Idiot Falls Asleep On The Job

[RivendellProductions]

Evening All!

Tonight I did the stupid thing of dropping off whilst running a bath. The bathroom is above our livingroom.

Our upstairs flooring is chipboard. The water has found it's way through the ceiling & has been dripping for a while now. I have mopped up what I can from upstairs (not a huge amount of water) but I suspect the water has bypassed the chipboard floor & is sitting on the plaster ceiling of the living room.

It has been dripping through the ceiling along what appears to be a joint in the plaster. I opened up the drip hole a little to allow the water to drain a bit quicker & it has now pretty much stopped.

I can't see under the bathroom floor as it is ceramic tiled, but I think the water has gone under the tiles where the tiles meet the bathroom carpet at the door. I have a dehumidifier running at the entrance to the bathroom & I have lifted the carpet & dried as much as I can.

What else should I do? Should I drill some small holes in the ceiling to try & ensure there is no water left? Any other advice?

Gaz

 

[JohnD]

if it is an ordinary plaster ceiling you can probably poke drainage holes in it with a skewer or similar. (a drill might penetrate water pipes or cables) which you can easily fill and redecorate if it dries out fast and doesn't have to be replaced.

If the subfloor is chipboard you may as well take up the tiles and the floor, chipboard which has got wet is useless and will have to be replaced, you may as well hack it up to ventilate the void and prevent more damage or rot. You could start with the floor under the bath, which will not show and is often not tiled, and depending on run of joists may allow ventilation of the floorspace

when you renew the floor, use WBP ply which withstands wet and is much stronger and IMO quieter

opinions seem to differ on bathroom flooring. mine is in smallish panels, screwed down, but pro's seem happy with big sheets of ply tiled over.

BTW you might like to consider why your bath overflow didn't work.

Look up your household insurance.