Water Coming Through the Ceiling? Ceiling Leak Repair in San Diego

1. Stop the water. If it's coming from the unit above, knock on their door or call the building manager or HOA. If the source is in your own home, close the main water valve.
2. Cut power to ceiling lights and fans near the leak at the breaker panel, if you can reach it without walking through water. Don't touch a dripping fixture.
3. Stay out from under a sagging ceiling. Wet drywall is heavy and can fall without warning.
4. Put a bucket under the drip and move furniture, rugs and electronics out of the room.
5. Don't poke a sagging ceiling. Keep people out of the room and call us.
6. Take photos, then call us. Drying should start the same day.

By the time water shows on a ceiling, it has already spread across the top of the drywall and along the joists. Insulation soaks it up and holds it against the framing, so one stain often sits under several feet of wet material. In condos, water also runs down inside wall cavities. It swells the baseboards and can reach the unit below, and sometimes the one below that. According to the EPA, mold can start growing on wet materials within 24 to 48 hours.

1. Inspection. We use moisture meters and a thermal camera to trace the water through the ceiling, the walls and the floors.
2. Extraction. We pull standing water out of carpet and floors.
3. We remove only what can't be dried. We cut out the wet ceiling sections and soaked insulation, working inside containment with a zipper door.
4. Drying to IICRC S500. We take readings at every visit until the materials match the dry standard.
5. Mold check. Any growth we find comes out under containment following IICRC S520.
6. Repairs. As a licensed contractor, we handle the insulation, drywall, texture and paint. If flooring needs replacing, we coordinate it with an installer.

A ceiling leak in a condo can involve the upstairs unit's policy, the HOA master policy and your own HO-6. Sudden, accidental discharges are often covered. Slow or repeated leaks often aren't. Your policy decides. We document the loss and bill the claim directly. Read more: Does homeowners insurance cover water damage in California? and Water leak from the upstairs condo: who pays?

• Scripps Ranch condo leak: a top-floor plumbing failure soaked the two units below. We opened the wet ceilings and walls, and drying with daily monitoring took 11 to 12 days.
• University City washer leak: a failed washer connector upstairs soaked three ceilings. We opened only the wet sections, had them dry in 3 days, and then repaired them.