Leak Finally Fixed (Hopefully)

Since the last repair it rained a lot and every time I went down in the studio anxiously to see if there was water in my buckets and that didn't happen for weeks on a row now. So I eventually even removed the buckets and called our constructor to come by and put the terrace back. And it has been storming outside all day and it still dry. I'm still not 100 percent sure though because we have thought a couple of times already that the leak was fixed and every time it started dripping again. But I'm starting to get my hopes.up

Too bad it is autumn now and the weather is starting to get worse and worse. Because it would be nice to sit outside and finally enjoy our garden again. Well at least we had some nice days to take a picture again of the finished garden. You can see our little waterfall in the back. Well this story has been going on for long enough I guess now. So hopefully I will never have to write again about this leak. If I do I can promise you that I will be very annoyed, but help me to hope for the best :)

Another Leak Repair Attempt #6?

Last weekend was a wet one again in the studio. We had a lot of rain in The Netherlands and it leaked all over again. So today my constructor came back with another idea. We made another water proof seal on the outside of the wall. But when they were working on cleaning the roof they did discover something else that was hopeful. It actually looked like a hole on the left corner of the wall. So they removed a piece of the wall again and found the water proof layer looked a bit suspicious.

There actually was a piece that looked to be loose. So they removed it and under there was WATER!! At least that is hopeful because that shouldn't be there of course. And the water cannot have traveled very far from there. So after removing this piece of material they put a lot more layers on top of that just to be sure it wouldn't leak there any more. Man do I really hope that this was it now. Actually this was the only spot we didn't look into before yet. So it could well be.

The only thing  left to do is to put the two corner bricks back in there. But we want to wait and see what happens now first. In the mean time they put a lot of waterproof kit in there on the corner. Well everything that helps is fine by me. When the corner bricks are back they will add the same layer over it on the outside as they did on the rest of the wall. Well fingers crossed for now and wait for it to start raining again. And they predicted that we will be getting some more the coming days. The only problem is how long do you need to wait before you know it worked? We have had days of rain on a row before where it didn't leak and they suddenly it started again. I will keep you updated as always.

The Mysterious Way of Water

Last week our constructor came by again and removed a bigger part of our terrace. And now we are trying to find out ourselves where we have to put water to get it leaking again in the studio. That sounds easier than it is actually. We have tried a lot of things already and so far not much luck. I'm really starting to hate this problem. I like logic to analyze problems, but this just doesn't seem logical. It looks like water moves in mysterious ways.

In the picture on the right you can see how big a mess it is again. We also moved up the terrace a bit this time away from the wall. We actually measured where the water came out in the studio and made sure that we opened the terrace right above that spot as well. But not much to see there actually. On first sight there is no physical damage. So we did more water tests. We put like 5 centimeters of water in this whole for a long time and nothing came out in the studio.

Here you can see how much water we put on there. We tried this several times close to the wall but also on other spots. Nothing happened. Then my wife sprayed some water against the wall and 5 minutes later it started to leak. So our conclusion was that it should be near or maybe behind the wall again. But we already opened a large part of this wall and we couldn't find anything. But we are quite sure that the water proof stuff on the roof is not the cause. At least we can eliminate that from the possibilities.

But then we tried to spray water on the wall again later this week. And nothing happened???? I'm really lost here. We also had a lot of rain last week and not a drop leaked into the studio. Well I guess we will just have to open the wall again and look further. Maybe the leak is moving? :) Well I just don't know any more. We have been looking for so long now and every time we are sure we are close, but still we don't find it. Well I'll keep you updated on the progress. I'm afraid this story isn't over by far :(

Advanced Leak Tracing

Yesterday we coordinated an effort in finding the leak in my studio. There was a specialized company here together with my constructor. We first of all looked at a lot of pictures so that this company understood the construction. Then we started with flooding the terrace which is the roof of my studio with our garden hose. Then they went in the studio with an infrared heat seeking camera and a special moisture meters to see if they could see anything change. Right away they saw some temperature drop and moisture in a certain place. They concluded that the leak then really should be close since it didn't take much time. After about 5 minutes it started to leak. Then then looked for a water trail. And they couldn't really find it. The conclusion was that the leak had to be right above the spot where the water came out.

In the pictures we also showed the repairs attempts that were done so far, and the specialist were quite convinced that it couldn't leak there any more. So we started to focus on other spots. They removed some tiles from the terrace and waited for the leaking to stop. Then they put water in smaller spots and tried to keep it contained. We did this several times and waited. On most spots like this we got no result. But then after a few attemps we got result. Actually just a meter left from the spot we were focusing on all the time.

This is the spot we last tested in the picture. So the leak should be in this square meter in front of behind the wall. So we are getting close now. My constructor will have to break away part of the wall again now and free up the roof of the basement, but we are all pretty convinced now were the leak should be. So hopefully we will find it soon. I'm getting pretty tired by now by this whole story. To be continued. I'll keep you updated as always.

