My neighbors had a pipe leak in the ceiling of their condo.
The leak did damage, & spread both into the ceiling of the common corridor, & into the basement.
What kind of workman should I call to check my condo for hidden damage, if any?
BTW-- I cannot ask the neighbors, as they are staying someplace else until their condo is repaired.
A plumber would have the tools to look for leaks behind walls. Well, not all plumbers, but some might.
But there are companies that actually specialize in leak detection. http://www.americanleakdetection.com/ is a national company that does one. Search in Google for “[city] leak detection”.
This. You’re looking for a specialty that lies in between general contracting types; the inspector needs to know a bunch about a lot of things to make a good assessment.
You don’t want someone who will miss potential mold growth in dampened walls, for example, or structural damage in unlikely places a plumber or remodeler might overlook. It’s a special job; call a post-fire or flood specialist.
Since you have no obvious damage, before you worry about hidden damage, I suggest you read the Condo Declarations and By-laws to determine what part of your unit you actually own as your unit boundaries are specified within these documents. As an example, in some condos, the unit owner may own and be responsible for nothing more than finished surfaces of their interior condo unit which can be limited to paint, wallpaper, etc. In others, unit boundaries can include wallboard and in some cases, framing of interior partition walls. I’ve read some Condo By-Laws that limit what the unit owner actually owns to the floor they walk on and the paint on the walls. Everything else is owned by the Association and insured under the Association’s Master Policy and the issue is handled by the Condo Board members.
Every condo can be a little different and the hidden damage that concerns you may not be your responsibility to repair and may fall on the shoulders on the Condo Association and possibly covered under a separate insurance policy.
Concerning the comment about your neighbor having responsibility to pay for any potential loss to your unit, this would probably be true if they were negligent in causing the leak but mere ownership of the leaking pipe does not automatically mean they pay for third party damages. Again, Condo By-Laws can change all of this and place responsibility on a unit owner or even absolve them of third party property damage.
Living in a condo is like living in a town having its own rules, regulations and laws governing who owns what and who is responsible to whom when something happens. The Condo Declarations and By-Laws set this out.