Many household owners perceive ceiling leakages to be an irritating and unsightly problem, but not one that endangers their home. This would actually be an inaccurate belief as leakages can cause serious structural damage. Particularly, if you are currently able to visually observe water leakages from your ceiling, then the state of the leakage may be severe.
What then should you do when you have spotted ceiling leakages? Generally, the aim would be to limit the amount of water penetration at the source while getting professional help to seal the ceiling leakage.
In order to find the source of the water seepage, you first need to understand why your ceiling is leaking and the common sources behind water penetration.
Why Does Your Ceiling Have Leakages?
A variety of causes may be behind the leakage from your ceiling. A leak from your ceiling would mean that water exists in the space above your ceiling. Additionally, water or moisture must have accumulated in sufficient volume in order for it to have penetrated to the surface.
The golden question then arises – how did water get to your ceiling? Water may have reached the space above your ceiling from a variety of sources. This commonly includes bathroom leaks, pipe leakages and roof water seepage.
Bathroom Leakages
Bathrooms are considered to be a wet area in your home, being highly exposed to water droplets and moisture. Each time you take a shower, all surfaces of your bathroom have to resist penetration from the resulting water and vapour.
Two areas in particular are most prone to water seepage. These are the grout joints between your bathroom tiles as well as the area where the wall and floor meet. At these points, gaps are filled by grout and sealed with caulk.
Over time, the adhesive in these gaps deteriorate due to the presence of excess moisture. Subsequently, your tile flooring becomes looser, enabling water to seep in slowly. If your tile loosens sufficiently, you could lift it up to check the sort of damage that has occurred below. You should expect to see that the lower floor has started to rot.
If your ceiling lies beneath a bathroom, then leakages from the ceiling may be due to the bathroom. In this case, as a temporary solution, you should make the effort to mop up water that is exposed to the bathroom. This would reduce the chances of water seepage and allow you to check if the ceiling leakages are indeed due to water from the bathroom.
With the level of exposure to water limited, you can now go about repairing your bathroom floor. At this point, you should engage a professional waterproofing company to inspect and repair your floor. Primarily, this would include determining the extend of damage to each tile and restoring them if possible.
Pipe Leakages
Pipe leakages can be a very notorious problem within your home. Not only are they capable of rapidly driving up your utilities bills, but they also expose all surfaces in their vicinity to a high amount of water.
As troubling as it may be to spot a leakage from a pipe in your bathroom, a even more challenging alternative would be a leakage from a hidden pipe. Hidden pipes refer to those that are behind your walls or above your ceiling. You typically would never see these pipes and may not even be aware of where they are.
However, a leakage from these pipes is particularly devastating due to these reasons. Since you cannot visually spot the leak in its early stages, the first time you might notice it would be when water starts to enter your home. At which point, you can be sure that a considerable amount of water has already been trapped above your ceiling or behind your walls.
Pipe leaks in homes are primarily caused by 3 main reasons: • Disconnection or rupture due to foundation shifts in your home’s foundation • Wear and tear owing to increased water pressure within your pipes • Corrosion if the material of the pipe is susceptible to rust.
If you do encounter a pipe leaks that lead to ceiling leakages, you should immediately contact a waterproofing contractor. Other than helping to perform a simple pipe repair service, your contractor will be able to assess the damage to your ceiling and help to make repairs to your home’s structure.
Roof Water Seepage
Roofs are one of the most exposed surfaces of your home to water due to rain. Typically, your home’s roof should have been constructed with some form of water protection system. However, if the materials used or workmanship were poor, you can expect water to start penetrating in a short time.
Once water has seeped past the surface area of the roof, it is able to travel to many places in your home. This is due to the ease at which liquid and vapours can flow through small gaps while being aided by capillary forces. As such, even if you stay in a flat that is nowhere near the roof of the building, water may still reach your ceiling once it has entered via the roof.
If you have not checked your roof before, then it is a good idea to conduct a visual inspection. In particular, you should observe for the following: • Blockage of drainage points • Ineffective water runways • Ponding on your roof • Loosed, damaged or chipped tiles.
If you do spot these signs, then a more thorough inspection by waterproofing contractors will be needed. We would advise against attempting to repair your roof without first seeking professional expertise.
This is because you should first determine the potential extent of damage that has already been caused by water leakage. Furthermore, many homeowners accidentally further damage their roof when attempting to conduct repair works on them.
Introducing Roof Doctors
Roof Doctors is a trusted water leakage Singapore company with more than 15 years’ experience in waterproofing and decoration application works. We boast a team of experienced workers who pay close attention to each project’s details and deliver the best solutions for our clients.
