Damp patch on bedroom ceiling

[MountainRanger]

There’s a damp patch on the ceiling in DC’s bedroom. The attic is above. Is it likely to be a leak? Is it a plumber I need? Feeling a bit lost!! Thanks for any advice.

Have you gone into the attic to see what is above his room? Are there any pipes there? No point in calling a plumber if there aren't, would be more likely to be from the roof.

Yes, there's probably a bit of water coming through the roof. Go in the attic and see what's what. You may need some roof tiles replaced and some resealing.

I’ve been in the attic and can’t see anything. There’s some floor boards down that look dry. If it was the rough, but the wet?

It's possible that some rain has come in through a gap in the roof, the spaces between the tiles, what with all the storms. Can you have a good look at the inside of the roof?

Sorry for all the questions…it’s in the middle of the room as over a metre away from the wall. Could it still be the roof where it is? Thanks for all the advice!

Yes, because you could have a loose tile, or a broken ridge tile, or some gap in the sealant. You could get a roofer in to inspect and take pictures. They'll give you a quote.

It’s unlikely to be a plumber you need as, unless you have a header tank in the loft, there probably won’t be any pipes up there.

Chances are it’s a leak in the roof.

There is boiler in the attic so can’t rule it out, but I guess the weather has been bad, so best to get a roofer to look first and take it from there. Thanks all!

Just had the exact same problem OP.
I went into the loft and couldn't see anything but, when I really started to dig around, there was a small hole in one of the roof tiles.
Water had dripped down onto the insulation (over a long time) and caused the joists to become wet.
Unless you're fully boarded up there I'd go up and have a really good feel around.
If there are no pipes nearby it's almost certainly a roof issue.
I can't afford trades ppl atm so put a dehumidifier up there, dried it all out.
Cobbled together some shed roofing shingle and stuck that over the hole then covered the whole area with a tarpaulin. Checked a week ago and problem has gone.

Is it new or historically been there but you never noticed before?
I have a little mould damaged patch & the roof is fine above, & loft, some kind of historical thing in my case.

Also if you suspect roof tiles missing etc. go up there in daylight, with any luck you'll be able to see a pinprick of light, then at least you know where the problem is

I would be tempted to lift a couple of floor boards to see what’s immediately above the damp patch. Also does it feel damp to the touch?

Our boiler is in the attic, along with an unvented cylinder which looks like it's been leaking very slowly for a long time. H hasn't been in the loft since he had major surgery a couple of years ago.

The ceiling came down in a bedroom on Saturday. What a mess!

OP you need to physically check around the loft. We've found some awful looking 'growths' which wouldn't be out of place in Sporner's Corner.

Most common is gutters being full of leaves etc so get them cleared first

Then if it persists you'll need a roofer

But yes check around the boiler yourselves first

Water always takes the path of least resistance. So it can come through a small hole in the roof and then run along a joist for some distance before dripping down onto a seemingly random spot.

If it's plumbing related then it will be getting worse at a fairly constant rate. Have you drawn around the patch with pencil to keep track?

You need to look inside the roof when its raining heavily.

An outside inspection should show if slates have moved, usually slide into the gutter.
Likewise, checking in the loft for wet insulation either near the water tank or pipes leading to/from it.

The trouble with getting a roofer in before you even know thats the problem, is that you could be leaving yourself wide open to being ripped off.

I was advised to repoint chimney and replace flashing, turned out it was a header tank leaking but water tracked away along a joist and down by the chimney.

If there are boards down that look dry, then the leak must be coming from under the boards i.e a pipe.

Pull the boards up and have a look underneath to see what you are dealing with.

We had similar and it was the roof. However to find out where it was actually damp we had to pull up the insulation in the loft and you could then see the damp underneath. It wouldn’t have been immediately obvious without doing that.

the roofer went up to have a look turned the loft light off and he could immediately see daylight!

However we knew it was more likely to be the roof as there are no pipes in that areas and we don’t have a boiler or tank in the loft.

Roofer has patched it up to make it watertight and put us on his list for the Spring to do a full fix and there are a few areas that need looking at.

Have you got a chimney? Could be chimney flashing if you have

I'd definitely get the roof checked first. There's been some nasty storms and damage can happen.

If you have the boiler / tank in the attic then that needs ruling out. Can you get boards up? If you do and have a pipe underneath then this raises the index of suspicion. Depending on what you have up there it’s a pretty straight forward job to lift the boards. How long has the patch been there for? Is it getting worse or about the same? Does it get worse in the wet weather and then dry up or is it always there? I wouldn’t be thinking roof straight away from what you’ve described. If there was that much water coming directly through the roof, through floorboards and then through the ceiling you’d likely notice - as in there’ll be a very visible waterfall. Could it be damp tracking across from guttering or other roof problems? Not likely in my view. That’s a very specific patch in the middle of the room below from what you describe. Water doesn’t tend to be selective about where it comes through. If chimney breast or flashing then walls and sides of house would be wet not the middle. Have you been drying things downstairs? Could be condensation coming up from below if drying clothes etc in the room.

Well you could handle the problem as my old landlord once did.
When it was raining he couldn't get on the roof to fix it. And come summer there was no reason to fix it because it was no longer leaking. ;)

We had similar on our landing, transpired the ducting from the extractor in the bathroom wasn't well insulated enough, so condensation was collecting on the outside then started to run down, it was a period of cold weather that triggered it. So have a look at pipes to and from any extraction and the boiler if yours is up there

Water is a bugger for travelling from one place to somewhere else. Your best bet is to take a look when it is raining and trace it back to the source.

Draw couple of little pencil lines at the edges of the stain. If it only gets bigger after it has rained you can probably rule out leaks from pipes.