Sagging Ceiling and possible water damage

[explosion93]

Hello,

Please forgive me if I am an the wrong section and for my non-technical language.

For some time now the plasterboards of my ceiling have begun sagging and we had tried to made additional (but poor) supports on the corners as you can see in most pictures.

I do not know if the problems are linked but where you see the hole, we have a bath tub directly above it and for some time it has leaked water through the ceiling, eroding some of the wood (the main support beam seems to have survived) and resulting the that large hole.

The red circle in picture 4 shows the bath tub.

We have sealed the area around the bath tub and it no longer leaks water below.


So things I need advice on (although any extra advice is greatly welcome);

Are the plasterboards sagging because of all the debris you can see in picture 2? Are these boards replaceable by myself or should I get a proper builder?

Should I worry about the eroded wood even though I've stopped the leaking from the upstairs bath? (It leaked to the point where I could see water dribbling, it doesn't do that anymore).

Are the two problems linked or just a coincidence?

As an added note; picture 7 shows sagging occurring at another corner that you can see from picture 5.


I really need advice on this and I'll upload more pictures if you need it. What should I do?

 

[explosion93]

Sorry for the large pictures, I don't know to to make them smaller.

 

[skotl]

Wow just... Wow.

A bit stable-door-after-horse-bolted but I presume that if something like this ever happens again that you'll address it more urgently, and more thoroughly, than you did with this?
Worst case scenario, but not impossible, is that the bath tub and whoever was in it could have ended up in the lower floor.

Quick couple of questions;
1) Do you own the property or do you rent?
2) Are you absolutely sure that you have resolved the leak issues?

The whole of the plasterboard ceiling needs to be removed and replaced, but there is an additional step between the two. Once the plasterboard has been removed you really need to get someone to look at the joists and verify whether they are still serviceable.

Please don't take offence at this, as I'm not setting out to offend you, but I doubt that you can make that call yourself. I suspect, from the attempted "repairs" that you made too, that there may not be a lot of money to play with, for you to let this get so bad. Again, no offence intended...
But you really need to get someone in to look at the joists and verify whether they are still serviceable - the consequences of them failing are really pretty horrendous.

Try to get three general builders in to assess the damage and give you quotes for; 1) the joists, if they need to be replaced, 2) replacing the plasterboard ceiling and 3) plastering and skimming the ceiling.

If required, you can't do #1 yourself. You may want to have a shot at #2 or #3 yourself, but be warned that plastering (especially above your head) is a lot harder than it looks.

I wish you luck, mate, but I suspect you're going to have to shell out a fair bit of money to sort this.

 

[skotl]

A handful of clarifications;

We have sealed the area around the bath tub and it no longer leaks water below.

How exactly did you seal the area? I'm just a little worried that there is a leak somewhere and you have sealed another area "downstream" of that leak, without addressing the original issue.

Are the plasterboards sagging because of all the debris you can see in picture 2?

Probably not - much more likely that it is water damage - the water pools on the plasterboard, wets the board, which expands and then you get a bulge. Eventually the water needs to go somewhere so it normally bursts through the ceiling.

Should I worry about the eroded wood even though I've stopped the leaking from the upstairs bath?

Very much so. Most of that wood is structural so "eroded wood" is not so good at maintaining structure.

(It leaked to the point where I could see water dribbling, it doesn't do that anymore).

That will be the bit above, where I say that the water needs to go somewhere. Most often, that somewhere is "down".

Are the two problems linked or just a coincidence?

They are almost certainly linked. I say "almost" as a caveat - I'd be astonished if they were not linked.


I don't envy you, and I most certainly am not taking any pleasure from your pain. But this could be serious and you should get a professional in to assess the damage.
As I mentioned above, try to get three builders in so that you have a spread of advice and potential costs.

 

[foxhole]

Do you have insurance?

 

[HERTS P&D]

Is that a commercial kitchen?

Andy

 

[explosion93]

Thanks for the responses,

We do own the property and we do have insurance (we have been told that we could claim repair under flood damage).

The premises is a commercial kitchen but, this is just a storage room, rather far away from the kitchen itself. What's directly below the hole is just random boxes, no cookers or anything.

I am almost certain we have stopped the leak. It used to leak every time someone used the bath. What we did was used sealant around the edge of the bath tub but we also put up large plastic sheets around the inside of the tub so that water won't reach the edges again when someone is washing.

I haven't seen any leaking in some time so I do assume the leaking has stopped and isn't coming from elsewhere. Especially as the wood has now seemed to dry up leads me to believe it is sealed.


Here's a picture of the sealing we did.

 

[explosion93]

Can I also ask;

I know it will be based on my policy, but do you guys think that I will be able to claim this under flood damage? That was advice I was given but I am uncertain about this.

Should I be telling builders that I plan to claim under insurance? Will that make them more likely to try and charge me a higher price? Granted I realise that not all builders will act like this, but I have no real way of recognizing an honest vs a dis-honest tradesman.

 

[skotl]

So it's a commercial property?

You should start with the insurers as they will likely want to send an inspector round. I suspect that they may be unwilling to pay for some / all of it because the problem has clearly been around for a very long time and you've not done anything to address it.

A word to the wise... the, err, temporary repair to the ceiling makes it look more obvious that you didn't attempt to address the underlying problem.. if you catch my drift...

So... just trying to join the dots here - it's a commercial property and the employees use the bath, so they're not hugely concerned whether they make a mess?

And finally - back to your "sealed" bath. That doesn't inspire a lot of confidence, I'm afraid. It will hopefully hold up for a very short time but when you get the builders in you should get them to strip all that bodged sealant off and re-seal it properly.

 

[explosion93]

The sagging has been around a while, that's true but we thought we could just try to push the plasterboards back up, hence the bad ceiling repairs. We didn't know the damage was that bad to be honest until the hole and the leaking started.

The actual hole and the leaking is a much more recent problem that I am trying to address now.

It's actually a family run business, so no badly behaved employees lol. Not sure if that makes a difference or not.

 

[RogerBoyle]

I Don't think that you will get anywhere with the insurance company
But that will all depend on the inspector that they send out.

I would say this problem has been going on for at least a year if not more simply down to the state of the timber.

I would however start looking now for builders and get a short list drawn up of who you would like to quote for the work,
When you decide who is paying for the repairs then get them in to quote.

And Yes some builders do seem to up their prices and time scales when it comes to insurance works

 

[ivixor]

This has got to be a wind up?

Please let us know where this business is (I assume it's a chinese takeaway or similar) so we can report you to environmental health and get it closed down.

Alternatively, please recognise that you have absolutely no clue when it comes to building works, and either take the time to learn how to properly do things, or get a professional in immediately. As has been said, the condition of your joists requires professional attention, The ceiling and so on can be easily DIY fixed, but not how you've attempted to do it!

There are plenty here who will help you if you wish to learn how to.

 

[geraldthehamster]

Should I worry about the eroded wood even though I've stopped the leaking from the upstairs bath?

Water doesn't erode wood, it rots it. The timbers around the hole look completely rotten to me, they will have no strength and could be dangerous not just to someone on the floor above, but to the rest of the building - I wouldn't want to say with certaintly that the fibres visible in the photos are dry rot, but I'd get this checked out. At least some of the floor will need to be replaced, which will mean stripping out the bath, etc., above it.

Why is there a brick suspended in mid-air in the second photograph?

Cheers
Richard