House Inspection: 3 year leak?

I'm in escrow on a house and would like to get your point of view on a plumbing issue they have disclosed.

The house is two story and was built in 2000. According to the disclosures in the summer of 2003 two of the upstairs toliets were repaired because of 'faulty seals'. One leaked through the ceiling below leaving a stain on the carpet. The other leaked an unknown amount. Both were repaired and required the ceiling beneath to be opened up, clorox applied and fans used to dry it out before patching.

What makes it seem odd to me is that the toliets had not been recently replaced when the leaks occured, they were both original. Obviously I can't rip open the ceiling to see what was done and my agent has not been able to get details from the owners. I'm still working on getting the owners to provide more info and am also running a report to see if there was an insurance claim made.

My inspector didn't think there was an issue, no sign of water staining or damage-but he didn't have a moisture meter either. But assuming the leak is gone I'm worried what type of leak it could have been to begin with. Would the seals fail at the same time on two toliets? What could be hiding up there?

Should I spend a few hundred dollars for a mold expert to come look? Should I have a second inspector come out with a moisture meter? Or should I accept the common consensus that if the floors aren't soggy and there is no visible issues of a four year old leak that I can pretty safely assume things are fine?

I'll update this thread when I get the insurance report.

Thanks for your advice.

Wandering_Burr

once leak, forever compromised

it does seem to me that a 3 year long leak is going to hurt the building.

I saw on the CMHC (.gov.ca) website that any water damage leaves mold dormant even after things are made to dry up, and that it still causes problems. Levels of bad substances in the air. I remember that they were able to detect it even when everything was dry. It was a report from a technical study. The report was that, once deteriorated, forever deteriorated. So, once-flooded basements would still be unhealthy environments for people to spend a lot of time in even after the moisture was gone.

The location of the leaks in your situation means that air can circulate. So either the micro toxins can be diluted easily, so it may be less serious, or the opposite, it may be just as serious since a long term leak does provide a place for mold to grow into big colonies.

Another concern, also very hard to evaluate, is why both toilets leaked. Doesn't make me feel good.

I hope you figure this out soon. Enjoy the house too!


David

There's a difference between the way it done and the way it gets done. From the information you gave it sounds like the original seals were damaged before or upon installation which resulted in the leaks. Various construction deadlines, a distracted plumber, mean boss, mishandled supplies can contribute to problems surfacing within a few years of construction. It sounds like the leaks were fixed. A moisture meter might help confirm this but its not a guarantee. Frankly the repaired leak is not the concern.

The important information to confirm is how they repaired the damage. As geniescience says dried mold is still mold. However, if they actually and properly used bleach on all the affected areas then your microscopic house mates are ghosts by now. Trust the sellers as far as receipts and documentation proves their claims and by how much you trust the thoroughness of the work done.

Isolated dry mold will do nothing except sit there.