Water damage can be devastating for apartment dwellers and painfully costly for building managers. As well as potentially destroying furniture, electronic equipment and upholstery, water could even compromise a building’s structural integrity and create serious mould problems.
Just a single leak could end up causing unprecedented levels of damage and stress. In wet and humid conditions, mould can start growing within 24 and 48 hours. Once mould has taken hold in an apartment, it can spread quickly and present serious health risks such as respiratory problems and allergic reactions.
If that weren’t bad enough, incidents involving liquid damage appear to be on the rise in Australia. In 2019, property insurer Chubb reported an extraordinary 72% rise in claims related to internal water damage over a five-year period. Of these claims, the average cost of damage rose from $17,627 in 2014 to an eye-watering $30,361 in 2018.
So, how can you prevent water damage in your home or rental property? Effective water damage protection starts with putting systems in place to catch leaks early.
In this handy guide to water damage prevention, we explain how purchasing a Smart Water Leak Detector from WaterSecure could save you a huge amount of time, money, and stress thanks to its unbeatable leak detection capabilities.
What are the leading causes of water damage?
Water can adversely affect a property in several unpredictable ways, meaning investment in water damage protection is vital for smart homeowners. Common causes of water damage include:
1. Liquid damage from within the home
The average property is full of structures and appliances through which water may escape, including pipes, basins, bathtubs, roofs, toilets, waterbeds, aquariums, and more. Depending on the size of the hole through which water is escaping, a leak could inundate a property within a matter of minutes or hours. Shockingly, a burst pipe could lose up to 1 cubic metre of water per hour, the equivalent of 1,750 pints of beer!
Unfortunately, there are many ways in which a pipe may spring a leak, including invasive tree roots, storm overflow issues, or simply old age. Whatever the style and size of your building, water leak detection technology represents the best way to protect it from internal water damage.
2. Storm damage
Storm damage is relatively common in parts of the world where torrential rain, flooding, hurricanes, cyclones, or heavy snowfall occur frequently. While adverse weather events are rarely predictable, property owners in vulnerable areas can mitigate their risk of water damage in the following ways from potential rain damage:
- Ensuring that the roof is in a good condition and regularly clearing debris from gutters.
- Keeping a stock of waterproof bags at the ready to protect important documents and valuables from moisture.
- Ensuring that doors and windows are properly sealed, repairing caulking as and when necessary.
- Unplugging electrical items in the event of a storm.
3. Incremental leaking that takes place over weeks or months
While some leaks are strong enough to immediately alert any property owner to their presence, others are weak and silent. Although this type of leak may seem relatively innocuous, it could end up causing significant amounts of damage if left undetected. Incremental damage can lead to mould, wallpaper damage, and furniture damage. In serious cases, it could even damage the foundations of a building and lead to wall cracks – problems that could compromise the safety of your property and cost huge sums of money in repairs.
Will my insurance policy cover accidental water damage?
This depends on the kind of package you opt for, with more expensive packages tending to cover a wider range of incidents. All home insurance policies cover property damage related to adverse weather events, as they are deemed unavoidable. However, many insurers refuse to cover water damage that has occurred gradually over time or that they deem the owner's fault. It is always best to check what water damage claims and building insurance policies you are entitled to.
Do insurance policies cover leaking pipes?
Again, this usually depends on whether the leak occurred due to negligence or reasons beyond your control. Mould and corrosion caused by incremental leaks, for example, are typically considered preventable occurrences caused by negligence. In this way, it is vital that property owners, landlords, and agents invest in water damage prevention technologies to avoid high repair costs.
Prevention is key: Why you need a water damage detector
By far the best water damage protection strategy is to install a water damage detector in your property (or properties). With water damage incidents on the rise, apartment owners and landlords must do all they can to avoid devastating bills and minimise disruption for themselves or their tenants. This is where WaterSecure’s cutting-edge Smart Water Security Kit comes in.
WaterSecure’s Smart Water Leak Detector represents a trailblazing solution in water damage prevention. Designed with apartment tenants and building managers in mind, this cost-effective device can detect a new leak within seconds. When it detects excess water in vulnerable areas such as near pipes, boilers, and washing machines, tenants and building managers will receive an alert, allowing them to address the issue before extensive damage occurs.
In the past, landlords and tenants had to rely on infrequent and unreliable building inspections before they became aware of incremental leaks. The Smart Water Leak Detector has transformed the world of water damage protection, however, improving the speed at which leaks are detected. As well as preventing furniture damage, mould, and structural issues, investing in a detection device will help protect surrounding apartments from water risk. Flooded floors could quickly start leaking through a neighbour’s ceiling, for example, causing damage that you will likely have to pay for.
To top it all off, a water damage detector from WaterSecure costs a mere $99 – much cheaper than the thousands of dollars typically incurred by water damage. Interested? Reach out today to discuss your options and protect your investments.
