Dishwasher Leaks in NYC | All Star Restoration

Do You Need This?

Signs and common causes

If any of these sound familiar, call us and we will tell you honestly what you are dealing with.

Signs to watch for

Water seeping from under the dishwasher or nearby cabinets
A warped or discolored floor in front of the unit
A musty smell under the sink or cabinets
Soft or swelling cabinet bases

Common causes

A failed door seal or gasket
A cracked hose or loose connection
An overflow from overloading or the wrong detergent
A drain-line clog

Under the Cabinets

What a leak does out of sight

Most of the water ends up under the cabinets, not in front of them. The puddle by the door is the small part. Three things we check on every one of these jobs:

The cavity behind and under the dishwasher. The machine sits in an open box between two cabinets, and the floor back there is usually the wettest spot in the kitchen. The only way to dry it is to disconnect the dishwasher and slide it out.
The toe-kicks. The strip along the bottom of your cabinets hides a closed space between the cabinet box and the floor. Water sits in there for days because no air moves through it. We take the kick plates off, or drill small holes behind them, so dry air can get in.
The cabinet bases. In most of the kitchens we open up, the cabinet bottoms are particleboard or MDF. Once those swell, they rarely go back flat, even after drying. Solid wood and plywood boxes often can be saved. We tell you which you have before anyone pulls anything out.

Timing matters here. To prevent mold growth, EPA advises drying wet areas and items within 24 to 48 hours, and a closed toe-kick won't dry on its own in that window.

If you live in a co-op or condo and the water reaches the unit below, it turns into a building matter, with its own usual rules for how buildings split a leak between units.

How long the leak ran can matter for coverage, too. Many policies treat a sudden hose or valve failure differently from a slow drip that went on for weeks, as our guide to what homeowners insurance covers for water damage explains.

All Star Restoration dries out dishwasher leaks across NYC and Nassau County; reach the crew at 646-543-2242.

Questions

Answers before you call

Do you have to pull the dishwasher out?

Yes, on almost every leak, because room air can't reach the floor behind it. We put it back once it's fixed or replaced.

My downstairs neighbor has a new stain on their ceiling. Could it be my dishwasher?

It could. Water that gets under a kitchen floor moves along the subfloor and can come through the ceiling below, sometimes a few feet away. We take readings in both units so the super and any insurer can see where it started. Our guide on what a brown ceiling stain means covers the downstairs side.

Can my cabinets and floor be saved?

Often, if we dry them fast and properly. We measure the moisture under and behind them before deciding what has to go.

Why did the damage spread so far from the dishwasher?

The water runs along the subfloor and under the cabinets out of sight, so the wet area is usually much larger than the puddle you can see.

Dishwasher Leaks in New York