background: i live in a hi-rise condo and the unit above me was having some work done in the bathroom. unfortunately, the contractors up there sprung a minor leak in a pipe, causing water to seep down onto parts of my ceiling and drywall in my bathroom. the source of the leak was found and repaired pretty quickly, but unfortunately not before parts of my drywall and ceiling were damaged (this was this past tuesday). btw, the damaged areas don't appear to be very large, maybe 4 sq ft total.

my question is, what is the proper repair in a case like this? i'm worried about mold growth mainly. should the damaged drywall be cut out and insulation behind the wall removed checked? or, since it was confined to a relatively small area, is sanding down, treating with mold-killer solution, and repatching sufficient?

thanks!

 

You gotta repalce the areas that have gotten wet if you ever want it to look right.
And the contractors that caused this should have to fix for you.

 

make sure they replace the insulation too. that's a good place for bacteria to grow.

 

Rip the drywall out. It will grow mold.

 

Depending on how much water dripped down, you can get away with sanding/repainting. The area will dry out and the mold will die if the moisture doesn't come back. If that area stays moist, then it will grow.

If the area has turned black in parts, then the drywall is damaged excessively by mold and needs to be replaced. If the area is just slightly discolored with brown or tan rings, then it's really a judgment call. If the area is 4sq feet then they must have spilled alot. It's hard to call without seeing the top of the drywall. It could be deteriorating if the water was not soaked up or is now sealed in to vaporize and just make everything moist which will definitely promote mold growth.

If it's on somebody elses dime, then get them to replace it. If you're looking for a DIY, feel the drywall to make sure it's dry. If you believe it's dry on top as well, then sand it down and paint. If the stain comes back, or the ceiling starts to sag, then either the water is still trapped or was sitting on the drywall too long before it dried up. If that happens, then you'll definitely have to replace it.

 

I am a general contractor and if you could give us more info it would help alot - First off, did the ceiling sag or just discolor? what kind of texture is on the walls (normally orange-peel) what about the ceiling? Knock down or Pop-corn? If the ceiling did not sag not much water was present and if any mold developed on the surface. Do you have crown molding? Are you sure there is insulation between the floors? many multiple units dont insulate between interior walls and ceilings regardless if it is another unit. If mold is present spray a 50/50 mixture of bleach and water (no too much, you don't want to saturate the texture) then use a stain blocker like Kilz2 interior water base primer then paint to match existing ceiling. If you decide to have them remove drywall just be prepared to not have a perfect match on your texture ( a patch is a patch ) it will never be a perfect match! take some pics if you can!

 

thanks for all the replies!

Some more info: there was no sagging at all -- the reason i knew something weird was going on was that i noticed the paint on a small section of my wall bubbling, so i poked a hole in one of the bubbles and it was wet back there. btw, the wall and ceiling are just "regular" drywall, and no popcorn ceiling or crown molding. i called the building folks right away, and they stopped the leak upstairs (said it was coming from a shower diverter they were working on ... something like that). the folks responsible for the repair arranged for some contractors who specialize in this type of work to come in over the weekend, and they cut away and peeled off the paint in the affected areas to reveal the drywall underneath. t hen it looked like they chiseled off or sanded down the affected areas, treated it w/mold killer, put down some new drywall compound and then primed it for me to repaint (i really didn't pay that much attention since i didn't want to be near any of it, but i could hear them talking to each other as they were working so i had an idea of what was being done).

i had kind of expected them to rip out the damaged areas, but if that's not necessary then i won't worry about it. i'm pretty good about keeping the bathroom air dry (i always use the exhaust fan during a shower and run it for a good 10-15 mins afterwards) so i'm assuming that as long as i keep things dry, everything should be ok? i had the people responsible for the repair write me a description of what was performed, so i have that on record if anything happens down the road. they spent 5+ hrs working on the wall and the ceiling and even repaired parts of the wall/ceiling that i hadn't noticed were affected, so it seemed like they were pretty thorough i could have the wall ripped out i guess, but i don't want to go thru that headache if it's not necessary.

 

Sounds like they did it right! you only need to replace the drywall if it became saturated - what you saw was the joint compound (texture)delaminating from the paper because of moisture. Keep an eye on it, If staining apears at a later date then you know more moisture is present!
Also, make sure you prime the repaired area or the joint compound used to repair the area will "Flash" when painted - it will look shiny compared to the rest of the paint.

 

hey thanks, Ztec! the variety of resources/information/knowledge available on this forum is amazing