18 year old house, typical tract home of the time.
A month or so ago, I had a water leak associated with the trim on the corner of my house not being properly sealed. This trim was located along the second floor of the house, ending at the roof of the first floor (my house only has a second floor over one half). This is above the kitchen, and the leak actually came out of the corner of drywall near a wall cabinet installation. Water did not come from the actual ceiling at any point. The roof is angled towards the back of the house above the kitchen, but there is no access to this area.
About this time, I noticed a ridge in the ceiling drywall near the leak location. NO stain, no cracking of paint, no cracking of ceiling texture, just a 1-1.5 foot ridge where the ceiling was no longer flat. Once I noticed this, I started looking over the ceiling and noticed it in a few spots, in 6-8 foot intervals..about the width of a piece of sheetrock. One of the ridges is far enough over that it is under the second story of my house. Due to this, I think it's unlikely that water could have infiltrated that far under the second story without any other signs like stains, or bulges. Perhaps it is just an issue where the drywall is working itself loose at the joists and can simply be rescrewed? I know nothing but I wonder if it might be that simple or common that this could happen. For all I know, it's been this way for a long time and I only just now noticed because of the leak I had. The texture of the ceiling makes it far from obvious unless the light hits it and shows the 'ridge' Now that I've seen it, it's all I see
The reason I suspect it could be a common issue related to the drywall work is that I have other walls in the house with popped nails and so forth.
So...a few questions, how likely could this be some kind of water damage alone vs some kind of common settling issue with poor drywall work and how can I check the insulation of the area above the kitchen ceiling without cutting holes that will be difficult to repair (textured ceiling, impossible to match without redoing the whole darn thing). Is it worth tearing holes with no staining or obvious water damage to the drywall? The 'ridges' are very minor really, it's just something that annoys me. And I'd like to fix it without redoing the entire ceiling
A month or so ago, I had a water leak associated with the trim on the corner of my house not being properly sealed. This trim was located along the second floor of the house, ending at the roof of the first floor (my house only has a second floor over one half). This is above the kitchen, and the leak actually came out of the corner of drywall near a wall cabinet installation. Water did not come from the actual ceiling at any point. The roof is angled towards the back of the house above the kitchen, but there is no access to this area.
About this time, I noticed a ridge in the ceiling drywall near the leak location. NO stain, no cracking of paint, no cracking of ceiling texture, just a 1-1.5 foot ridge where the ceiling was no longer flat. Once I noticed this, I started looking over the ceiling and noticed it in a few spots, in 6-8 foot intervals..about the width of a piece of sheetrock. One of the ridges is far enough over that it is under the second story of my house. Due to this, I think it's unlikely that water could have infiltrated that far under the second story without any other signs like stains, or bulges. Perhaps it is just an issue where the drywall is working itself loose at the joists and can simply be rescrewed? I know nothing but I wonder if it might be that simple or common that this could happen. For all I know, it's been this way for a long time and I only just now noticed because of the leak I had. The texture of the ceiling makes it far from obvious unless the light hits it and shows the 'ridge' Now that I've seen it, it's all I see
The reason I suspect it could be a common issue related to the drywall work is that I have other walls in the house with popped nails and so forth.So...a few questions, how likely could this be some kind of water damage alone vs some kind of common settling issue with poor drywall work and how can I check the insulation of the area above the kitchen ceiling without cutting holes that will be difficult to repair (textured ceiling, impossible to match without redoing the whole darn thing). Is it worth tearing holes with no staining or obvious water damage to the drywall? The 'ridges' are very minor really, it's just something that annoys me. And I'd like to fix it without redoing the entire ceiling
