Looks like water damage

We bought a townhome a year ago and the age is ~ 10 years. Last night the wife spotted some discoloration in the corner up above my desk in the office (good thing she likes the paint color she was admiring it before the trouble started).
We have a deck up top of the office and those of us in southern Ontario know how much rain we've been getting the past few days.

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Anyone have water damage before in their house?

Comments

  • yup scared the shit outa me till i looked in to it all....

    was really worried because i found mold and had nightmares of my whole house being filled with it....

    really its not big deal like the American tv shows make it to be...mold here doesn't make you sick especially in smaller amount (meaning your entire place isn't filled). And is fairly easy to deal with if it just an isolated spot.

    I'm sure you might need a contractor and might have a bigger issue..but really just have to find where the water is coming in and stop it.....then when you feel like it... have someone open it up and clean any mold up if there is a lot.....

    it could be just a loose fitting or a missing seal or something easy.
  • Thanks much.
  • As Darb said, you will need to find the solution as to where the water is entering the house. That is of the utmost importance. I would attempt to resolve this as quickly as possible before the freezing and snow comes. The entrance point can get larger as moisture freezes and pushes joints or surfaces apart even more. You don't want to be dealing with this in the spring. Trust me.

    The troublesome part with these issues is the difficulty in finding where the source of the leak is coming from. Water can wick and run along framing within ceilings/walls, etc. Do not assume the water is getting in directly above where the discoloration is occurring.

    As far as the discoloration in the wall is concerned, you'll need to do a little exploratory scraping in the area to see how far things have gotten (i.e. was is just a little water damage/is the drywall soft and mushy indicating alot of water..). Myself, I would consider ripping the drywall right out of the area and replacing. You might also be able to see what direction, etc. the water is coming from.

    Water damage is common around here. I've seen more water damage in walls/ceilings since moving back to Ontario from Vancouver in three years than I ever saw back there.

    Hopefully, the problem above is obvious and not a huge issue to deal with. At the end of the day you might just have to do a little exploratory scraping, patching and oil priming and painting. DO NOT prime the discoloured areas with anything but oil primer or a denatured alcohol primer like Zinnser's BIN. If you use a latex primer, it will never seal the stain.

    Hope this helps.
  • Try here, and listen to Bill, he knows of what he speaks..

    How to Repair a Water Damaged Ceiling - a knol by eHowKnol
  • I would attempt to resolve this as quickly as possible before the freezing and snow comes. The entrance point can get larger as moisture freezes and pushes joints or surfaces apart even more. You don't want to be dealing with this in the spring. Trust me.

    The troublesome part with these issues is the difficulty in finding where the source of the leak is coming from. Water can wick and run along framing within ceilings/walls, etc. Do not assume the water is getting in directly above where the discoloration is occurring.

    ^this. Also, you said you have a deck up there... Meaning you have a flat roof directly below the deck?...Do you know the condition of the roof membrane? Most flat roofs need to be repaired or replaced within 10-15 years these days, so that is something to look for...

    If its not large amounts of water damage, (and im understanding you correctly that there is a deck above your office) then my guess is there was a larger than typical amount of water standing up there. It probably found a small hole in your roof membrane somewhere that your typical rain doesn't reach. Could really be anywhere due to Bill's reasons above. Dont assume its directly above the stain. Improper flashings at edges are common places for leaks also.
  • compuease wrote: »
    Try here, and listen to Bill, he knows of what he speaks..

    Just don't listen to anything I say when it comes to poker. I know nothing of what I speak in that regard.

    One thing to keep in mind Literation is the drains on the membrane of the deck. Do not let them get clogged up with leaves, etc. Standing water can add a massive amount of weight to any structure and create very serious problems.

    A friend of mine and myself were working at a really, really old building about a year ago. Owner comes and asks us to look at something. Rooftop deck, new membrane had been installed. One drain installed instead of required two. Single drain placed on highpoint of deck, behind slope. Not good. Nothing was draining.

    Owner (he's not very smart): "Does this look like a problem?"

    Us: You've got a swimming pool on your roof. Do you think this roof was built to hold 2-3 tons of water? We shouldn't be standing here."

    Owner: "Can you help with this?"

    Us: "We're painters..."
  • What Bill speaks is truth. Water travels a long way through wood. We own a semi with a "pig" valley roof that leads to the shared wall. Terrible design, but I grew up in the same style home, so knew what the issues were. Several years ago we had water in our crawlspace. Traced it down through the attic trusses to a spot 18 feet from the point where the water damage was visible from inside the house. If you can access the area under that roof, look for dried water staining as your first clue. good luck.
  • Looks like 2 problems. On Saturday noticed a new bubble much smaller, much slower moving, same room opposite wall. We had a new membrane put in 12 days before as membrane deficiency has been common in our specific neighbourhood (Tarion warranty expired recently etc.) The ironic part is the guys contracted to obtain the wood and hammer it in couldn't find any supplies due to the season. Kind of lucky the deck wasn't rebuilt, then we see a new leak the next day or we all would have felt crappy.

    More tests performed today, next stop is replacing the deficient siding when we come out of the deep freeze.
    .
  • I won't scare you and tell you the problems we had in 1 house with water.;)
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