Building Leak Inspection Checklist: A Fall Below-Grade Walk-Through for Stratas and Property Managers

Most below-grade leaks start small. A damp line on a parkade wall. A bit of white streaking on the ceiling. A sump that seems to run a little more than it used to. Nobody notices until a resident complains, a car gets dripped on, or a tenant finds wet boxes in their storage locker. By then, the only history anyone has is “it’s been leaking for a while.”

One walk-through before the winter rain changes that. This building leak inspection checklist takes you room by room through a building’s underground spaces, with what to look at, what to photograph and how to log it. Do it now and again after the first big storm, and you’ll have dates, locations and photos on file. That makes any later diagnosis faster and any quote more accurate. When you find something that needs fixing, our strata and building deficiency leak repair page explains how we help.

Before you start: who, when and what to bring

Who: anyone careful and observant can do this walk: a council member, the property manager, a building manager or caretaker. Two people are better than one: one looks, one logs. Leave the pits and electrical equipment to the right trades (more on that below).

When: pick a dry-ish day before the heavy rain sets in, so you have a baseline. Then repeat the walk during or right after the first big storm. In the Lower Mainland, that usually means late October or November, when multi-day rains arrive and groundwater rises, especially in low-lying areas. The difference between the two walks is the most useful information you’ll collect.

What to bring:

• a building plan or a simple map of each level, with gridlines or stall numbers
• a phone with a camera (and a charged battery)
• a good flashlight; parkade lighting hides a lot
• painter’s tape or chalk to mark spots so you can find them again
• a simple log sheet (format below)

One rule: don’t enter the elevator pit. It’s the elevator contractor’s space, and it’s only safe with the car locked out. The checklist below covers how to get it checked.

The building leak inspection checklist, room by room

Work from the top level of the parkade down, then through the service rooms. Take a wide photo of each area first, then close-ups of anything you find.

Parkade levels

• Ceiling cracks with drips, wet edges or white streaks running along them.
• Stains on walls and columns: dark tide marks, white crust or rust-coloured streaks.
• Wet patches on the floor directly under a crack or joint above.
• Floor drains: clear of leaves, grit and garbage, with nothing pooling around them.
• Puddles that don’t come from cars. Vehicles drip after rain; look for water that’s there when the stall is empty, or that returns in the same place.
• Stall numbers and gridlines for every item, so it can be found later.

For what causes these and how repairs are planned, see what causes parkade leaks and how repairs are planned.

Elevator pit

• Don’t go in. Ask your elevator maintenance contractor to photograph the pit on their next scheduled visit.
• Ask for photos of: standing water, staining on the walls or floor, white mineral streaks and rust on the equipment.
• Ask them to note whether there’s water now, and whether they’ve seen it before.
• File the photos with the rest of your log.

Water in the pit is worth acting on. Read why elevator pits leak, and see our elevator pit waterproofing page for how it’s repaired.

Sump pits

• Water coming in around the barrel ring (the joint where the sump barrel meets the concrete) rather than from the inlet pipe.
• Water at pipe entries: drips or trickles around pipes passing through the pit wall.
• Staining or white streaks on the pit walls.
• Debris, silt or sediment building up in the pit.
• Pump cycling when it hasn’t rained. If the pump keeps running in a dry spell, note it. Water may be getting in where it shouldn’t.

Sump barrels are often installed without any waterproofing, and sealing around pipes and rings can be an afterthought. Our sump pit repair page explains how we deal with it.

Mechanical and electrical rooms

• Walls where pipes and conduits pass through. Look for damp, staining or white crust around each penetration.
• Damp at the base of walls, especially exterior walls below grade.
• Water on the floor that isn’t explained by equipment (condensate lines, a leaking valve).
• Water near electrical equipment. If you see water on or near panels, transformers or switchgear, flag it as urgent, keep people away and call your electrical contractor first. Don’t touch it.

Storage lockers and bike rooms

• Look behind and under stored items along exterior walls, where you can.
• Damp or collapsed cardboard at the bottom of a pile is a clue.
• Rusted bike parts (chains, rims, rack posts) suggest the room stays damp.
• Musty smell or mould on stored items or walls.

Retaining walls and below-grade exterior walls

• Seepage: wet patches or trickles on the face of the wall, especially after rain.
• Staining: dark streaks, white crust or rust-coloured marks.
• Damp at cold joints, the horizontal or vertical seams where one concrete pour meets another.
• Water collecting at the base of the wall.

