Interestingly, during a recent home inspection, I turned on the kitchen light.

It worked fine.  But it looked really weird.

Part of the globe was orange, and other spots looked like there were water drops.

This is a newer light fixture, replaced apparently to improve the kitchen's appearance, along with new appliances and counter top.

I had already run the water in both bathrooms above, and the kitchen was directly under the master.

Tapping on the globe it sounded funny.

So I unscrewed it!

Looking inside I did not know this could happen.

Mold was growing in water which had accumulated in the globe!

Running the bathroom water again it began to drip slowly from a hole in the top of the fixture!

Wondering if this had happened before now, one only has to look at the light bulbs!

It looks to me like this has been happening for some time!

And over and over and over and over...

That is the Superman of light fixtures! 

AND THIS IS ONE LUCKY HOUSE!

I did not know mold could grow in water in a light fixture and I did not know that kitchen light fixtures were so water impervious!

My recommendation:  just when you think you understand things, even simple things like light bulbs, you get thrown for a loop! 

Reminds me of the lyrics from a Moody Blues song:

"Breathe deep the gathering gloom,watch lights fade from every room...

Cold hearted orb which rules the night, removes the colours from our sight,
Red is gray and yellow white, but we decide which is right,

AND WHICH IS AN ILLUSION!"

 

 

 

Jay Markanich Real Estate Inspections, LLC  

Based in Bristow, serving all of Northern Virginia

www.jaymarinspect.com


 
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31 Comments on Light Fixture Pond

20 Most Recent Comments Displayed Show All

MAR
18
1 Featured Post Outside Blog

So did these homeowners just empty the bowl when it got full or did they let the water evaporate with the heat of the bulbs?  

6:29am • #12
111,533 Points 7 Featured Posts

How many times do we say this...I've seen everything now! And then something so stupid like this comes along. This is really really stupid. 

6:46am • #13
Attended Rain Camp

Interesting that the water was leaking right above the light fixture. I have seen water in light fixtures before but usually there are other signs of a leak.

6:55am • #14
1,945,611 Points 477 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Question is, where does the water come from??  Since water will find it's way DOWN, it could have trickled from anywhere above between floors, etc., etc.  It could have come from 10 feet away.

Making it's way to the lowest level often takes water from a long way from opening to the fixture. 

Gravity is a strange and perplexing force.

7:26am • #15
100,131 Points Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Oh! That is something every homeowners should look into as well. 
Jay, thanks for sharing how the light buld pond can get us into trouble when left unattended. 

7:52am • #16
1,418,309 Points 41 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Water molecules will find a way to let everyone know. .we are here !. .

I need  attention !

8:03am • #17
229,016 Points 1 Featured Post Called Shot Master

I'm voting with Fred...it's a humidifier! They're lucky this song wasn't more appropriate...

8:28am • #18
1 Featured Post Outside Blog

Outside of the electricity part the heat from the light probably made that a really nice environment for the mold to grow. 

8:46am • #19
915,873 Points 177 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Jay, so fess up---what did it taste like?----probably even warm wasn't it?

9:01am • #20
469,705 Points 34 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

A petri dish or a light? My weird Science Project - this one takes the cake.

9:08am • #21
972,707 Points 348 Featured Posts Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Lisa - dangerous yes!  I was surprised to see this, truly I was.

Kind of fits, right Rick?

Pretty weird stuff, Tom.  Water will pool where it can!

Maybe this is a frag from a meteor which was cut off of Mars, Richie.  And it landed in that kitchen.

9:40am • #22
972,707 Points 348 Featured Posts Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Silly me, Fred.  You Florida types are surely familier with humidity!  Now that I think of it, so are we here!

Athina - I don't know.  The house has been vacant for a while.  But water is surely there, and for some time!

Scott - what can we say?  We will never see it all.

Kathy - it will make its way to the lowest point, as you know.  In this kitchen, that was the light fixture!

9:43am • #23
972,707 Points 348 Featured Posts Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Lenn - there's a bathroom above and to the side.  After I ran that bathroom again, with the globe off the light water began to drip slowly from one of those holes in the fixture about 15 minutes later.

Ridhi - I guess.  I have never seen this before!

Fernando - and apparently they like to collect into large groups!

Tim - not a bad thought!  I liked that one too.  Those homeowners were lucky your song wasn't part of their house experience!  That song came on my favorite radio station just yesterday!  One of my faves!

9:45am • #24
972,707 Points 348 Featured Posts Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Marc - that and the organics in the water.  This house is fed by a well.

Charlie - you know that before asking it!  And I answered that back in #6!

Debb - looks like a petri dish we did in bio class in college.

9:47am • #25
155,778 Points 13 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master
Now that's a Moody quote I don't know! But I have found light fixture globes with water in them, and it's never clean water so there's some degree of decay, i.e. mold.
7:27pm • #26
MAR
19
972,707 Points 348 Featured Posts Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

That's less than a quarter of the poem at the end of "Nights of White Satin," Robert.  I thought it fit!

That's a poem I memorized in college and it never left.

This is well water too, so it is full of organics and mold food.

2:06am • #27
1,515,609 Points 112 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Called Shot Master

That's disgusting!  It's bad enough to find dead bugs in a light fixture like that, but water and mold?  Nasty.

8:20am • #28
972,707 Points 348 Featured Posts Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Since you already know what it tastes like, Chris Ann, this is just another bowl of feel good when you're sick.

8:30am • #29
353,593 Points 19 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master
Jay-Just when you think you've almost seen it all, a new situation shows up. Water issue, electric issue, and respiratory issue- can you say trifecta?
9:04pm • #30
MAR
20
972,707 Points 348 Featured Posts Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Good things come in threes Wayne, like all that!

1:59am • #31

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Jay Markanich - N. Virginia Home Inspector

Bristow, VA

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Jay Markanich Real Estate Inspections, LLC

Address: 12315 Sherborne Street, Bristow, VA, 20136

Office Phone: (703) 330-6388

Cell Phone: (703) 585-7560

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