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Plumbing Leak in the Ceiling
Aug. 22nd, 2025 10:04 amTuesday evening I noticed something suspicious high up in our kitchen pantry. There was a bulge in the paint where the ceiling meets the wall. The bulge was about 6 inches diameter.
When paint bulges like this it means generally one thing: there's a leak. Indeed, when I poked the bulge gently with my fingers I could tell that the drywall behind the bulge had already rotted away.
This spot is right below one of our toilets. We figured the problem is a leak in the outflow pipe. We shut off the water to that toilet (just in case) and put tape over the toilet to remind ourselves not to use it. Then we called the HOA[*] to get a plumber out and waited.
[*] We called the HOA management company because we live in a townhouse. It's a multifamily building with shared walls and shared property. There are rules that govern whether a particular problem is HOA responsibility or homeowner responsibility. Hawk is president of the HOA board so she's pretty familiar with these policies. A pipe leak inside the wall would most likely be an HOA responsibility to fix, but not 100% certain (depends on the source of the leak), so we'll start with the HOA.
The property management company called back on Wednesday morning (we deemed this not an emergency) to get details. Then they contacted a plumbing company that's done other work in our townhouse community recently. No, not the "Supergirl" plumbers. As amusing as that autocorrect was, and as much fun as I had with AI image generation, that company didn't do a great job. They were rock solid for years but slipped recently as ownership changed hands.
The plumbers made an appointment with us for "Sometime between 10am to 4pm Thursday". Yes, that was the most specific they could be, like it's still the 1970s when people are home all day. Fortunately we are home all day. But I'm home because I work from home. With a packed schedule on Thursday I was concerned what kind of interruption I'd face when a plumber started cutting away drywall, removing a toilet, wrenching on pipes, etc. Stay tuned!
When paint bulges like this it means generally one thing: there's a leak. Indeed, when I poked the bulge gently with my fingers I could tell that the drywall behind the bulge had already rotted away.
This spot is right below one of our toilets. We figured the problem is a leak in the outflow pipe. We shut off the water to that toilet (just in case) and put tape over the toilet to remind ourselves not to use it. Then we called the HOA[*] to get a plumber out and waited.
[*] We called the HOA management company because we live in a townhouse. It's a multifamily building with shared walls and shared property. There are rules that govern whether a particular problem is HOA responsibility or homeowner responsibility. Hawk is president of the HOA board so she's pretty familiar with these policies. A pipe leak inside the wall would most likely be an HOA responsibility to fix, but not 100% certain (depends on the source of the leak), so we'll start with the HOA.
The property management company called back on Wednesday morning (we deemed this not an emergency) to get details. Then they contacted a plumbing company that's done other work in our townhouse community recently. No, not the "Supergirl" plumbers. As amusing as that autocorrect was, and as much fun as I had with AI image generation, that company didn't do a great job. They were rock solid for years but slipped recently as ownership changed hands.
The plumbers made an appointment with us for "Sometime between 10am to 4pm Thursday". Yes, that was the most specific they could be, like it's still the 1970s when people are home all day. Fortunately we are home all day. But I'm home because I work from home. With a packed schedule on Thursday I was concerned what kind of interruption I'd face when a plumber started cutting away drywall, removing a toilet, wrenching on pipes, etc. Stay tuned!
