I have a 2 story house and I have a water leak coming through the ceiling of my kitchen on the first floor. As best as I can tell the leak appears to be lined up with the toilet in the upstairs bathroom, but I can not find any water damage to the wall upstairs. I have climbed into the attic and found no leaks there either. There is a pipe on the roof that would be directly line up with the leak also, so either rain is coming down the pipe and causig the leak (which I doubt because it has not rained in several days) or there is a leak somewhere in the wall. How can I truly find out where this leak is?

Water leaks are tricky to properly diagnose. You are going to have to take walls apart and physically look at where the water is coming in. I would suggest doing this inspection soon as water damage can and will be expensive if left unattended. It only will get worse. Try shutting the water to the house off (if you can) and see if that stops the leak. If it does, then there is a leak in a pipe that must be fixed before the ceiling falls down. But you talked about a roof pipe being over the leak. The flashing may have need of replacement. Water can accumulate on the roof itself and then seek lower ground via the roof shingles. How bad a leak is it and how long has it gone on? Has it rained a lot where the rain was driven into the shingles by high winds, snow, etc. Have you looked at the roof itself and inspected it for any loose shinges? There are lots of possibilities here and you need to address the source and rule out everything until you get the answer.

Before we can helpwe have to know just what we're dealing with. A pressure leak or a drainage leak. Shut the house down, do not run any water. Now go out to the water meter and look at the little pointer. Is it moving at all? Let me know. Tom

Water leaks are tricky to properly diagnose. You are going to have to take walls apart and physically look at where the water is coming in. I would suggest doing this inspection soon as water damage can and will be expensive if left unattended. It only will get worse. Try shutting the water to the house off (if you can) and see if that stops the leak. If it does, then there is a leak in a pipe that must be fixed before the ceiling falls down. But you talked about a roof pipe being over the leak. The flashing may have need of replacement. Water can accumulate on the roof itself and then seek lower ground via the roof shingles. How bad a leak is it and how long has it gone on? Has it rained a lot where the rain was driven into the shingles by high winds, snow, etc.? Have you looked at the roof itself and inspected it for any loose shinges? There are lots of possibilities here and you need to address the source and rule out everything until you get the answer.

It has not rained here in about 2 weeks. I have hot looked at the roof itself due to such a slanted pitch; one slip and I fall about 15 to 20 feet. Not sure how lone it has been going on daughter noticed the water spot a few weeks ago, but leak could have started before I moved back into the house after getting it during the divorce.

Before we can helpwe have to know just what we're dealing with. A pressure leak or a drainage leak. Shut the house down, do not run any water. Now go out to the water meter and look at the little pointer. Is it moving at all? Let me know. Tom
No water is currently going. Upstairs bathroom which I think is the culprit the bath tub has a low drip, and the toilet has a slow run (ball does not go completely to top so it has a small run like trying to fill up) but toilet now over flowing. From eye-balling it from the ground and following it up it appears that the water spot in kitchen would be just about where the toilet is in this bathroom, but 1) I do not have a blueprint that shows where pipes go in this house and 2) I am not a genius when it comes to plumbing.

Sounds like the toilet is the culprit here if it is about the same area where leak appears. First fix the inside of the toilet so it doesn't keep running and wasting water and running up your water bill (if you have one). Toilet insides are relatively easy to fix. Then you'll get a better idea where your leak is once that repair is out of the way. Also get the tub drip fixed as well. By doing these little repairs you will then have a better idea where your water leak is.

This is another thought... when you are having the leak and drip going possibly your copper pipes are getting cold from the water temp of the water continuously running through them and acting like a wick and wicking out any humidity or moisture present inside your walls and dripping the drip inside your walls and then to the ceiling below. Since it's cold outside this possibly may be the problem... but fix the leaks and drips first so we can positively rule this out as going into a wall is messy and may not be necessary (I hope) for you to solve your problem.

Is your home an older home also? You didn't say.

The pipe sticking out of your roof is your vent stack, it likely goes straight down to the basement. If this leak has been ongoing for svereal days you will eventually have to pull down some of that ceiling. You will see your leak better but you know you never really asnwered Speedball. Did you do his test to see if this is a darin or supply leak, you should.

Sounds like the toilet is the culprit here if it is about the same area where leak appears. First fix the inside of the toilet so it doesn't keep running and wasting water and running up your water bill (if you have one). Toilet insides are relatively easy to fix. Then you'll get a better idea where your leak is once that repair is out of the way. Also get the tub drip fixed as well. By doing these little repairs you will then have a better idea where your water leak is.

