Moisture in receptacles and switches

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philelectric

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I was contacted by a customer with a problem with moisture permanating the exterior walls of his 2 year old home. The construction of the wall is traditional stucco over "Flexcrete non autoclaved aerated concrete block". The interior layer is "American Clay". The house is wired with NM cable and plastic boxes that are cut into the block then plastered over with clay. The problem is the moisture is so bad that you can see streaks on the walls where water has literally run down the walls. In several areas there are switches and receptacles with streaks around then. He and I are concerned about the safety of this condition. Short of moving out can anyone think of the safety to the homeowner of the devises staying damp and a short term solution? The bedrooms are AFCI protected but there are areas just on standard breakers. And of course there are lawsuits with the builder and manufacturer of the concrete block.
 
I rather dought you can do anything within reason and likely it will soon have mold problems.
Very likely that it is unsafe. Moving out and cuting power off is only smart thing to do.
 
condensation

condensation

Since it is running down wall sounds a lot more like very bad humidity and condensation problem. Leak thru wall will normally run down to the bottom in the block cells and wet the bottom two rows and wet the floor.. Either way I would hope I won the law suit and leave that place. A I doubt any repair will solve this completely
 
A lot of electrical devices have worked for a long time with some moisture exposure. Ever look in a hand hole where there are no waterproof wire nuts? I've seen 20-30 year old circuits that were operating just fine. With that moisture there probably is not a lot of minerals in it. Might not even be conductive.
 
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