Ceiling stain - leak? Or something else?

seabass90

Hi all,

When I moved into my new home, there was a circular, black stain on my living room ceiling right near the corner. It's about the size of a circular drinks coaster. I sealed the stain and painted over it as I did with the rest of the ceiling.

Unsurprisingly, the stain has started to return. It looks like a brown circle water stain with a black smaller circle within it.

It's difficult to pin point what the stain is underneath, but it appears to be under my en suite which is mouldy at present and is being replaced due to a leaking valve. Since I've moved in, however, I've had a bucket catching water from the leak so the shower hasn't been used at all and there has been no water going down the shower at all.

In a way I'm quite relieved the stain seems to be coming from something in my en suite as its being replaced. I will obviously ask my plumber to investigate this, but he's not coming for another few weeks and I wanted to run this by you knowledgable lot to see if you'd seen anything like this before and where it might be coming from? Why is it circular...?!

The stain is very similar to the picture below - same positioning on ceiling, same size, same colour although mine is brown and black:

Chanes

I think that you think it is a problem with a leak in the ensuite. I think you are likely to be right. It might be a small leak from an unsealed shower tray. It might be a waste water connection loose.

Best get a plumber to investigate when you have it replaced. Just a thought; if it is a long standing leak, make sure the floor timber(s) are still sound; we had a leak that rotted out some boarding beneath the floor tiles from a leaking flush pipe that had been a long-standing leak behind a concealing panel.

And it is likely a circular stain because it is pooling in a dip.

TheCyclingProgrammer

If the ceiling is plasterboard and has become damp, which you'll see once you have the en-suite replaced, then it might be best to just cut that section out and fix a new piece of plasterboard in, set it just below the existing level of the ceiling and skim over it with some fine surface filler. Bit of paint and you'll never see the repair and you won't have to worry about the staining again!

issy0503

Some water stains, if they have been there a long time will come back even if you have replaced that part of the ceiling,I found this out recently after having a ceiling replastered that had had a leak from chimney, anyway, white gloss paint thinly applied a couple of times worked a treat at blocking the stain, once the problem has been solved.