[backdown00]

Hello All,

I am new to this site so I hope this is the right place to post this. I have had these weird stains on my kitchen ceiling and I'm not sure what they are. Any help would be great.

http://imgur.com/a/0pLaw

Thank you all!

 

[Yodaman]

What is above the ceiling? Attic? Have you checked for moisture? Looks like mold bleeding thru from the other side. But there is no way to confirm from those pics. Some one needs to do a on site inspection.

Have you tried wiping them off?

 

[jimn]

Water from a plumbing leak, roof leak, window or siding leak on the walls above or condensation in the attic space above.

 

[backdown00]

What is above the ceiling? Attic? Have you checked for moisture? Looks like mold bleeding thru from the other side. But there is no way to confirm from those pics. Some one needs to do a on site inspection.

Have you tried wiping them off?

this is the first floor, above this are bedrooms, bathrooms etc. It will rub off and smudge if you rub it with windex. Its also right above where the stove exhaust fan is if that helps.

 

[Yodaman]

maybe grease that has been painted over and is bleeding thru

 

[backdown00]

maybe grease that has been painted over and is bleeding thru

Does grease look like that? I have just never seen anything like this. I know what water stains look like and i don't recall them ever smudging heh. My concern is mold, how would I test for that? I'm not even sure where the mold would come from though...

 

[Yodaman]

Does grease look like that? I have just never seen anything like this. I know what water stains look like and i don't recall them ever smudging heh. My concern is mold, how would I test for that? I'm not even sure where the mold would come from though...

if you can wipe it off, then it is less likely to be anything bleeding thru and more likely that it is mold or grease building up. Is the exhaust fan ducted outside

 

[cmorales]

Hello All,

I am new to this site so I hope this is the right place to post this. I have had these weird stains on my kitchen ceiling and I'm not sure what they are. Any help would be great.

http://imgur.com/a/0pLaw

Thank you all!

Is your kitchen has electrical wiring?

Are your electrical wirings connected properly?

How many times did you check your wirings when you conduct a maintenance?

 

[backdown00]

if you can wipe it off, then it is less likely to be anything bleeding thru and more likely that it is mold or grease building up. Is the exhaust fan ducted outside

Its actually one of those exhausts that just takes the air from the stove and shoots it up, it does not exhaust out of the house. I believe its part of the microwave that sits above the range stove top. It basically just takes the steaming air from the stove and pushes it upwards away. Would mold grow and multiply over time? Cause this spot has stayed the same for about 2-3 months now.

 

[Yodaman]

So you are blowing hot moist grease laden air at the ceiling and wondering why you have a stain on it?

You can:
A.) wipe it off occasionally,
B.) duck the exhaust fan outside like it should be
or
C.) watch it grow

 

[Nestor_Kelebay]

I'm with Yodaman on this. I regularily see a yellowish discolouration around kitchen ceiling fans, and it's cooking grease that accumulates on the ceiling from frying bacon, boiling french fries in oil, and making hamburgers in a frying pan. The oil in the pan is hot enough that oil molecules are carried up by the warm convective current and get deposited on the ceiling above the stove.

I use Simple Green to remove the grease on the ceiling, but I think any general purpose detergent (like Mr. Clean) would work equally well, as would any dish washing detergent (which are formulated to cut cooking grease). The only reason I use Simple Green is because it doesn't foam up like dish washing detergents do, so I don't have to rinse out my sponge 300 times in clean water to get all the soap out of it.

Backdown00:
Here, try cleaning the inside of that stove exhaust fan. If you find it's all caked up with grease, that's all the proof you need that animal fats and cooking oils are rising up in the convective air current that come off of hot surfaces like frying pans. If hot grease couldn't do that, then the inside of your stove exhaust fan shouldn't have any grease on it, should it? I can just about guarantee that sucker will be as greasy as John Travolta's hair.

 

[caiken76]

..

Very nice...

 

[backdown00]

So you are blowing hot moist grease laden air at the ceiling and wondering why you have a stain on it?

You can:
A.) wipe it off occasionally,
B.) duck the exhaust fan outside like it should be
or
C.) watch it grow

heh, it was only used once for holidays, we normally have no reason to vent the air but there were so many things on the stove . I will most likely paint over it - thank you for your help!

 

[Yodaman]

Might want to paint it with a stain blocking primer first. Sometimes just white primer makes a decent top coat for a ceiling. The finish usually turns out flat white.

 

[backdown00]

I'm with Yodaman on this. I regularily see a yellowish discolouration around kitchen ceiling fans, and it's cooking grease that accumulates on the ceiling from frying bacon, boiling french fries in oil, and making hamburgers in a frying pan. The oil in the pan is hot enough that oil molecules are carried up by the warm convective current and get deposited on the ceiling above the stove.

I use Simple Green to remove the grease on the ceiling, but I think any general purpose detergent (like Mr. Clean) would work equally well, as would any dish washing detergent (which are formulated to cut cooking grease). The only reason I use Simple Green is because it doesn't foam up like dish washing detergents do, so I don't have to rinse out my sponge 300 times in clean water to get all the soap out of it.

Backdown00:
Here, try cleaning the inside of that stove exhaust fan. If you find it's all caked up with grease, that's all the proof you need that animal fats and cooking oils are rising up in the convective air current that come off of hot surfaces like frying pans. If hot grease couldn't do that, then the inside of your stove exhaust fan shouldn't have any grease on it, should it? I can just about guarantee that sucker will be as greasy as John Travolta's hair.

Would using a cleaner like that take the paint off the ceiling?

 

[oh'mike]

 

[Nestor_Kelebay]

Would using a cleaner like that take the paint off the ceiling?

No, none of the cleaners I suggested will harm your ceiling paint. Just be certain to clean the detergent off the ceiling well with rinse water.

And I agree that you should clean that area before painting it. Any grease on the ceiling could result in your having problems with the paint not adhering, and that would be an even bigger problem.

 

[backdown00]

So after trying numerous cleaners and only getting the stain to darker or smudge, i used bin paint primer. It seems to have covered the stain. I will paint the ceiling again this weekend. hopefully whatever the hell it was stays covered and does not come back.

Thank you all for all the help!