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Water Coming Through the Ceiling: Emergency Repair
If your ceiling is leaking, turn off the water at the stopcock, switch off power to any light fitting near the water if the consumer unit is dry, and put a bucket under the drip. We send an engineer day or night to find what is leaking above and stop it. The £60 call-out gets someone to you, and the repair price is agreed first.
What the visit covers
- Working out which pipe, fitting or appliance above the ceiling is leaking
- Lifting floorboards or a bath panel to reach the leak with as little damage as possible
- Repairing waste traps, pan connectors, supply pipes and heating pipes
- Advising on a sagging or soaked ceiling and when it needs a builder
- The cause written on the invoice for your insurer or managing agent
Why is water coming through my ceiling?
Water runs along joists and pipes before it drops, so the wet patch is often a metre or more from the leak itself. What sits above the stain narrows it down.
Under a bathroom, the usual culprits are a failed silicone seal around a bath or shower tray, a loose waste trap under the bath, a leaking toilet pan connector or a weeping joint on the supply pipes to the taps. Water that only appears when someone showers points to the seal or the waste. Water that drips all the time, even when nothing is being used, points to a pressurised pipe. Our guide to a ceiling leak below a bathroom goes through each of these in order.
Under a loft, look at the cold water storage tank and its overflow, and the feed and expansion tank on older heating systems. A frozen and thawed loft pipe often shows up as a ceiling leak. If a loft tank feeds the leak, closing the stopcock only stops it refilling; open the bath and basin taps and flush the toilets to drain what is already in it. Anywhere in the house, heating pipes under the floor can leak at a joint or where a floorboard nail went through them. If the stain grows after rain and not after using water, it may be the roof, not the plumbing.
If the ceiling is bulging, keep people out from under it. Water pooling on plasterboard is heavy. Never touch a wet light fitting or its switch; turn the circuit off at the consumer unit if it is dry and safe to reach, and if it is not, keep clear and call an electrician.
How do you find where a ceiling leak is coming from?
The engineer starts with the water still off and checks the stopcock actually holds. Then each source above the stain is tested in turn: running the shower into the tray, filling and emptying the bath, flushing the toilet, and finally turning the supply back on with nothing in use while watching the water meter. That order separates waste leaks, which only drip when water is used, from pressurised leaks, which drip all the time.
Once the source is found, it is opened up in the least destructive way. Usually that means lifting one or two floorboards or removing a bath panel. Cutting into the ceiling below is a last resort. The repair is then made on the spot: a new trap washer or trap, a new pan connector, a remade compression joint or a replaced length of pipe. If the leak is from a flat above, we find it on their side if we can get access. If not, we make your side safe and give you what you need for the managing agent.
What does fixing a leaking ceiling cost?
There are two bills. The first is the plumbing repair. A waste trap, seal or pan connector is a small part and usually a short job. A leak on a pipe under a tiled floor takes much longer. The second is the ceiling. A small damp patch often dries out and only needs a stain block and paint. A saturated or bowed plasterboard ceiling usually needs cutting out and replacing, which is plastering work.
With us you pay the £60 call-out, and the plumbing repair price is agreed on site before any work starts. Ceiling damage is usually an escape-of-water claim on your buildings insurance. See our guide to making an escape of water claim before you start stripping anything out.
When a leaking ceiling cannot wait
Call straight away if water is coming through or near a light fitting, if the ceiling is sagging, if the drip keeps going with the stopcock off, or if you cannot find or turn the stopcock. A leak from a flat above that you cannot get into also needs someone out tonight, because the water will not stop until the source is reached.
A small brown mark that is dry to the touch is different. It may be an old leak that has already been fixed. Our page on water spots on the ceiling with no leak explains how to tell. If the leak is from upstairs, read who pays when a flat above leaks.
How the visit works
Make it safe
Stopcock off, power off to the affected lights if the fuse board is dry, bucket under the drip.
Trace the source
The engineer tests each likely source above the stain, one at a time.
Price agreed, then the repair
You approve the figure before boards come up or pipes are cut.
Check it holds
Water back on, the repaired fitting run and watched for leaks.
Questions people ask
Should I poke a hole in a bulging ceiling?
If the ceiling is bulging with water and the power to that area is off, a small hole at the lowest point with a bucket under it lets the water out in a controlled way. Stand to one side, never directly beneath, and do not do it near a light fitting.
Why does my ceiling only leak when someone showers?
That usually means the water is escaping from the shower waste, the tray seal or the grout, not from a supply pipe. Supply pipe leaks drip all the time, whether water is being used or not.
Is a leaking ceiling covered by insurance?
Damage from escape of water is covered by most buildings policies. The leaking fitting itself and gradual leaks, such as a failed shower seal, are often excluded. Take photos before anything is removed.
Who pays if the leak comes from the flat above?
In most blocks the damage is claimed on the building’s insurance, with your belongings on your own contents policy. The neighbour is normally only liable if they were negligent. Tell the neighbour and the managing agent in writing straight away.
Will the ceiling dry out on its own?
A small patch on sound plaster usually dries within a few weeks once the leak is fixed. Plasterboard that has sagged, cracked or gone soft should be replaced.