>
> > "John Munro - Call the Bug Guy" snipped-for-privacy@wired2.net writes:
> > >
> > > I used to have that problem in my bathrooms... it went away when we quit
> > > smoking cigarettes in the house. If you have smokers that may be the
> > > solution.
> > >
> > > Another cause may be mold growing in moisture condensing on the wall. A
> > > wash down with tsp solution and increasing ventilation should fix that. > > >
> >
> > Had that in the downstair bathroom in my parent's house. Since they
> > vanished almost instantly when hit with any sort of spray
> > disinfectant, I was inclined to believe they were some sort of strange
> > mold or mildew.
> >
> > --
> > Mark Atwood | Thank you gentlemen, you are everything we have come to
> > snipped-for-privacy@ampersand.com | expect from years of government training. -- MIB Zed
> I had the same problem. They were hard water rust spots that washed off > easily.
> Tom
I know this is super old, but this problem plagued me so I'll answer.
It's obviously not mold, because it can't be killed. It obviously is not hard water/rust because it is sticky resin and not in contact with metal. It is obviously not cigarettes if you don't smoke cigarettes.
The most likely explanation when is that the person who painted the bathroom used general-purpose paint instead of bathroom paint. The moisture is going to cause substances within the paint to separate out. No matter how many times you remove the stains, they will keep coming back, at least until you have scraped all the paint off your ceiling.
A less likely explanation is that honey is seeping through your ceiling from a bee infestation. I wouldn't recommend tasting the orange paint-resin, but that would be a way to exclude honey as a cause.