Appliance Leak Water Damage Repair

Most appliance leaks are not discovered. They are found, usually by accident, months after they started.

A washing machine sits against a wall. A dishwasher sits under a counter. A refrigerator has a water line running to it that nobody has looked at since it was installed. When one of those weeps rather than bursts, there is no puddle to see. There is a wet floor cavity and a slow problem.

Is this the right page?

This page is about leaks from household appliances, fast or slow. If a pipe let go in the cold, go to burst pipe cleanup instead.

The four that cause the most damage

Washing machine supply hoses. More than half of all washing machine water claims come from a failed supply hose, according to the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety. The average failed hose was about nine years old, which is why IBHS recommends replacing them every five years whether they look worn or not. Rubber hardens from the inside where you cannot see it, and the line sits under mains pressure all day whether the machine is running or not.

One detail from that same IBHS work is worth knowing before you remodel. Washing machine failures on the first floor of a home caused about 28 percent greater losses than those in a basement, because the water has further to travel and more to ruin on the way down.

Dishwashers. Usually slow. The leak runs under the unit and into the cabinet base and subfloor, where it is completely hidden. The first sign is often the flooring in front of the dishwasher lifting or discoloring.

Water heaters. When these fail at the tank, the whole tank empties onto the floor. IBHS found the average age of a failed water heater was 10.7 years, and that nearly three in four have failed by the time they reach 12. If yours is past ten, sitting on a finished floor with no drain pan, that is worth dealing with on your schedule rather than its own.

Refrigerator ice maker lines. Small diameter, often plastic, run behind a heavy appliance nobody moves. A pinhole here can run for a year. The damage spreads under the flooring across the kitchen and shows up nowhere near the fridge.

Slow leaks do more damage than fast ones

This sounds backward and it is not.

A burst hose is loud, obvious, and dealt with the same day. Clean water, caught fast, is the best case in this business.

A slow leak gets none of that. It keeps material damp continuously, which is exactly the condition mold needs. Clean water degrades in contamination grade within a day or two of sitting. Cabinet bases and subfloor swell and lose structure gradually. By the time anyone notices, the question is not drying, it is how much has to be replaced.

Signs worth checking

• Flooring that has lifted, cupped, or darkened near an appliance
• A musty smell in a kitchen or laundry room that does not clear
• Cabinet base or toe kick that is soft, swollen, or delaminating
• A water bill that has moved without an obvious reason
• Any staining on a ceiling directly below an upstairs laundry

Pull the washing machine out and look behind it once a year. It takes two minutes and it is the highest-value check on this list.

What we do

1. Trace the full extent with moisture meters, since the visible area is never the whole area
2. Remove flooring, cabinet base, and toe kick where water penetrated
3. Dry the subfloor, framing, and cabinet cavity with daily readings
4. Address mold in house if the leak ran long enough to start it
5. Replace subfloor that has swelled past recovery
6. Rebuild flooring and cabinetry

Cabinetry is the awkward part. A run of cabinets damaged at one end may not be matchable if the line has been discontinued. We tell you that during the inspection, not once the old ones are already out.

Where a leak has run down into the room below, the repair extends into ceiling and drywall water damage repair. Anything stored in a wet cabinet or laundry room goes through contents cleaning rather than straight to the curb.

Prevention that is actually worth doing

• Replace rubber washing machine hoses with braided stainless steel, and change them on a schedule rather than on failure
• Shut the washing machine supply off if you are away for more than a few days
• Put a drain pan under a water heater that sits on finished floor
• Check the ice maker line whenever the fridge is moved
• Look under the sink and behind the dishwasher a couple of times a year

Common questions

How do I know how far it spread?

 You cannot see it, which is the whole problem. A meter reads through flooring and cabinet base and finds the edge of the wet area. That is part of the free inspection.

Does homeowner insurance cover appliance leaks?

 That depends on your policy and the circumstances, and it is a question for your adjuster or agent rather than a contractor. What we do is document the loss properly so they have what they need.

The leak was small. Is it really worth a call?

 If it was running for weeks, yes. Duration matters more than volume with this kind of loss.

Can you match my existing flooring?

 Sometimes. We check availability before demolition so you know whether you are looking at a patch or a room.

Call us

Kiser Construction has handled appliance losses across the northwest metro since 2003. IICRC certified, licensed in Minnesota under BC416441. Inspections are free.

Office: (763) 633-2010. Emergencies, any hour: (612) 518-8852.