Kitchen Leak Issue

[amateurfishing]

Discovered puddle in front of dishwasher yesterday, this a.m noticed wet spot on concete floor in basement after just completeing painting it to finish basement.

today pulled out dishwasher, wood floor is completely soaked but not spongy, also have water marks/stains 2 inches high (right below outlet box) behind dishwasher. i obviously have water damage all the way through the flooring, insulation, & new basement ceiling. I will have to pull insullation between floors and fix water damaged basement ceiling. how do i know if my wall behind dishwasher or plywood subfloor are ok to just dry out & continue with repairs or may they need to be completely replaced as well. when i pulled out dishwasher all visible plywood is wet and i have no idea how far it may have spread underneath the vinyl flooring that is covering the plywood now. thoughts-ideas-suggestions greatly appreciated.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

this is totally just a guess and more a question for my own basic learning.

Could you, in theory, pull out the dishwasher and put a dehumidifier there for a day or two to try and help minimize the damage?

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

this is totally just a guess and more a question for my own basic learning.

Could you, in theory, pull out the dishwasher and put a dehumidifier there for a day or two to try and help minimize the damage?

A big floor fan blasting on that area will get you alot farther then a dehumidifier. i would try blasting a fan on it for a day or two and then try to figure out how rotten everything is. Sounds like your gettin into a big can of worms....

[nofishfisherman]

I'm guessing most of the water should have wanted to flow down into your basement which it sounds like it did. As far as i can tell your biggest issue would be the basement ceiling. You'll want to get that opened up and get wet insulation out of there. Set up some fans and give it all time to dry out and then assess what needs to be replaced. I'm sure the insulation needs to go plus you'll want to replace the drywall that got wet. I'd venture a guess that the plywood will be alright but its hard to say for sure. As for the drywall under the outlet behind the dishwasher it sounds like the water was able to wick up the drywall a few inches. Might not hurt to replace the chunk that got wet either way. If the water wicked up 2 inches I'd cut up 3 inches and take that chunk out and replace it with a new piece. That will also let you see if any water got into the wall behind the dishwasher.

Biggest thing is get it opened up and dried out. I had a similar issue but my basement was unfinished so I didn't have a basement ceiling to deal with. The plywood under my dishwasher dried out just fine as it was allowed to dry from both sides. MOst of the water that leaked in my kitchen flowed right through the plywood and was sitting in a big puddle on my basement floor.

The next question is what caused the leak in your dishwasher in the first place?

[amateurfishing]

here is a pic of back corner, not at all impressed with location of outlet (on right side of pic), floor drying out quickly, im impressed. any idea on how to check to see if any water damage under sink floor side (left side of pic)? will also have to slowly pull vinyl to see how far it spread underneath. & yes will open basement ceiling asap, pull bad insullation and get it drying asap and see exactly how bad it may be underneath subfloor.

as far as dishwasher goes, has to be drain or drain hose problem, no moisture evidence under sink where hose discharge was connected to, all moisture relegated to under dishwasher. im hoping just a hose issue but have not got that far in investigation yet.

[Tom7227]

Stop ripping things up. Put the fan on it for a day or two or even three. Then check out what needs to be done. You may be able to things squared away with some paint on the walls and the plywood under the rig. People go nuts about tearing things up and worrying about mold. If you want to go at it as far as you're considering call your insurance agent and let Service Master come in and take care of it. You probably could get a $5,000 bill out of it if they go whole hog.

[CigarGuy]

Go to Menards or Home Depot and buy a "pin type" moisture meter. Poke the small little probes in the areas of question and you will get your answer. They should be under $30.00. I'm going tomorrow and buying one for testing the firewood I just bought.

[amateurfishing]

kitchen floor has dried nicely, no problems under vinyl, problem stayed under dishwasher it appears. did take a 4 x 8 section of ceiling drywall down from basement, parts of it were totally soaked and dripping like a waterfall at times. never did see beginning of leak trickling down from subfloor though, it all appeared bone dry already underneath. sheetrock & insulation a difft story though, glad its down and now dry out time. thx for the info

[pinkfloyd4ever]

Its not your water intake line? I learned that once, fortunately the water flowed out and onto the kitchen floor versus down

[amateurfishing]

i do think it was either intake line or water pump line. did see copper "L" fitting with tiny drips on it sitting on floor, did not see any other signs of moisture anywhere. checked owners manual and they dont tell u squat regarding parts, wife assumes they expect u to just call a plumber so now thats what she wants to do to put everything back together. will just call one on monday and have em doubel check all fittings and ask to replace all at once so all fittings are brand new again.

