ᐅ Pipe burst or something else? Any ideas or suggestions?

Created on: 14 Aug 2018 23:26
R
rapidrock
Dear experts,

I registered here to ask a question and hope to get an answer.

We moved into a new apartment three weeks ago. We knew the previous tenants very well. A few days ago, we noticed a continuous dark streak along a wall downstairs that runs through several rooms. This streak was not there during the previous tenants’ occupancy or when we moved in.

Could this possibly be a pipe leak? In my opinion, a leak would typically affect only one spot, but this streak runs along the entire wall. I am at a loss.

What can you say about it at first glance?

I look forward to your answers.

Kind regards

White interior wall with moisture stains and peeling paint at the bottom near the baseboard.

White interior wall with moisture stains and damaged baseboard on the floor.

White wall with moisture damage, peeling paint, and visible baseboard

Corner of a gray interior wall with moisture at the base and damaged baseboard
H
HilfeHilfe
15 Aug 2018 15:24
What does the landlord say
A
Alex85
15 Aug 2018 16:00
blub blub blub 🙂

This is going to be funny. Most likely, the entire flooring got flooded. We once had the same issue in a rental apartment, where water was pushed in through the balcony door, and we only noticed it when water started rising through the parquet flooring from underneath.
I found it quite amusing because it was expected. The gutter above the balcony was constantly overflowing due to being improperly sized and rarely cleaned. The balcony drain was also poorly placed, located at the highest point. There was no emergency overflow.
Then we had ants in the room, coming from the direction of the balcony door—they must have chewed their way through. The building management didn’t care at all, and we had to handle the problem ourselves. A year later, the water was standing inside the apartment.
It’s just a shame that in the end, insurance probably paid out (which I contributed to through the service charges), instead of the actual responsible parties.