Soggy Ceiling

[davhill]

Hello all,

I've found this on my living room ceiling...



The scaggy black area is about a foot long, and is ringed by a very light brown stain about two feet in diameter. This has developed over three months or so. The central area is mushy but the surrounding area isn't squishy.

I first thought it was due to my having a small fridge upstairs, which may have been leaking in the past. However, there's no sign of leakage, and moving the fridge away for a week hasn't resulted in any apparent drying out.

There isn't anything in the waterworks department directly above the stain but I suspect it may be on a slightly low point - it's certainly on a join in the plasterboard.

Upstairs, there is a combi boiler around two feet from the stain. There's also an en suite bathroom, whose wall is five feet fron the stain. There's no evident leakage anywhere. Also, there seems to be no problem with boiler pressure. Now for the snags...

* The fridge lives in a built-in wardrobe whose floor covers the floorboards.
* There's a full fitted carpet upstairs, without any joins at all, even to the landing.

I'm no plumber, and have no idea where to start. I don't know if it's heating system water, mains water or even rainwater ( though I doubt it). These notions have sprung to mind.

* Put Fernox in the boiler/heating system to seal it and therefore eliminate this as the source of the leak.
* Drain the heating system somehow, dry out the wet patch with a heat gun and keep the heating off for a few hours and see it the damp returns.
Or
* Shut off the water main, open all the taps and proceed as above.

I don't suppose it would be viable but if someone has a flexible camera thingy, they could do an endoscopy through a hole in the ceiling. Seems like a good way of finding the leak to me.

Or

I could wait for the ceiling to fall down and find/repair the leak from below.

Please forgive my higgerance, any hints/tips will obviously be very welcome.

 

[Neil K]

Floor will have to come up upstairs or cut a hole in the ceiling downstairs to find and fix what's leaking end of story. I would start by looking for the leak in the bathroom, removing panels, trims whatever. Has to be found and fixed properly.

 

[Willpr88]

is the silicone around the shower tray damaged/not sealed any longer? signs would be if its getting black patches, if the tray is against a stud wall and/or not sealed to it then the water will syphon down the side and onto the floor. If the tray is on a riser kit and you can see under neath then spray the head against the silicone and watch underneath

 

[gassafe]

Leak from boiler condensate pipe or other pipework

 

[GrahamM]

Ceiling has had it now so I would just be proactive and cut out a section of the ceiling and investigate from there.

 

[plumben]

I wouldn't use a leak sealer in the central heating,

Remove the ceiling till, you find the leak, the ceilings had it and will eventually fall down anyway so save the mess and do it now with dust sheets down

 

[davhill]

Well, thank you, people,

The consensus seems to be in favour of a pre-emptive strike on the ceiling. Fair comment!

I can rule out the shower tray because the shower is over the bath - and I know the bath is sealed, and using it doesn't make the wet patch worse. Ditto the condensate pipe. this is definitely sealed and passes outdoors immediately behind the boiler anyway.

My general plan is to take out the wet patch first, then progressively enlarge the hole until the leak source - or at least its direction of origin -becomes apparent.

 

[Neil K]

Good man, let us know how it goes, good luck

 

[davhill]

Good man, let us know how it goes, good luck

There's an outcome, after all this time. The problem was found by my local heating engineer and it's now fixed.
It turned out that the monkeys who fitted a new boiler (under that government scheme thingy) had cocked up.
They'd attached a new pipe to the cold feed and in putting on a new Yorkshire fitting had 'started' the next one
down by overdoing the heating-up part.
It was just a teensy pin hole. Fortunately, the floor in the boiler cabinet and been carpeted with offcuts. The engineer
used his magic recipro saw to take out a foot of floorboard. Then he trimmed the pipes, formed a new bit and fitted it with
those plastic push-on connexions.
The ceiling's finally dried out and filling and stainblock should sort it out for a lick of paint.
Could've been worse and it was a very reasonably priced fix. You win some!

 

[Dotty]

Push fit? In the floor void?

You'll be getting a wet ceiling again before long.

Get your man back and ask him why he hasn't gone for soldered fittings.

 

[1Steven]

Don't waste your money on stainbloc use undercoat instead. Much cheaper.

 

[Radioman]

Don't waste your money on stainbloc use undercoat instead. Much cheaper.

I think you mean use an oil based undercoat?

 

[rpm]

Another vote for oil based undercoat.

 

[1Steven]

Absolutely. :builder:

 

[itcanbesoeasy]

Hello all,

I've found this on my living room ceiling...

View attachment 23139


LUCKY you found that was it by chance you noticed it

 

[SmokeyJ]

Haha joker

 

[WaterTight]

Push fit? In the floor void?

You'll be getting a wet ceiling again before long.

Portraying pushfit installed under a floor as an inevitable leak waiting to happen is a bit OTT there mate... Not best practise in an ideal world, perhaps but the in the vast, vast majority of situations that joint is going to be just fine.