bathroom ceiling problem

[emmaamme]

We bought our house as a newbuild & after 8 mths noticed that the bathroom ceiling kept getting black patches on it (kind of mouldy). Turned out the extractor fan hose hadn't been connected to the outside of the house & all the steam had been going into the loft so assumed this was the cause of the problem. Anyway, that was 7 yrs ago & despite painting the ceiling & using bleach on it the stains keep recurring (and the silicone on the shower cubicle keeps going black too). The ceiling has a squiggly textured pattern on it (not sure if it is artex or just papered) & it's getting to the stage where there are a few cracks in it & the artexy stuff is starting to fall off when you touch it.
I'm a bit of a diy novice so not sure what best remedy would be. It seems to just be plain plasterboard underneath the bits which have fallen off. Can anyone give me a step by step plan in layman's terms to rectify this?

 

[Robbie uk]

The ceiling will most definatley be Artex. They dont paper ceilings in new houses. Most new ceilings are not painted and as such are raw Artex. This will soak up any moisture and stains. It would benefit from a thinned down coat of oil based undercoat and then a couple of coats of emulsion.

 

[wreckedit]

Its also a good idea to make sure that the surface above the ceiling is well and truly insulated. Any gaps in the covering will allow condensation to form.

I was called to resolve water dripping from a bedroom ceiling last winter and I found a patch of insulation had been lifted and not replaced. The water was coming from damp clothing being dried on the radiator.

A solution of Ammonia or T-tree and lemon etc., sprayed regularly in problem spots should kill the spores which cause the black areas.