The Weeping Wall

Last year, we worked on a toppling cross on top of Clairmont Lutheran Church, and recently,  they called us again. This time to help them unravel a mystery.

For some time,  the custodian and choir members were noticing wet floors in the choir room’s closet. It was so bad that when they pulled the choir robes away they could see the masonry wall had water beads and drips all over the surface. Pastor John had asked us to come and take a look at a wet pattern about 4’ high by about 8’ wide and see if we can could help solve the mystery.

We looked around for sources, nothing was apparent. This below-grade wall was well under the sanctuary, at least 20 feet away from any exterior wall and completely covered by roofs and exterior protection. The church had called out a leak detection company in the recent months but they had no luck tracking down any leaks in the plumbing.

TVCI cut the drywall soffit over the masonry wall; there was plumbing in there but no leaks. Next, we removed the cover off of a large electrical conduit junction box and found:

• This area was actually dripping liquid water.
• The junction was expelling so much liquid moisture because there was no paint behind it.
• The moisture piling up in the soil behind the masonry wall was looking for the path of least resistance and the raw masonry block behind the junction box provided that relief.

It was obvious that this was below grade moisture in the soil behind the masonry wall but finding the source would prove more elusive. The search for a cause continued.

There was a drinking fountain in the area, a couple of bathrooms and a chiller on the roof over this area with a condensate line. We tracked down all of these possibilities and eliminated all of them as the source. We found a planter adjacent to the chapel without much waterproofing to prevent water from getting into the building, but it turns out there is no irrigation in that planter and the person who normally hand waters it had not been there in months. We were stumped.

I proposed to Pastor John that we scrape the paint off the wall in the shape of the Blessed Virgin Mary, use some mortar to stick it to the wet wall, put a fountain basin underneath it with a drain, and call the press, or start charging admission to visit the crying Virgin Mary statue. We had a good chuckle, in our frustrated state and outside the box thinking was needed.

After having explored a number of other hidden wall cavities and underfloor areas at the stage of the chapel, I gave up on any source that was part of the building or within the structures plumbing system.

We called CPL Pipe Leak Locators, and they sent a team out the same day, also our first day on site. I honed in on an area by the front hallway where there were some moss and a little moisture in a concrete joint. We had the gardener come and start up the irrigation system to see if the front lawn irrigation would allow sprinkler water to that concrete joint and it did not.

We had to shut down all fixtures and turn off any running water while CLP used their listening devices at all fixtures and valves. Eventually, we narrowed it down, while CPL was tracking the sound, TVCI was reviewing the 1962 plans for the plumbing supply. All clues were leading back to that area with the wet concrete joint.

The CPL technician (Thanks, Steve Ancira!) was revved up and ready, pulling out a divining rod and locking into a 2’ x 2’ area. When they pumped compressed air into the lines and air bubbles came out at the concrete sidewalk joint where we had seen the moss and moisture we knew we had it.

Now that we had found what was causing it, we had to take our solution and active it. In order to fix the leak, we:

• Cut the concrete and jackhammered it out.
• Cleaned and sweated a new cap to replace one on a 2” line that had been capped and abandoned, and was leaking at a fairly high rate.
• Wrapped it with some protection materials and backfilled the hole with sand.
• Poured the concrete to cover the opening.
• Cleaned up the weeping wall, remediated the mold.

I’d call it a win to be able to solve such a construction mystery. Not only did we fix the ongoing issue, but our solution will save Clairemont Lutheran Church money for years to come. Those precious funds they need for their community.

It turned out not to be a miracle, but we think it worked out nicely. Thanks again to CPL Pipe Leak Locators.