Leak still not Found :(

You probably won't believe it, but after all this time it is still leaking in my studio. Last week we had some pretty bad weather here in The Netherlands with some heavy rainfall and again the water was coming down from the ceiling in my studio. I called the constructor again and he now suspected that the water level was just rising to high on our terrace. I told him that I had never seen water standing on there before, but he wanted to do an experiment.

So he took out some tiles and made some kind of canal into a hole. In there he placed a pump to take the water out and dump it further away through a hose. We tested the pump with some water from our garden hose and the pump seemed to work. We knew that more bad weather was coming that night, so I had to watch what happened when it was starting to rain. Based on this we could take some conclusions.

Unfortunately we could conclude that this didn't help much, because the water was coming down again. I just managed to catch one drop in this picture, but believe me that was not the only one. It was quite a stream actually. When I watched outside there was not that much water in the canal and the put wasn't even full. The water level was certainly lower than the terrace and still it was leaking. So at least we have one more thing to scratch of the list, but I'm really not happy. I have hired another company now to manage this problem and they have suggested to hire a company to me that is specialized in finding leaks. I'm afraid this story hasn't come to an end just yet :(

Studio Leak Story Continues :(

After the last repair we really though the leak was fixed. We had several days of rain on a row and no water at all. But then after the third day of rain when I went down in the studio to check there was about a centimeter of water in one of the buckets :( It is not much, but we could easily conclude from that, that the problem still wasn't fixed. So I called my constructor again :( But we also agreed to call in a someone else with a fresh look on things. Last week they opened the alleged problem area again and looked at it together. They both agreed on a solution that was implemented last week.

And here is the result. It looks similar, but they actually burned a much larger piece of material on there now. I really hope this does the trick, because other wise I don't know where to look any more. And we did see result from the last repair, because much less water came out so it must be the right spot I guess. Well we can only hope for the best. For now it is nice weather here so no worries now, but they are expecting rain again next week so we will see then. Fingers crossed :) It is getting really annoying by now. Still no damage until today but inconvenience for sure.

Still Leaking in the Studio :(

I'm sure you read about the leak in my studio before and thought it was fixed by now. Well not really :( It has been leaking with every rain shower that lasts for more than an hour or so. I got used by now to setup these red plastic seat raisers that we bought for the cinema. But they are excellent to hold water too. Yesterday though it rained very hard for a very long time and last night when I went downstairs the left one overflowed and the carpet was all wet :( I used some towels to try and get the carpet dry. This morning I called my constructor again, since it had never leaked this hard.

He had opened up another part of our wall because we suspected there had to be another leak after we fixed the first one. And since it was leaking harder than it ever did before we suspected we had to be closer to the hole. It is really a shame that we have to tear down the stuff again that he made so neatly, but we will have to find the leak eventually. And I must say my constructor has pride in his work and he is very cooperative. After he opened up some more we put the garden hose on there for a while. And guess what?

We put quite some water in there and about 20 minutes after we stopped putting water in it came out again. It started leaking first in the server room where we also had water before. But about five minutes after that it also started to leak again on the same spot in the studio. So I guess we are in the right spot now. After this he decided to tear down even more outside and he was determined to find it this time. In the mean time I stayed downstairs to make sure it wouldn't come out anywhere I didn't have a bucket yet. I'm still scared it will leak on any equipment of course.

And then we found this. Look closely in the picture on the right and you see that the black stuff has come lose from the wall and water could run in there. Normally on top of this stuff is some isolation, a layer of sand and the tiles from our terrace. So I guess when that saturated, the water will go in there. And also the water that will run down from the wall will go in there. On the whole newly build wall during the construction they put this stuff behind the wall, but this was already there so they couldn't do that here. My constructor was not happy to see this and said it had to be fixed anyway.

He decided to take out the first row of tiles along the whole terrace. And we found that it was loose along the whole way :( Probably the guy that did the roof of the cellar just didn't know that there was a coming a big layer on top of there and figured the water wouldn't rise that high. Well I'm glad we found something again. At least now there is light on the end of the tunnel. My constructor is going to think of a structural solution now and promised to come back as soon as possible. Providing that the weather cooperates. So keep your fingers crossed that it will stay dry the coming period since now it is even more open and I guess it will leak even harder :( And that means that when it rains we really can't leave the house or we have to arrange for someone to water-sit our house. Well I'll keep you posted on the progress of course. To be continued......

Quest For Leak Continues

Last night it leaked again. When my wife looked in the studio this morning because it rained quite heavy last night and there was water again in one of the buckets. So it leaked again. I immediately called the constructor and he came right away again. It was dry when he came, but we put a couple of buckets water in the hole and it started leaking again after a while. So now at least we are quite sure it must be still coming from this same place. But the frustrating thing is that you don't see anything happening at all.

The constructor tore down even a larger part of the wall to make room for an even bigger patch. This time though we will not remove the old one, but just put it over it. It has to stop one day. I'm very tired by now of this. You just can't leave the house when you know it is going to rain. Well in this picture you can see how far our wall is destroyed now. But I'm sure that will be fixed again. Lets first fix the problem. Hopefully tomorrow they are going to apply the new patch. Until then I can only hope it will stay dry. I will keep you posted as always on the progress.

