Leak causes wet stain on the ceiling

J

johnnycash

Registered User
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Hi,
Any advise would be appreciated, I have a leak in a pipe running to/from the upstairs bathroom, and the leak has caused a damp stain in the ceiling (just under the upstairs wash hand basin). There is no sign of any leakage or water around the sink unit itself. The piping from the sink runs into the floor, so it looks like the source of the leak is under the floor. I stopped using the sink in the bathroom for a week but the wet stain is still on the ceiling. There is another on-suite bathroom beside this one, but the position of the stain seems to point at this wash hand basin. The house is just 3 years old.
I have a feeling that this could be a big and expensive job to fix, as either the bathroom floor needs to be ripped up (and completely retiled afterwards), or a cut needs to be made in the ceiling.
Has anyone had trouble like this before ? Is there anyway of finding out for sure where the leak is ?
Also should I contact my home insurance company before I get anyone to look at it ?
Thanks a lot for any advise.
JC
 
It could be that the ensuite sink joins piping with the 'suspect' sink and the leak is there.

If the house is only 3 years old you might be covered with the builder. Call him around, the worst he can do is give you an estimate which would be covered by your insurance.

Your insurance will ask you for at least one estimate, but do get your builder around first, as he may just fix it.

PS: Taking tiling up from the second floor of a building is not as bad as you think, sometimes you can re-use the tiles taken up.

G
 
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Thanks for that. I called the builder today and he said he will send someone over, but it will be 2 weeks.
I did'nt buy direct from the builder so he says he has no contract with me (fair enough) plus he also says that the guarantee on the house was for one year only. In any case he will have someone at the estate in 2 weeks time and he will get him to call in to look at it anyway.
I 'm thinking I should organise a plumber myself and also check if the house insurance would cover all the costs (to find the source, fix it and rebuild the damaged area).
2 weeks could be a long time to leave it, considering there is a 2 foot wet stain on the kitchen ceiling.
 
We had a leak coming from our bathroom. It is a 3 year old house also. Called plumber in to have a look and he was able to tell us the tiles were not sealed properly. He resealed the floor, shower etc and no probs since..

Only problem we have now is to touch up the ceiling as it left an awful stain...
 
Covering such a stain is not easy. I recently had the smallest of stain on a ceiling and it took 4/5 coats to cover. I thought I would have to resort to a specialist product. I have seen a special paint (available in B&Q) which does the job.
 
Thanks for the replies folks. I'm going to check the sealing around the shower and bath. I'd be happy enough if this was the source, but I'm not optimistic.
Does anyone know if the plasterboard on the ceiling will dry out quickly, even though the stain will probably remain ?
 
Helpful hint for covering DRY water stains on ceilings. Paint over the stain with white undercoat before repainting the whole ceiling.
 
I'll second the undercoat solution - I had a leak and a big stain on the ceiling. Painted with white undercoat and it covered it perfectly.
 
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