Wet insulation in newly rented home walls

[EK85]

Greensboro, NC. Fiancé and I just rented our first house together, as apartment living is old. This is our second day in, and we were told the home owner sold the rental company the home some months ago, and we would be the first tenants. It’s beautiful, upgraded, clean, new paint, new carpet, etc. We discovered a leaky U-bend under the kitchen sink, and green mold in the cabinets surrounding. Alerted the maintenance company, and set up an appointment to get it fixed, cleaned, etc.

Tonight on the second night in the house, I’m mounting a tv to the living room wall, and the drywall anchors don’t seem to be grabbing the sheetrock. Like it’s soft. Fast forward an hour, and I’m cutting an outlet hole for an in-wall wire hide kit, and when I pull out a handful of insulation to install the outlet, it’s wet. From 1-10, I’d say it’s a 5 dampness. A few dribbles drop down from the spot I just pulled out and collect into a small puddle and sink into the insulation. The drywall seems dry to the touch on the outside, and there are no exterior wet spots anywhere.

What do I do??? Is this something that happens and is fixable? Or is this a red flag for something much bigger? As it is a holiday weekend, I won’t be able to get in touch with the renters for several days, and I’d like to arm myself with information so I don’t get lied to or any runaround. Thank you!

 

[LdiJ]

Greensboro, NC. Fiancé and I just rented our first house together, as apartment living is old. This is our second day in, and we were told the home owner sold the rental company the home some months ago, and we would be the first tenants. It’s beautiful, upgraded, clean, new paint, new carpet, etc. We discovered a leaky U-bend under the kitchen sink, and green mold in the cabinets surrounding. Alerted the maintenance company, and set up an appointment to get it fixed, cleaned, etc.

Tonight on the second night in the house, I’m mounting a tv to the living room wall, and the drywall anchors don’t seem to be grabbing the sheetrock. Like it’s soft. Fast forward an hour, and I’m cutting an outlet hole for an in-wall wire hide kit, and when I pull out a handful of insulation to install the outlet, it’s wet. From 1-10, I’d say it’s a 5 dampness. A few dribbles drop down from the spot I just pulled out and collect into a small puddle and sink into the insulation. The drywall seems dry to the touch on the outside, and there are no exterior wet spots anywhere.

What do I do??? Is this something that happens and is fixable? Or is this a red flag for something much bigger? As it is a holiday weekend, I won’t be able to get in touch with the renters for several days, and I’d like to arm myself with information so I don’t get lied to or any runaround. Thank you!

I am guessing that's its a potential red flag. I cannot imagine any circumstance where insulation could be wet that would not be a fairly serious problem.

 

[HRZ]

It's a BIG red flag until proven otherwise ....and not all water sources are easy to find....and very often wet drywall requires complete removal ...hopefully after the leak is cured.....BTW wet interior walls...could be from AC ducts as well as plumbing or roof or even an ext wall....one of my seasoned roofing contractors went nuts finding an interior leak....it. Ultimately was traced to a dam in a roof Valley over 45' away ....stay on top of contractor and don't say OK until source is found.and all wet stuff is history....sometimes big fans and dehumidifiers can save a lot ...at big costs ...my neighbor makes a very good living drying out and remediating big problems up and down east coast

 

[FlyingRon]

You don't mount TVs to the wall with drywall anchors even if the wall was dry and in good shape. They have to go into the studs.

 

[pac72]

do you have permission to be adding outlets/cutting drywall ??

 

[LdiJ]

do you have permission to be adding outlets/cutting drywall ??

I am thinking that its a darned good thing that he did or he never would have discovered the wet insulation. Permission is kind of irrelevant at this point.