Hello. I've discovered some corroded copper pipes which run at floor level in an area where plaster had suffered from damp (loose, very soft and soily, wallpaper had lifted, etc.). Clearly there is indeed some kind of moisture problem, but I'm not sure where from. First, pictures of the pipes:
The back pipe is cold water and the front one (larger diameter) is hot. This point where they disappear into the wall on the right of the picture is the last time the pipes are seen until they appear as four cold and three hot supplies in the bathroom and kitchen near by, running underneath solid floor between here and there.
That is to say, this is their last accessible point without digging up the floor.
Moving off the left of that picture, i.e. tracing further back towards the mains or upstream, we have this view:
As you can see, the corrosion is not nearly as bad further back, but it does continue - and indeed those vertical pipes have occasional patches of green on them right up to ceiling level.
Immediately to the other side of the wall is a shower enclosure and my first thought was that maybe it was leaking through from there - but looking under the shower tray shows no obvious damp conditions and I'm not sure that's the cause.
So, does this leave us with either a leak somewhere, or damp coming up from the ground at this point? Note that this wall was once the external back wall of the house, but now there's an extension.
My main questions:
> Are those pipes likely to be safe and sound to continue using?
> How can I determine the source of the damp conclusively? If it's a small leak then it's not one I can notice.
thanks very much
The back pipe is cold water and the front one (larger diameter) is hot. This point where they disappear into the wall on the right of the picture is the last time the pipes are seen until they appear as four cold and three hot supplies in the bathroom and kitchen near by, running underneath solid floor between here and there.
That is to say, this is their last accessible point without digging up the floor.
Moving off the left of that picture, i.e. tracing further back towards the mains or upstream, we have this view:
As you can see, the corrosion is not nearly as bad further back, but it does continue - and indeed those vertical pipes have occasional patches of green on them right up to ceiling level.
Immediately to the other side of the wall is a shower enclosure and my first thought was that maybe it was leaking through from there - but looking under the shower tray shows no obvious damp conditions and I'm not sure that's the cause.
So, does this leave us with either a leak somewhere, or damp coming up from the ground at this point? Note that this wall was once the external back wall of the house, but now there's an extension.
My main questions:
> Are those pipes likely to be safe and sound to continue using?
> How can I determine the source of the damp conclusively? If it's a small leak then it's not one I can notice.
thanks very much
