Leaky Ceiling

Well, this is the General Discussion forum. I'm just wondering who all is still up.

I've been nursing a back injury for a week now, thought I'd get to go to work tomorrow, but when I went into my bedroom, there was water dripping from the ceiling! I don't know whether the AC drip pan is backed up or just rusted out (it's in the attic right above my bedroom), but a section of the ceiling looks "bloated", like it's soaked. There's a fine crack about 10" long, and water is steadliy dripping from it. I turned the AC off, moved my bed over as much as I could, and put a plastic tote on the floor under the leak. I tried looking around in the attic, but I'm not sure what I'm looking at or for, or what I could do about it anyway. I can't sleep in there, and I'm not sure I can sleep at all, just waiting for the ceiling to come crashing down.

Boy, I sure can't afford any repairs right now. Morning seems a long way away.....

Sorry about your ceiling. It seems my house only has leaks and nite, and the pipes freeze and burst only on Sundays.

Thanks, I sure know what you mean about these things happening only at the most inopportune time!

The water has stopped dripping, but the crack is now wider and the whole room feels really damp. In addition to the ceiling fan I'll place a floor fan in there to try and dry things out. I've got to clear out a lot of stuff and wait until my son can come up here to move furniture around, since my back still isn't good enough to do that. I'm sure the drywall in that section of the ceiling will have to be replaced.

sorry seems like things like that happen to old house to at least mine is falling downn everything wrong but glad i have a roof over my head.. leaks to.. hope son gets fixed for you.. your back will get better.. Twyla

Thanks Twyla.

The AC people were here this morning, confirmed that the drip pan has rusted through. They can't get back to fix it 'till Monday (they need three guys to lift the unit while another one fights to pull the old pan out and shove a new one in.)

That corner of ceiling kept sagging and sagging, the crack got bigger and bigger. I had to leave the house for a couple of hrs, and when I got back the drywall (no longer dry) had finally broken. An insurance adjuster will be here this evening, said he could cut out the drywall, pull out the soggy insulation, and then cover the area with plastic until it can be fixed. My biggest concern is getting stuff out of that room while trying to be good to my back.

This will be a muggy weekend, complete with some family coming in tomorrow for an overnight stay. But it really could have been worse, and like you say, at least I have a roof over my head!

Going, going, gone...

Drip pan rusted through!!!! If drip pans aren't rust proof what is the point! Their only job failed. It dosent make sense. Plastic wont rust maybe we should go in the drippan making business. But maggie how did you do that with the images. I love it.

Posy, that was my thought too. If the pan is made to hold water as it is channelled out, and they know that the water will make it rust, why not use something that doesn't rust?? The AC guy said that they will spray a coating on the new pan so that water never touches the metal.

I got the info on doing pics that way from a post of gardenwife's (fourth post down on this link): http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/503434/

Irfanview referred to in the post is a free download (also learned about it from gardenwife): http://www.irfanview.com/

Here's a mini-tutorial from gardenwife: http://davesgarden.com/journal/j/viewentry/17378/index.html//

What would I do without gardenwife? :-) Thanks gardenwife, for all the help! Posy, I think you'll find it's very easy.

(;>)

Oh my! Chicken Little was sort of right after all.

Maggie, I'm sorry about your ceiling. Things always seem to happen during week-ends. In my small town, everythings is locked down tight by 5:00 PM Friday. Sorry, too bad, wait until Monday! My mother-in-law had a large part of her living room ceiling fall due to water problems. She didn't want to pay for replacement of the entire ceiling and would you believe, she found someone who repaired it keeping the sag in the ceiling that time had put in.

Thanks for the tip on linking photos that way. Now to see if it works with a Mac.

Well, it's looking a little better now. The water remediation people checked on everything Saturday and discovered some water had leaked from the carpet in the bedroom, under the wall, to the carpet in the living room, but not too bad. They left all the blowers in my now-dismantled bedroom, and added another one in the living room, until today. All the blowers are gone now, and the ceiling has a temporary cover so debris doesn't fall into the room from the attic. The AC people came today too, so the house is comfortable. Hopefully the contractor will be out here to get this all repaired before the end of the week.

worst, getting cleaned up, temp patch

wow, the temporary ceiling job is great!

We once had water coming through an apartment ceiling when we came home. I could hear it through the door, and when I opened it could not believe my eyes: Water was *pouring* down like a little waterfall through the ceiling above the kitchen area! Our upstairs neighbor's water heater was leaking and instead of turn the water supply OFF before going to work, he left it on and just left his door unlocked for maintenance. Grrr! Fortunately, we saw it early enough Howie went up and shut off the supply before more damage was done.

In another rental, we had water coming in through the bedroom ceiling due to an ice dam that had pushed the roof apart in that area.

Isn't water fun?? LOL Glad the tutorials helped. What's knowledge for if not to be shared freely?

Thank you for the info mag. Your ceiling looks great. Double check under that carpet before you sign off on that insurance. Sometimes mold grows under and makes you sick. It might not even happen for a while. Ask them about it.

Mary,

I just found this thread. You poor baby!! What a miserable thing to have to endure.

I'm glad to hear the insurance will be paying to get everything fixed. Shame they can't do all the moving around, etc for you, too...

I'm with posypeddler! Make sure that the padding and carpet backing are absolutely dry and mold free before you sign off. With the humidity in your area as it is the carpet could feel dry, but still be damp enough to grow mold.

Wish I lived closer. I have a de-humidifier that would be perfect for making sure the carpet, etc is dry. (A friend used it when her bathroom plumbing leaked into the guest room. They thought the carpet was dry, but had to empty the de-humidifier's multi gallon tank several times over the course of a week before it quit making water in that room.)

