brown circular stain on the main floor ceiling

[homie27]

Hi all, I found a brown circular stain on the ceiling of my main floor. right above it is a shower and toilet. Am I screwed? Tell me the truth, I can take it.

[Mark & Lynda]

You have or had a leak. Watch for signs of the stain getting larger in size or other spots showing up.

I had one appear in my kitchen but it did not get larger so I haven't done anything about it. May paint over it when I get through my bucket list.

[homie27]

so far its been a month and it hasn't gotten any bigger, but then again we haven't used the shower and toilet that's right above it. how do we find out the source of the problem? I don't want to use the shower and toilet and make the problem worse.

[Dellwoodking]

The reality of it is that you're gonna have to open up the drywall eventually to fix it, which is a pain and a mess but not that serious. If you have a bathroom above it's gotta be a plumbing issue so it won't just go away on its own with time. Open it up and have a good plumber come by and find the leak, fix it and repatch the ceiling. Drywall is an art so it would be worth getting a pro in to do the patch for you.

[homie27]

ok so you're saying fix it from the main floor. the problem is, the ceiling is a popcorn ceiling so once it gets patched up and the popcorn reapplied, will it look the same or will you be able to tell it was patched?

[good2know]

a patch will always be visible if you carefully inspect the ceiling...people wont notice it usually

[homie27]

anyone know a good plumber in the GTA?

[Selvi]

Call the builder ?

[homie27]

the house is 5 years old. but I guess I can call the plumber they used. they are owned by the same people.

[good2know]

I would use the bathroom and see if it gets wet again - could be a one time thing - overflow.

Check everything possible before you cut out the ceiling and call a plumber.