[Weissguy]

amateurfishing,

Take a look at the following sites:

Repairclinic DOTcom

FixitnowDOTcom

I have used both to determine parts necessary to make home repairs on our stove, dryer, washing machine etc... Saved a boat load over calling in a repair man then getting the second service charge because he doesn't have the parts anyway, then wait 4 hour window for him to show. Some of these sites ask for a small voluntary fee to help diagnose your problem, but with a little searching on the site, you will likely find a similar problem someone else has inquired about for free on here. Best part on 2nd site is that they sell parts reasonably with 365 day 100% no hassle return policy should you order something you don't need....Even on electrical components. You won't find that policy anywhere.

good luck

[pinkfloyd4ever]

I think like other have said you have to let it all dry out. You have it narrowed down, its either the intake line or the discharge line. I'd put odds on that you didn't secure the intake line.

I don't think you said, did you recently install the washer or has it been in place for awhile and just started leaking?

Im not an expert by any means, but my gut would say if you recently installed its your intake and if its been in place for awhile its your discharge, less likely the door seal but did you check that too?

[amateurfishing]

also, anyone think the outlet should be GCFI? its currently just a regular one and that close to floor with sole purpose of water related appliance kinda scares bejesus out of me.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

can't hurt to have a GCFI just my

[Walleyehooker]

My neighbor had his dishwasher leak and it turned out to be a defective part on the dishwasher and the company paid for the damage to his house. Not sure on any other details but something to look into.

[Walleyehooker]

I dont think that requires a GFI

[amateurfishing]

dishwasher is 8 years old...doubt any warranty left on it

not saying GCFI is mandatory, just wondering if it would be a very smart choice

[frazwood]

I am not an electrician, but I have never heard that outlet should be a GFCI. In fact, I have seen dishwashers HARDWIRED into the circuit.

My best guess, and it's only a guess (I'm not an electrician), is that it does not need to be a GFCI for two reasons. First, if the GFCI trips... it would be a royal pain to pull out the dishwasher and reset it (i.e., this is practical). Second, a GFCI is needed to protect people from electrical shock when touching water. None of the electrical parts of a dishwasher should ever be accessible to human beings.

[amateurfishing]

i know but i had pools of water in front of dishwasher & when i pulled it out the subfloor was soacked, what happens if an electical component on dishwasher would have come in contact with that moisture? i mean the water line that hit the drwall in back is right there up against the cover plate...that is very close, is it not?

does anyone think this is possibly an unsafe setup or just get dishwasher fixed and forget about it?

[pinkfloyd4ever]

thinking that over, the GFI, if water contacted it, it would at worst blow the fuse ???

Is your door sealing? I'd suggest put it back in its spot, lay a bunch of towels down, then run it to find where your water is coming from

[delcecchi]

GFI tripping doesn't blow the fuse or pop the breaker.

If you want GFCI protection, put a GFI breaker in. If that isn't possible, perhaps you could wire the circuit through a GFI outlet first, in an accessible location, before it goes to the dishwasher. Might not be code though.

[amateurfishing]

not sure its a want or need...wandering if its a smart choice to change it to GCFI, its on its own circuit, nothing else on it, just considering the location of the outlet box so close to floor where possibly some day standing water could penetrate, would changing it to GCFI now while dishwasher is out be prudent or not.

[delcecchi]

If you put in GFCI, try to incorporate it somewhere where it can be reset easily. And mark it clearly so if you aren't there, someone else can make the dishwasher work if it should happen to trip for some reason.

[amateurfishing]

ahhhh.....so the need to possibly reset the GCFI is the potential problem child here...well, since it is orginal to house, on its own ciruit, & obviously passed some kind of building inspection, i suspect it is best to be left alone & hope breaker pops b4 anything potentially uglier happens.

[delcecchi]

That sounds like a reasonable plan. I was concerned with the thought of a GFI that would be hard to reach if something were to trip it. Not sure what that would be, but I have on occasion had one trip for no detectable reason.

If you have breakers, you could install a gfi breaker instead of the conventional breaker and accomplish what you want.