A St. Louis family has a beautiful deck that connects to a glass atrium indoor pool house one-story below it.

Though the construction was only a few years old, it was showing visible damage in two places.  On the deck, the stone columns had vertical cracks on the surface (shown above), and the rubber tile flooring was warping at the outside edge.

Inside the pool house, the finish on the drywall ceiling was peeling off (shown above).  Suspecting that it was a water leak, the family called in some specialists to find the source and correct the problems.  The cause of the water problem was never correctly identified and any patch work done to the visible damage was only a temporary fix.

Because the visible effects appeared rather minor, it was considered a minor irritation, until the day they were listening to an episode of The KMOX Home Improvement Show with Scott Mosby.  A caller had a question about a pesky, reoccurring water leak, and Scott took them through the process of how the visible problem is only the end of the line of what is most likely a much larger problem hidden behind the walls.

Understanding that Scott and his company, Mosby Building Arts, had valuable experience in detecting and correcting water leak problems, they were motivated to set up an appointment with a Mosby Home Consultant, and get to the bottom of this issue once and for all.

After a thorough inspection of the deck, the pool room and how they connected to one another, it was apparent to the Mosby Consultant that there was a complete lack of proper water management applied during the original construction, and he suspected that there was severe damage hidden under the deck and inside the space connecting the deck to the atrium.

For instance, what was viewed as dirt and stains on the pool room ceiling was actually mold and warping caused by water damage behind the drywall.  The Mosby Consultant was certain that run-off water from the deck was seeping into this ceiling, and that it would require applying proper flashing and water drainage to the deck and repairing all the damage that would be found inside.

The family was relieved to finally have an answer to the mystery, and because Mosby had taken the time to deeply investigate the problem, the homeowners felt they were also the logical choice to correct it.

When the Mosby carpenters began dismantling the exterior framing of the pool room, they found the wood completely soaked and rotted.

Even more horrifying was the framing of the deck walls that were exposed during demolition.  The wood was thoroughly soaked and spongy, and a text book example of how quickly and seriously water can damage structures when left unmanaged.

As the carpenters worked their way into the crawl space between the deck and the ceiling of the atrium, they found the metal supports were severely rusted from constant water exposure.

Flashing was practically non-existent , and the PVC drainage system that was supposed to collect and run-off water from the deck was actually dispersing it into the wooden structure.

The key to this project was repairing all the water damage on the deck and inside the pool room, installing a proper water management system and building a new deck without disturbing the pool room addition below.

After we repaired and replaced the internal workings of the drainage system, we restored the drywall ceiling of the pool room to its original appearance.  The family’s days of patching and re-painting are over.

For the deck itself, we used a water management system that floats ipe wood panels over the rubber membrane of the new deck subfloor.  This allows water to run off into the internal gutter system installed within the newly-built stone wall.  This keeps water from ever touching the wood and stone of the deck while keeping the water away from the pool room.

While the deck and water migration systems were brand new and built to last, the solution is not apparent to the naked eye.  We made sure that the overall look of their home is unaltered, as if there had never been a problem.  Above is a photo during construction, and below is the finished result.  We left the home more water tight and secure than we found it.

In the case of the deck itself, we left it better than we found it, with many material upgrades that improve both the look and function of their outdoor living area.

We rise to the challenge of detecting water problems, enacting the solution and creating quality and peace of mind for the homeowner.  Partnering with Mosby Building Arts to enhance your quality of life is a smart decision.  If you have a reoccurring or mysterious water leak problem that has defied previous repairs, let Mosby be the final call you make to take care of the situation once and for all.  Call our office at 314.909.1800 or contact us here.

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Related posts:

1. How Safe is YOUR Deck?
2. Top 10 Mistakes of Deck Building
3. A Fantastic Discovery During Demolition
4. Hop Up to a New Deck
5. KMOX – Water Damage

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Tags: new deck, pool house, water damage, water leak, water management

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 10th, 2009 at 12:53 pm and is filed under outdoor living, water management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.