Water Stain on the Ceiling? Roof or Plumbing, Who to Call

Straight answer: look at when the stain shows up and where it is. A stain that appears or grows after rain, on a top-floor ceiling, is usually the roof. A stain under a bathroom or a kitchen, or one that grows on dry days, is usually plumbing. Here's how to narrow it down before you call anybody.

First, right now

• Put a bucket under any drip and move what you can out of the way.
• If water is near a light, a fan or an outlet, shut that circuit off at the panel and stay clear.
• If the ceiling is sagging with water, keep everybody out of that room.
• Take photos of the stain, and take them again in a day or two. Whether it grows, and when, is your best clue.

Signs it's the roof

• It shows up or gets bigger during or after rain, and dries out in between.
• It's on a top-floor ceiling, or high on an outside wall.
• It's near a chimney, a skylight, a vent pipe, or a spot where a lower roof meets a wall.
• In the attic, with a flashlight, you see wet or stained wood, damp insulation, or daylight.
• It got worse after a windy storm.

Signs it's plumbing

• It grows on dry days.
• It sits under a bathroom, a kitchen or a laundry room.
• It shows up after somebody showers, runs a tub or flushes upstairs.
• It's on a first-floor ceiling with a second floor above it.
• The meter test: turn off every faucet and every appliance that uses water, then watch your water meter. If it keeps moving, water is going somewhere it shouldn't.

Other culprits

• Condensation. In summer, air conditioning ducts or lines that run through the attic can sweat and drip. In winter, warm, wet air from the house can frost up in a cold attic and melt on the first warm day.
• A bath fan that dumps into the attic instead of venting outside.
• Ice dams. In a hard winter, ice at the edge of the roof can back melting snow up under the shingles.
• Overflowing gutters soaking the top of an outside wall.

Who to call

If it's the roof, that's us. Book a free 21-point roof inspection. We check the roof and the edges, then go in the attic and look at your ceilings. You get photos of what we found. If it's a roof repair, we sell you a repair.

If it's plumbing, that's the other side of the family. Plumbing by our sister company, FIXALL Plumbing Heating & Air, NJ Master Plumber Lic. #36BI01212500. Their leak detection page: callfixall.com/leak-detection.

Not sure? Start with the roof inspection. We go in the attic either way, and if it isn't the roof, we tell you straight.

Why it's worth finding fast

Water doesn't stay where it lands. It soaks insulation, stains drywall and rots wood, and the stain you see is often a few feet away from where the water gets in. The sooner the source is found, the smaller the fix.

Call (732) 344-4702, Monday to Saturday, 7 AM to 7 PM, or send the form any time.