Wii Willi

Water Damage (area shown approx 2 inches)

… in my ceiling this morning.  Located directly beneath the upstairs bath, the conclusion is pretty simple and I cross my fingers hoping it not to be too traumatic.  If I had a dime for every time something weird happens I’d be a millionaire in sterling currency.  Here is the water damage (left) so after reading the Reader’s Digest DIY Manual that my father-in-law gave me, along with a few websites, I decided it was time to investigate this further.

Armed with a punch saw and my recently gained knowledge, I poked a hole into the ceiling.

Water poured out.

Dammit, I should have read and APPLIED what I read regarding getting a bucket first.  I ran around like a headless chicken and using my an inverted stool my son uses to clean his teeth I was able to catch most of the water while I emptied the garbage from the kitchen and used that to catch the remaining water that came out.  Quickly the dripping water came to a stop and I felt I was ready to poke a second, small hole.  More water but right into the bucket this time.  Score.

The following holes I made yielded no water problems, the ceiling was soft in most places and the fact it was six inches from the light fixture was not giving me any comfort – but thankfully it proved to be ’seemingly’ dry there.  However there was some very strange plastic object in the ceiling as you can see from the second photo:

The odd plastic object

Heading upstairs and investigating the bathtub and surrounding area there was no way to actually access the underside except from the ceiling.  So more careful cutting was applied.  My floor now looks something like this:

The Mess

The only consolation I can give myself – or offer my darling wife – is that at least I caused this and it didn’t just randomly happen for us to walk home to.  Yeah, I know, not overly comforting, eh?

So I keep cutting and cutting and cutting and create a large hole so I can now access the pipes and drains of our bathtub and make sure everything dries out nicely and find out what the heck was leaking to repair it.

The Hole

But wait, what was that weird plastic thing you encountered when you first started cutting as seen a couple of photos ago?  A BLOODY ICE-CREAM BUCKET!

Really????!!?!??!

Yes, this is what I removed from my ceiling – filled to overflowing with water.  Great.  I’m now going to slap my head on the desk for lack of knowing how to even begin to understand what the former owner of this house, who time and again proves to us he was an utter moron, was actually thinking.

So remember kids, if you ever have a leaky pipe or drain and can’t be bothered to work out what the problem is, just put a bucket under it, seal it up and it will make it all go away!  Honest!