Finding the leak!

[chanfish]

I notice a small water stain on my kitchen ceiling inside the fixture. i cleaned that and didnt notice a reocurrence until about ten days later. a wet spot next to the fixture on the textured ceiling part appeared. went upstairs to master shower and looked in drain. a hairball was in trap plate..was thinking this was culprit but not so sure now. the water seems to drain fine and if it was plugged it would fill shower stall first...

a friend asked if we had had alot of rain lately and i said yes very heavy rains plus high winds and hail. That got me to thinking it was perhaps a vent or pipe on roof that may be loose and need caulking cause this leak seems to be an on and off thing. not steady like a leak from a bathroom.. so maybe heavy rains like we had forced water down into the house from vent or something on roof..he said perhaps call the roofers who re roofed the house years ago when i got hail.

any ideas on how to go about detecting and diagnosing this? it doesnt appear to be spreading which makes me think its the weather and something on roof.

[rundrave]

I had a similar issue last summer with a (new to me home) that was 8 yrs old. It is a multi story house and one evening during a heavy storm I had water dripping from a recessed light in my kitchen on my main floor in the middle of ceiling. This was very puzzling to me as there was an entire level of house above this area before the roof.

I pulled the light down and even more water came out. Directly above the recessed light was a bend in one of the vent pipes that goes to the roof. Went to that vent location to the roof and after a quick inspection there was one nail hole exposed in the vent base. Had it been shingled properly it shouldnt have been exposed at all. I just applied some roofers culk over the nail hole and then re applied it around the vent base and I have never had a problem since.

To my knowledge the water was getting in somewhere around that vent and following the pipe down, when the pipe bent thats where it started to drip. Its strange that this didnt happen before as I saw no prior signs of water spots, mold etc. So I just chalked it up to those one in a million deals where the wind and rain happend to be coming down just right for this to happen. That same night I also had a window leak that has never leaked again.

[chanfish]

Thanks rundrave...I looked from the outside and it looks like there is a vent pipe directly over the kitchen. Probably need to call a roofing place as that roof is way up there and i am not crawling up there..too high and too steeped. maybe i can call the guys who did the roof and they can come out...

[Steve Foss]

If it wasn't too long ago, that roofing company may just send someone out to make a quick fix at no cost to you. Maybe. I wouldn't hold my breath on that, but it's possible.

[Tom7227]

I have a similar problem when the fiberglass base in the shower broke a seal and let water out. Older house without a cement base under the fiberglass. PITA to fix because it required taking down some of the kitchen ceiling.

[Macgyver55]

Same here, but mine was just a loose drain basket in the shower. Too bad I had to cut out the ceiling to find it!

[chanfish]

well i havent completely ruled out the upstairs shower basin yet but since the kitchen ceiling is not progressively getting wetter and the wet spot is not wet now or spreading, i think it has to be when it rains heavy and coming down from the roof..i am hoping that to be the case.. yes the thought of ripping out the kitchen ceiling is not a pleasant one. hopefully its the roof and i get lucky. thanks all..

[CAMAN]

Probably cut the sealing edge of the rubber boot that goes around the vent stack while installing it. Make sure when the new one is installed the edge of the PVC is smooth and there are no sharp edges, a piece of fine grit sandpaper will soften the edge perfectly.

Either find a replacement rubber boot, or just buy the flashing/boot combo and remove the flashing and just use the boot. Take some roofing caulk and apply it liberally all around the top of the existing boot, slide the new boot down and seat it on top.

While you're up there it would be a good idea to inspect all the other vent stacks for cuts also. If one is bad it's a good chance others have been compromised also.

[chanfish]

thanks caman..i am next going to my insurance co. cause i believe this was the result of this last big storms and wind we had...then i can have a roofer or pro come out cause i am not skilled enough in this area..i believe thats why we pay these insurance premiums!!!