Is water coming through your ceiling from your upstairs bathroom?
Whether it’s a damp spot, a continuous dripping or a full-blown waterfall, a ceiling leak can cause a huge amount of damage to your home. If you leave it for too long, you may have to shell out a lot of money on repairs.
That’s why you should see to it right away. Read on to find out what do you when you have a bathroom leak through the ceiling.
How to Find and Fix a Ceiling Leak
Many homeowners worst nightmare are water leaks that grow and turn into water damage in your home. Some of the trickiest to spot and fix are ones that show up in your ceiling, especially if you have a two story home with a bathroom upstairs. Any water leaks in your home need to be fix and repaired right away. If left for too long a simple fix can become a costly repair.
You can’t fix a leak if you don’t know where it’s coming from. Here’s how to identify the source of your leak and stop it.
Toilet Leaks
A leaky toilet is a plumbing nightmare. That’s why this should be your first port of call. Check the base of the toilet. Its connection to the floor should be sealed by a wax ring. If the ring is worn, cracked or broken, it’s likely that it’s allowing water to seep through the ceiling every time the toilet is flushed. If you’re still not sure, you can use food coloring to check. Add some coloring to the bowl and flush. If the water that seeps through is the same color, you’ve identified the source of your leak. If your toilet is leaking, the water supply shut off is usually right behind the toilet coming from the floor.
Shower or Bathtub Leaking Water Into The Ceiling Below
If the ceiling leak only occurs while the shower is in use, it could be coming from either the faucet or through a tile in the bathroom. If this is the case, you may need a complete bathtub replacement.
Check the faucet and the pipe between the valve and the shower head for any leakage first. Then, leave some water in the bottom of your shower or bathtub overnight. If you don’t find any leaks in the morning, this part of your bathroom isn’t the culprit. If the leak continues while the shower isn’t running, it’s probably coming from a water pipe.
Water Supply Line Leaks And How To Fix Them
Water supply lines are often the underlying cause of water dripping from the ceiling. This is because loose connections can easily allow water to seep through. To check yours, simply go run your hand along your water supply lines to check for any damp spots. If you find any, you’ll then need to tighten or replace the connector joints in those places.
Supply lines can leak but by definition, they supply the water to your fixtures and those could be the culprit of the leak instead of the lines. When the fixtures leak, turning off the water supply is the best way to stop the leak. Water supplies can be in different places depending on where you live and the age of your home. If you are a home owner, it is important to know where your main water supply is so in an emergency, if the water needs to be turned off, you know where to look. You may also need a special tool to turn off the water. Remember to try and stop the water from continuing to leak and turn it off ahead of the leak.
Drain Pipe Ceiling Leaks
Drain pipes are also a common cause of the water leaks in your ceiling if you have an upstairs bathroom or shower. Common causes can be deteriorated pipes from age or hard water.
If you are experiencing leaks only when taking a bath and not a shower from the same bathroom then it’s commonly your bathtub overflow drain that is causing the issue. This is a separate smaller drain pipe that connects your overflow to the main drain. Over time the seals on that pipe can degrade and cause leaks when your tub is too full or when bath water is splashed up and into the overflow drain.
In order to carry out a proper inspection on your drain pipes, you may need to cut a hole in your ceiling and expose them. Many times leaks like these are small and take a while to build up enough damage to make them noticeable. In other cases if your ceiling has a light fixture or something similar installed you will notice this leak right away as the water will drain out of your ceiling by running down and out of your light fixture. There’s nothing more frustrating than taking a nice relaxing bath only to go downstairs afterwards to a broken light and flooded kitchen.
Call a Plumber
If you make DIY plumbing repairs for a ceiling leak, you’ll have to make sure you use all the correct tools and fittings. Otherwise, you could make some serious mistakes.
If you’re not comfortable doing any of this yourself, it’s best to arrange for a plumber to do it for you. Fully-trained professionals are equipped with all the tools and knowledge to get the job done as quickly as possible.
Contact us today to book an appointment, and we’ll send the experts out to fix your leak for you.