cases where quick temperature drops can cause the concrete to sweat under floating floors
So, is there no way to avoid wet floors?
Water leaked through laminate at our last rental when the toilet came off of its sewer drain. Yes, it was nasty toilet water seeping through the laminate cracks.
Where is this inside the house? Basement, 1st floor, upstairs? Is it near a window/door or in the middle of the home? Is it near a bathroom or kitchen sink or other appliances with water connected?
No basement, it was on the 1st floor, between the front and the middle, it was near the kitchen bar
Do you own the place? If yes, get someone to start digging and figure out where the water is coming from. If no, tell the landlord to get someone to start digging and figure out where the water is coming from.
Could be a cracked foundation and high water table, or a leaky drain in a cast foundation, or any number of things that probably requires a plumber and an excavator.
Saturated subfloorIng.
Definitely have water between membrane and floor.
Had this happen in my bathroom which shower leaked cause
You need to find the source and rip up floor to dry
It is ground water penetrating up through cracks in floor since this is a slab.
No
If this is only happening when it is raining you have a leak that is travelling down and would be pooling on your floor, but because you have laminate it is under that, so when there is enough it squishes up through the plastic.
Roof leaks can travel laterally a long way before they go down.
The other option is if your house is on a slab and the plumbing is under the concrete then you have a pipe leaking in your slab and the floor will have to come up, the slab jack hammered and leak found and repaired. I would go for option one because while it may or may not be cheaper, the option two of digging up through your house's slab is not only going to get expensive but be very VERY messy. At least if it is coming from above through the walls all you really have to do is find the leak and patch it. If it is coming from below you may have to tear up half the slab before you find the source as water will follow a network of cracks maybe a foot, or maybe 50 feet.
Just a heads up that looks like vinyl plank flooring and not laminate.
Few questions for you
: do you only see water after or during rain/storms? If so it’s most likely related to water finding some kind of way to get under the flooring.
: would be better if you posted a picture of the room layout and then pointed to the area you were cleaning up the water, this would help with knowing windows, doors, or areas that may be allowing water to enter if this only happens during or after storms. ( could be roof leak but you would normally see water in walls/ceiling above that would indicate that)
: if you have no basement and no crawlspace then the home is likely built on slab foundation and you could have a slab leak going on.
: you could pull water bills from prior months and pull your current month and see if there’s a big jump in water usage.
: or turn off your water and see if your meter is moving that would indicate a water leak.
Hope these things help you, if this ends up being plumbing related I’m happy to help with any insurance related questions ;)
Yes, if it is a basement, you have a high water table, and there is no French drain.
what is the lamanate sitting on? if it is on the foundation, then it could be leaking from the ground if the water table has risen and there are some cracks in said foundation.
french drains around the home should help.
You have a leak from one of your side walls or your crawl space has flooded
This could be water pushing up through the slab. It doesn't need to be cracked. If the ground water and hydrostatic pressure are high enough then water will come through the slab. But this could be a number of things. Rent a FLIR camera or buy one that attaches to your phone camera and start looking for leaks. If nothing turns up hire someone to start investigating.
And get a good dehumidifier ASAP.
Dishwasher leak?
Might be a pipe leak, the rain was just bad timing.
We had something similar- was the dishwasher.
It sure can. Gonna have to replace that.
I certainly hope that’s not the cause, but that water has to be coming from somewhere. Is there a window in this room? How’s the roof? What type of siding does the house have? Any of these getting old or being installed wrong could quickly result in water getting places.
Whole downstairs is basically 1 room so there was 2 windows one in the front and other in the back, roofs looks fine and this townhome has a vinyl siding, I learned that this townhome was built in the early 1980’s I don’t know the last time they renovated this damn place
Unless the water is coming from a leak in the kitchen / bath area and that is the low point that water is running to this is likely an exterior problem and that is a symptom of the real issue. Start by verifying no internal leaks and monitoring your water meter for a period of time and not using water, overnight works well for this if you can keep from using water, take pictures of the meter so minor differences may be seen.
Assuming that the issue is exterior I would start a new post with pictures of the outside of the home and it's local environment front, back and roof if possible. You may also want to get pictures of your drain line area on the roof if you have a drain up there or a scupper, then pictures of that same line at the level of the leak. Cross post / link back here as well if you create another thread.
Because it is a multi story condo it COULD be coming from a leak in a neighbor's condo on either side, unless it is an end unit then just one neighbor. Water can travel a long way laterally before dropping down a floor. So either the roof, or exterior front or back, or from a neighbor that could be any of those things, or, and you do not mention this at all, if the building is on slab and nearly every multifamily structure I have ever seen is on a slab, there can be a pipe break under the slab (fresh water 99.999% of the time thank god, because that is under pressure and will find a way out even if it means travelling 50 feet through a network of cracks).
Really this is a serious problem no matter the source OP and you will have to have it evaluated by a professional. If it is a rental then the bills are someone else's to deal with. If you bought it and there is a HIDDEN issue that causes a lot of damage then your insurer may cover it. If you recently bought it and the previous seller did not disclose it, and you can show they should have known and disclosed it, then they would be liable. If you had it inspected by a licensed and bonded inspector and it was leaking then he should have caught it and his insurance would cover it.
You may need a contractor/plumber that specializes in leak detection as well as a lawyer.
[edit] I say you may be able to prove an undisclosed previous repair because why did they put the laminate down in the first place? To cover the patched slab? If that is the case there may have been more than one break, or the break was repaired badly. The good news is it is almost certainly someone else's financial burden, and for insurers they will probably not cover the repair, but will cover the damages from the leak. And if it is a broken pipe in the slab it might not be that costly to fix, they had to fix one in my mother's apartment and the staff maintenance man did it himself, it was a mess and inconvenient but not that expensive.
Are you on a concrete slab?