How to log what you find

A log only helps if it’s consistent. Keep it simple, and use the same columns every time:

Location (level + gridline/stall)	Date	Weather (past 48 hours)	What you saw	Photo ref	Active or dry	Change since last check
P2, gridline C4 / stall 41	Oct 22	Heavy rain for two days	Drip from ceiling crack, white streaks	P2-041-a	Active	New since last check

A few tips that make the log much more useful:

• Same photo, same angle. Stand in the same spot each time, so you can compare photos side by side.
• Mark it. A small piece of painter’s tape or a chalk mark beside each item makes it easy to find again.
• Write down the weather. “Heavy rain for two days” or “dry for a week” tells you a lot about where water is coming from.
• Active vs dry. Is water present now, or is it an old stain? This is the single most important column.
• Keep it with the building’s records. Store the log and photos with the maintenance records, where the next council or manager can find them.

This is what turns a strata leak inspection from a one-off walk into a history you can use.

Reading the results: what needs attention now

Not every mark on a wall is urgent. Here’s a simple way to sort what you found.

Act now:

• active water on or near electrical equipment (call the electrician first)
• water in the elevator pit
• leaks into occupied space: units, offices, storage rooms in use
• active drips over drive aisles or walkways that create a slip hazard

Watch closely:

• active leaks in the parkade away from equipment and people
• sump pits taking water around the ring or pipe entries
• stains that look fresh or larger than last time

Monitor after the next storm:

• dry, old stains and white streaks with no sign of recent water
• fine dry cracks with no staining

Recheck the “monitor” items after the next heavy rain. If a dry stain is wet, it moves up the list.

When to call us

Once you’ve got the log, give us a call for a free inspection of the spots that are leaking. The quote comes from a site look, not a phone guess, and your log means we look at the right places first.

Timing helps too. We’d rather see a leak while water is running, because an active leak shows exactly where the problem is. So call during or right after a rain, while the spots on your log are wet.

We work from inside the structure, repairing cracks, cold joints, tie holes and pipe penetrations with Kryton’s Krystol crystalline system: Krystol Plug to stop running water and Krystol T1 to treat cracks and joints, plus compatible injection where a crack needs it. In many cases that means costly excavation can be avoided. Our parkade crack and leak repair and strata and building deficiency pages explain more.

If a contractor recommends other work, such as exterior excavation and membranes, drainage changes or a deck membrane, ask us whether it suits your building, and we’ll give you our view of the options after we’ve looked.

Common questions

How often should a building do a below-grade leak inspection?

At a minimum, before the rainy season and again after the first big storm, so you have a dry baseline and a wet comparison. Walk it again any time a new leak is reported. Many buildings add a quick check after any long run of heavy rain. Keep the same route and log format each time so you can compare visits.

Who should do the walk-through: council, property manager or a contractor?

Anyone careful can do the visual walk: a council member, the property manager or a caretaker. Two people work best, one looking and one logging. Leave the elevator pit to the elevator contractor, electrical equipment to the electrician and anything that needs opening up to the right trade. Bring us in once you’ve found leaks you want assessed.

What should we record for each leak?

For each item: the location (level and gridline or stall), the date, the weather in the past 48 hours, what you saw, a photo reference, whether it’s active or dry, and any change since the last check. Take the photo from the same spot each time. That record makes diagnosis faster and helps compare quotes on the same basis.

Do we need to fix every damp spot we find?

No. Sort them. Active water near electrical equipment, water in the elevator pit and leaks into occupied space come first. Active leaks elsewhere, and spots that are growing, come next. Dry, old stains can usually be monitored after the next storm. If a dry spot turns wet or grows, move it up the list.

Can leaks be repaired during the rainy season?

Yes. Our repairs are done from inside the structure, so the weather outside doesn’t stop the work. In fact, the wet season helps: running water shows us exactly where the leak path is. If you’ve logged active leaks this fall, that’s a good time to have them looked at, while they’re still showing.

Book a free building leak inspection

Done your walk-through? Send us your log and photos and book a free inspection of the leaking spots, ideally during or right after a rain. We work with strata councils, property managers and building owners across Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey and the Fraser Valley. Learn more about our strata and building deficiency leak repair, then call (778) 686-2221 (Mon–Sat, 8:30 AM–5:00 PM) or book a free inspection.