BTW The drainpan on our new heat pump is thick plastic. The only reason to use a metal one these days is to give job security to someone! Or, in this case, several someones....

How's your back?

Kim, yes, this certainly wasn't near as bad as some of the stories I've heard (yours included), so I am very fortunate. This is actually an... an opportunity... yeah, that's the ticket! :-) I'll be doing a much more thorough Spring cleaning than I ever intended (or wanted) to. The good thing is that they will end up professionally cleaning and spot-treating both my bedroom and living room carpets, and will re-stretch them! They are really old, but I can't afford to replace them (I've been considering just removing them and finishing the cement), so I'll certainly settle for a carpet face-lift!

Posy, they take wet things very seriously around here due to our extreme humidity. They removed almost a quarter of my carpet pad and a lot of insulation, and sprayed mildewcide everywhere - twice.

Donna, I never know if I'm not "seeing" you around because you're on the road, or you're busy starting 1,000 more seeds! lol The contractor has told me not to move anything, they will do all that (thank goodness, since I can't move anything.) I want to get all the small stuff moved though, don't want anyone having to go through my stuff. The water remediation people were great! They placed large blowers pointed at the ceiling supports to dry the wood as well as be sure none of the remaining drywall was damp. They also had one to dry the carpet, and one in my closet (though I don't think anything in there actually got wet.) They also had a huge dehumidifier, with a plastic tube snaking across the hall and inserted in the bathroom sink drain. It was like a catheter for my room!

My back is much better, though I still get sore by the middle of the day, and I can't bend much still. I hope I can do some careful gardening this weekend - I still have RU plants that need to go in their permanent homes!

Thanks everyone, I have been feeling a little vulnerable, and it helps to have friends nearby. The contractor should be calling me tomorrow am to set up a meeting so we can talk about when the work can get done (hopefully this week?)

Hello everyone, it's just me again. No need for the trumpets and drum roll. LOL .

Maggiemoo, are you also a Mary? All that water damage and mess is a pain I can't emagine. Our basement gets water in it but it just runs across the cement floor and into a sump with a pump. We put storage boxes up on pallets knowing the water comes in. It does smell funny down there when it is wet but it doesn't take it long to dry. My food storage room is down there along with a chest freezer, washing machine, and lots of misc stuff. I understand that at one time there was carpet down there but it got wet and was taken out.

Today was showery, I've been outside and inside and back outside so many times I've lost count. Got a bunch of weeding done though and there is still time to do more before it gets too dark to tell weeds from flowers. It's been many years since I've seen such a wet spring as we have this year. The weeds and grass are loving it but getting my vegie garden rototilled and planted has been on hold for several weeks. I finally got the whole thing tilled once but it needs another going over and it is too wet for that now. My seed potatoes are sprouting and so are the onion sets. They need to be in the ground soon.

Yesterday I went to town to do errands and shopping, got home about 3 pm and went for a ride before my hubby got home. I was too lazy to open gates so did repitions of hill work in the nearest pasture with a big hill. The mud made it a better workout than the horse would have gotten without it. Mud does have its uses!

I'll be leaving Friday morning for a ride in Washington state near Mt St Helens. Today was the 25th anniversary of the big eruption. The mountain is active but the activity is low level so most of the visitor centers with views of the mountain and the damage the big blast caused are open. For the last year or so the mountain has been more active than for the last several years. There are lots of small earthquakes and red hot magma building a new dome inside the crater. I don't have the link but if you want to see recent pictures do a Google search for Mt St Helens photos and you will see a little mountain within the hole in a big mountain. It's about 250 miles from where I live and not in the wind path most of the time. When it erupted the ash went east and in 72 hours had reached the east coast. I remember a teeshirt that had a US map on it and the ash cloud going out like a funnel." Don't come to Washington, let it come to you!" Another one showed the map of Washington state with a volcano in the proper place and the words "Ashington, the volcano state". These shirts were quick to hit the market, probably within a week. They'd be collectors items now, wish I had the foresight to buy some. sigh.

See you later, horses need their dinner and I can still pull a bunch of weeds if it doesn't decide to rain again.

MaryE, yes I am a Mary, too. I have all kinds of names, just pick one and it's probably one of mine. :-)

I have a sister who lives in Tecoma, she brought us bottles of ash after that first eruotion. Be careful! Hope the rain stops long enough for you to get some gardening done. I know it's maddening when we can't (worse than cabin fever I think.)

How's the water damage repair project comming along? And how's your back?

Thanks for asking Mary, my back is almost totally normal again. I'm gardening a little at a time, and taking rests - and I'm not trying to move boulders any more! :-)

I met with the contractor last Friday. They could have done the work this week, but I have a very difficult schedule, will be out of town for a couple of days, and I really want to be accessible. So they're going to start Tues, 5/31, should take about 3 to 3 1/2 days. I feel pretty confidant about the work, because they guarantee it for two years. They are a "direct contractor" with the insurance company, so they want me to be happy with the work (the ins company is a mega-client.) Instead of trying to match the ceiling texture of the patch to the rest of the ceiling, they're going to re-texture the whole ceiling. They will also paint the ceiling, walls, closet walls, all the trim, and they will professionally clean my carpet and re-stretch it. It will probably look better than it has ever looked in all the years I've lived here! :-)

That's quite the extensive repair job. It's sounding like a blessing in disguise! Moving boulders! I've done things like that but don't anymore. Well, at least not recently.

"Well, at least not recently."

:-) True confessions!