Ceiling - sheetrock failure

mdnagel · Thu May 12, 2011 12:00 am

Any ideas on what sort of repair work would be involved with this?

I broke out some of the sheetrock so that things are more exposed. There wasn't, as far as I could tell, any staining or discoloration; that is, no clear signs of water damage (though it has the appearance of it).

I bought the place like this. No one knew what had caused it: the owner had died; home had been a rental.

A carpenter friend of mine (very sharp guy) was quite puzzled. He thought that perhaps it was caused by stress: maybe the back wall was pushing up hard. Nothing anywhere in the home is crooked or showing any signs of warpage/sagging etc..

Anyway, it's a cathedral ceiling. The spot starts about half way down the ceiling and runs about 1 foot or so from the outside wall. There had been a leak in the master bathroom (no real damage there- it was caught early on), but it was around the exhaust fan, which is a considerable distance on the other side of the peak.

I'd be looking to hire someone to do the repair, in which case I'd like to have an idea on what the costs might be.

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Greg · Thu May 12, 2011 4:44 pm

It may be old damage. Look close at the roof for any signs of a leak.

How about a laminate ceiling??

Greg

mdnagel · Thu May 12, 2011 5:55 pm

Hi Greg,

No signs that I can detect. It's possible that someone hid previous damage, but based on how other things have been done I doubt that there was any real quality repair performed (meaning, I should be able to see any repairs).

I can take a closer look at the piece of sheetrock that I broke off and see if there's any signs there.
I just went back and looked at some inspection photos and now see that there was an roof vent in the vicinity: as I've since had the roof replaced there are no such vents (ridge cap vent). But... the vent was still up above this problem area a ways, above where the first damage area is.

DaveyB · Fri May 13, 2011 2:35 am

Its a long shot, but when the roof vent was replaced, how much did the repair man weigh? I have been looking into doing some work on the eaves and was planning to get on the roof. I contacted a local manufacturer of manufactured homes, and one of the guys there suggested that I should use crawling boards on the roof since I clock in at 230#, while a lighter man might not need to.

mdnagel · Sun May 15, 2011 5:31 pm

I had the roof replaced after this issue had surfaced.

It appears that there was likely a small leak from one of the vents that were part of the old/original roof: the new roof's ridge-cap vent has eliminated the vents. Within two months after purchasing the house I had the roof replaced (before I even moved in).

Initially there were only cracks and a slight sag. I pulled down on part of the sheet rock, which basically sped up the entropic process

I'm now pretty sure that a water helped create this. It doesn't, however, appear that the leak was all that significant. At any rate I suspect that the proper repair should extend up higher ( and lower) and include replacement of the insulation.