TOPIC: Small Leak Damages Big Area

I was doing a home inspection the other day and on the walk through with the Realtor we notices some warping on the wood floor in the kitchen and down the hall. The most likely culprit would seem to be a leak from the dishwasher. I told the realtor I would check it out and see what I could find.

I ran the dishwasher but there was no evidence of any past leaking.

Next the laundry room was across from the kitchen. Moisture was noted  under vinyl flooring through about half of the laundry room floor and water staining was noted along the base of the cabinets, but all this was opposite of any plumbing lines.

The other side of the hall was a closet, when I opened the door the smell (mold) was very strong, the carpet and pad were soaked.

Behind the closet was the master bathroom. The flooring around the toilet was high moisture. The probable cause of the leak. The area affected, 150 sq/ft.

Yikes. I believe it though, what type of flooring was around the toilet?

Vinyl, must be moving between that and the sub flooring, because there was a little water in the crawl space that had leaked through some supply lines in the laundry I think, but really no damage that you could see from the crawl space side.

I would have thought something like laminate. With Vinyl you have all that glue (maybe it's a really old place and the glue's dried up) which would make it harder for the water to move. Though there's probably little Vinyl between the back of the toilet and the closet behind it.

I always wobble toilets to see if they will move on the floor.  A wobbling toilet is a huge problem because the moisture can be invisible until the problem gets really big.

4 year old home, but yes only about 6 inches between toilet and closet. Maybe not much glue.