Ceiling leak water damage comes from above: a bathroom supply line, a toilet wax ring, a shower pan, an ice dam on the roof or a burst pipe on the second floor. The stain you see is usually smaller than the wet area.
A ceiling that is bulging is holding water. Don't poke it unless there is a bucket under it and you are ready for what comes out. We make a controlled opening, drain it and remove the saturated drywall before it comes down on its own.
Ice dams are a winter problem in northern Illinois. Heat escaping into the attic melts snow on the roof, the water refreezes at the cold eaves, and melt water backs up under the shingles and drips into the ceiling below. We see these most on two-story homes, over bedrooms and along exterior walls.
We use a thermal camera to trace water through the ceiling and down the walls. Wet blown-in insulation comes out. Ceiling joists are dried with air movers and dehumidifiers until readings are normal.
The source gets fixed first. We tell you what we found, plumbing or roofing, and then we dry and prep for patch and paint. Related: burst pipe cleanup and frozen pipe water damage.
