Water stain on ceiling - help!

Justadmin88

Hi all, hoping that you may be able to advise. We had our 80s bathroom re-done recently (big job, wall knocked down, pipes moved around, the works) and it was finished about a week ago. 

Just last night, I happened to notice a small-ish but obvious yellowey brown water stain on the kitchen ceiling, just near to where the loo is in the bathroom above. Immediately I panicked, as I had visions of having to have our lovely new bathroom torn to bits again to solve the problem. I called our bathroom fitter, and they were very good and sent the chap who had done the install over within an hour.

He cut a hole in the kitchen ceiling to take a look, but found that the pipes and the joints directly above where the stain was were all bone dry. I could see myself that they were. He then reckoned that the stain must have been from when apparently during install there was an issue where the loo was taken off by the tiler to tile behind it, but when it was reattached he didn't do it tight enough to begin with, and apparently a test flush went all over the floor (I didn't know thar had happened). He said that the water stain I spotted must have been the result of that water finding the lowest point (the stain was close to a corner) and then slowly over a couple of weeks, seeping through and staining the ceiling. I should add that when I felt the stain and the plaster around it, it was cool and very mildly damp, but not wet.

Result was that we have left the hole in the kitchen ceiling until next week, to monitor the situation. He is coming back anyway next week as our bathroom mirror is faulty and needs replacing. 

Has anyone had a similar experience? Does that sound like a feasible explanation for it? I am still paranoid that there is an actual leak, but I'm hoping that maybe a legacy spillage of water from the installation could have been the answer? Any thoughts and advice appreciated, thank you.

Bendy_House

A perfectly feasible explanation. And since the hole has been left in the ceiling until it's confirmed one way or another, I personally wouldn't worry about it. The hole will also help it to dry out more quickly!

If it turns out to be from a separate, currently-hidden, leak, then that should become obvious over the next week or so.

Sounds like they are on the case

I presume they'll make good the ceiling afterwards?

Annemos

I have had something a bit similar. About 18 months ago my living room ceiling was ripped off as part of an insurance claim, to get rid of the insured damage and also the asbestos in the artex. 

Shortly after this, I began to notice that there were 5 little brown marks in the celing, on the other side of the connecting door in the kitchen. Biggest about the size of a one penny coin. 

I monitored and they did not get any bigger. Then about 6 months ago, gas guy had a look in the loft and he could see that there had been some drips beause he could see a stain, but it was now bone dry. 

He reckoned that when the ceiling was pulled off, they disturbed the joint on the central heating coiled pipework just above the ceiling and must have quickly rectified it at the time. 

I have since painted that small bit of kitchen celing with stain sealant and paint and there is no sign of it now.

(Now, I just can't stop looking at it every day to make sure nothing has appeared again, which is really annoying!) 

Aylesbury_Duck

Sounds like you have a really good, responsive tradesman there.  The explanation seems sensible, and the hole will allow you to monitor.  Leave the hole for a while, there's no harm in being able to monitor things for a few weeks or months as things settle down.