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Author:
chitowngal (IL)
I live in an old building that was renovated in the late 80's- early 90's. There are 8 units and I live in the garden unit. Within the past year there have been 2 major water leaks that have poured water through my kitchen ceiling and light fixtures. It isn't a small drip, it is about 50 gallons of water that floods down the hall and out the back door. I was there to witness this problem last week. All of the other units didn't have any water issues and they all said that they were not using any water appliances during that time. I was able to gather some of the water in a cup and it fell through the lights and the water was warm and soapy. We had a plumber come out and test everyone's washer/ dishwasher, showers, toilets, sinks, and he could not find the culprit. He cut a whole in the kitchen ceiling and saw that the wood above the sheet rock was very damp. He said he was stumped.
Since this exact same problem happened 10 months ago as well, I don't think it is a specific appliance that is causing the issue. I think it might have something to do with the bad timing of multiple units using water sources at the same time?
Any suggestions of possible causes would be greatly appreciated. I don't know anything about plumbing but it seems like this isn't a problem that most plumbers come across.
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Author:
North Carolina Plumber (NC)
I would suspect that someone's washing machine overflowed. I would start in your ceiling and work my way up, see what's directly above the wet spot. If the next level up shows no water damage then the culprit is most likely on that level. Then start narrowing it down by fixture location.
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Author:
chitowngal (IL)
The plumber checked washers (which is what is above the main water damaged area, but he did not see any signs of water overflowing (there was dust on their floors). He checked all of the units above as well and did not see any signs of moisture or mildew in the units.
The water was pouring in through all the light fixtures. It was as if a flood gate had been opened and the water spread throughout the ceiling and then started to come out through whatever holes it could find.
Edited 1 times.
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