And it is leaking again :(

This is getting very annoying. Last night I was working at my modular desk wen suddenly some water dripped on my head. So I removed the cover again from the ventilation hole over me and water came pouring out :( So I placed the bucket again under it. I didn't really sleep last night because it started leaking on more on more places. Eventually the water was dripping down on 5 completely different places. I can't really imagine that it has to do with that hole that has been repaired twice now. There has to be some other leak as well I guess.

This morning the constructor came by again and we discussed the other possibilities of a leak somewhere else. Just reconstructing what happened during the whole construction process. I'm afraid more of our house is going to be torn down now. I feel really shit at the moment. Thus far I have been very lucky still that no equipment was damaged, but when ever it starts raining now I just can't afford the be away until we fix this for good. It looks like it is staying dry today. So maybe I can get some sleep later on. And I could really do with some GOOD news...

Leak repaired (Again?) Hopefully

Yesterday our constructor came by to demolish our wall again. This time he exposed more are around the leak so that there was more room for a decent repair. We are very afraid that last time it just wasn't enough to completely fix it. I was a bit scared this afternoon because they did remove the old repair but the guy that was going to repair the waterproof materiaal didn't arrive yet and it started to rain a bit. But luckily it was only a few drops. And on the end of the afternoon this guy arrived. Here you can see him burning to surface clean that he needs to put on the repair.

In the picture on the right you can clearly see that a much bigger patch was put over the leak this time. The guy that repaired it was very careful to put enough heat on it but not to burn the house. Last time he thought he was to careful not to overheat. Behind the wall is isolation material that can catch fire very easily so this time he also brought a fire extinguisher :) Well luckily our house didn't burn down ;) We will leave the hole open now longer to wait for a couple of rain showers before we close the wall again. Just to be sure it doesn't leak again.

I made a final close-up shot of the repair. You can clearly see now that the material has melted good around the edges. Last time I didn't see this happening actually. So I'm quite confident now that no water can go in there at all. And when we have another leak maybe we should look in another spot I guess. Well I hope that is not necessary and that we can keep our feet (and equipment) dry from now on. If something changes I'll let you know for sure. Now back to some other stuff again :) I'm done with this.

Studio Leak

Last night I was working with my friend Hans on some track for my upcoming album. Suddenly Hans heard a sound he couldn't place in the song. We stopped the song and we still heard it. We found the source quickly. Unfortunately it was water dripping from the ceiling on the floor :( I had a leak before in the server room but that was repair so this looked like a new leak. But the first thing we did was get some material to catch the water. Luckily is was only over the carpet just in front of the modular desk in the back of my studio. So no equipment was wet.

At first the water appeared to be coming from this whole. It is a ventilation channel where air is being pumped out of the room. But when we removed the cover that is over it normally we saw the water was coming from just next to the hole and later we found also that on the places water was dripping straight from the ceiling. We decided to stop working because I was quite pissed of at the moment actually and couldn't concentrate anymore. I had a bad night sleep as well since I went down stairs a couple of time to check what the status was. But it kept dripping all night.

I looked in the server room as well and found that there were also some drops of water coming from the hole that caused the leakage last time. So I immediately concluded that the repairs that have been done last time we had a leak were not sufficient. I called the constructor this morning and told him the bad news. They will come by next week to tear down the wall again :( I hope that until then it stays a bit dry. I can't go anywhere now when I know it is going to rain, because we have seen before that the water comes out on different places every time. And I need to take precautions where something happens. This afternoon I also had an unexpected power fail downstairs. So I'm afraid some water hit some electric wiring :( I hope this gets solved quickly.

Server Room Leak and Short Circuit

Yesterday I was playing my SY-99 in my studio when suddenly the lights went out. The studio kept on running because it is behind an UPS. I went to my server room because the power distribution for the studio is there and I smelled something burning right away. Closer inspection of the power cabinet showed that there was water running in it from above. So I switched of the power immediately and called the electrician. When opening the power cabinet we found a layer of water in it and we found the two automatic fuses in the picture on the left to be short circuiting because of the water.

We had some water downstairs before coming from the hole were the air conditioning pipes went through, so we suspected something to be wrong there. This morning the constructor came by to tear by a part of the wall. And this is what we found. The 110 mm hole that was drilled in the concreted didn't only go through the concrete but also cut through the rough of the basement. You can see the pipes running here and the black stuff you see was supposed to be the water proof layer of the roof of the basement. Clearly not water proof any more. So problem found for sure.

This afternoon the water proof roof construction was repaired again and we poored some water over it. So far no water came down so I presume this is fixed now. Tomorrow the constructor would come back to repair the wall. All in all a very stressful weekend and I hope we don't encounter problems like this anymore down there. I was happy though that everybody came by so quickly and that we located the problem so quickly. Afterwards they told me that sometimes it takes weeks or even months to find leaks like this. Now I'm going to take a little rest to get over this ;)