This is another thought.......when you are having the leak and drip going quite possibly your copper pipes are getting cold from the water temp of the water continuously running through them and acting like a wick and wicking out any humidity or moisture present inside your walls and dripping the drip inside your walls and then to the ceiling below. Since it's cold outside this quite possibly may be the problem... but fix the leaks and drips first so we can positively rule this out as going into a wall is messy and may not be necessary (I hope) for you to solve your problem.

Is your home an older home also? You didn't say.

I will try your suggestions. Home was built in 1997 so it is faily new. One thing I did remember today though was that Christmas day I had company over and everybody left about 2:30. When I ate dinner around 7 that night everything was fine in the kitchen. Well about 9 that night I heard a noise coming from kitchen to find that water was dripping from vent in the kitchen. Tracked it down to (you guessed it) the same upstairs bathroom. Toilet had overflowed. Cleaned it up and drip stopped. Could leak be residual water from this overflow that is sitting in ceiling?

The pipe sticking out of your roof is your vent stack, it likely goes straight down to the basement. If this leak has been ongoing for svereal days you will eventually have to pull down some of that ceiling. You will see your leak better but you know you never really asnwered Speedball. Did you do his test to see if this is a darin or supply leak, you should.
Sorry about that, I forgot to check meter to see how it is spinning. Will do that tomorrow. As for Vent stack going down to the basement, there is not a basement in this house.

You have a relatively new home to be having these problems that I would attribute to an older home. Sometimes water takes a while to fully soak down through a ceiling. Apparently someone flushed the toilet, it got clogged, overflowed, etc. and happily didn't bother telling you about it. You never said when leak started, how big a leak... drip drip or Niagra Falls, and if this goes on literally all the time or just sometimes. Because if it is sometimes then the overflowing toilet is your culprit.

If this keeps happening and the toilet has not overflowed recnetly then if push comes to shove I'm sorry to say I think you're going to have to go hunting inside the walls if it gets worse.

You have a relatively new home to be having these problems that I would attribute to an older home. Sometimes water takes a while to fully soak down through a ceiling. Apparently someone flushed the toilet, it got clogged, overflowed, etc. and happily didn't bother telling you about it. You never said when leak started, how big a leak...drip drip or Niagra Falls, and if this goes on literally all the time or just sometimes. Because if it is sometimes then the overflowing toilet is your culprit.

If this keeps happening and the toilet has not overflowed recnetly then if push comes to shove I'm sorry to say I think you're going to have to go hunting inside the walls if it gets worse.


I get what you are saying, but here is a new twist to ponder... Last night I closed the valve on the toilet a little bit and since it got chilly turned the heater on downstairs for about 15 minutes; I ran the upstairs unit all night. Got up this morning and came downstairs after getting dressed. Turned on downstairs unit and checked the leak... There was not any drip, not does it appear the ceiling is wet... probably is though, but I did not get on ladder and check it. Any thoughts?

I'm thinking that the toilet is the culprit somehow and the fact you shut off the water was good on your part. Let me think on this some more. Let me know what else you've done. I was also concerned when you said that water was coming out of the vent. Hmmm That's a new wrinkle. Apparently the water is traveling somehow and finding the lowest spot - the vent - to drip into. Can you get into the vent and see if it's wet?

I'm thinking that the toilet is the culprit somehow and the fact you shut off the water was good on your part. Let me think on this some more. Let me know what else you've done. I was also concerned when you said that water was coming out of the vent. Hmmm That's a new wrinkle. Apparently the water is traveling somehow and finding the lowest spot - the vent - to drip into. Can you get into the vent and see if it's wet?

Starting to think that toilet may not be the culprit and here is why. I have been monitoring situation for a few days and here is what I observed. Sunday morning got up and dressed and went downstairs. Checked leak in kitchen, but there was not a leak; no dripping whatsoever. Got daughter up and went back downstairs. While I was downstairs she took a shower; when she turned water off dripping started back up. Left for church; came home and drip cleared up. Monday night she took a shower and when she turned water off drip was back. Got up Tuesday morning and no drip. Could there be a loose fitting within the wall or a hole in the pipe in the wall causing water to run down pipe and then onto ceiling to cause drip. If so, how mucn wall in the bathroom needs to be torn out to check because it is a two story house and issue could be anywhere on a 20 foot pipe

hi, did you ever got the leak fixed. im having the same exact problem. please let me know.thanks

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