A wet puzzle.

[LB]

We went on a 10 day vacation. Upon returning found a 4 X 8 foot part of the ceiling in the laundry room had collapsed due to the sheet rock getting water soaked. The section is below the toilet in a bathroom. When we went to the bathroom nothing was happening. No broken pipe, nothing running. Small amount of water at end of room near the toilet. Toilet inlet pipe is not leaking, toilet works fine. Bathroom ceiling is fine It did rain very hard for a few days here. Home is raised ranch and entire back of house is above ground. Did leave water on while we were gone (probably a mistake). The puzzle is where did the water come from and why do we not see a continuing problem? The section where the ceiling gave way is where a lot of pipes for the bathroom run but the water on the floor above implies the water came from the bathroom and not a pipe (also there is no drip) Could the water have run down the outside of the vent pipe for the plumbing? If it did how come we have water in the bathroom?

TIA for any ideas.

LB

[Tom]

Could also be leaking at the wax ring. If it came in through the vent flashing, that'd be easy to verify. Tom Work at your leisure!

[Eric Tonks]

Had a similar problem several years ago, however, we were at home and noticed water trickling out of a removable panel under the bathtub. After eliminating a plumbing source, we found a crack in a shingle hidden between the tabs. Water had leaked into the tab during a heavy rainstorm. It ran down the plywood to a seam, then landed near a horizontal vent pipe that dropped down beside the bathtub, from there it found the removable panel below the tub and trickled out onto the carpet where we had stepped into the wet spot.

This is a common problem with early fibreglass shingles so I learned. I had to check the roof every spring and fall looking for cracks between the tabs. When I had it re-roofed this spring, I must have had at least a couple of hundred spots sealed up with silicone caulking from finding new cracks every year.

[Art]

Don't feel bad about not turning off water. Turning off water can cause leaks too by reducing pressure on connections as my neighbor found out and his attic water heater drained into his washer dryer room when he was on vacation.

[Ev]

Maybe someone used the toilet just before leaving on vacation, then flushed it and left. It may simply have overflowed just that once if the wax seal is not leaking.

Ev

[Brad C]

This happened to a friend of mine - after I left her house one weekend. I was in town to see a football game and they let me stay there even though they left the day before. Apparently, they had problems with the toilet in my bathroom overflowing. They told me this later. I guess I used the bathroom right before I left, otherwise I would've noticed the water in the bathroom floor.

When they returned from vacation a couple days later, their master bath, which was below my bathroom, had water damage all over the ceiling and walls.