Hello, I live in a ground floor flat of a 3 storey building. Over last 6 months, water stains have appeared on my ceiling, close to where the soil stack is boxed in, and directly below upstairs’ kitchen. Flat upstairs could find no leaks, so I got a leak detection guy out m who said it was a leak via a waste pipe into the soil stack from flat upstairs. This was done via thermal cameras… the soil stack is boxed in behind their kitchen which he did not remove . Long story short, management agency for the building sent out contractor to come fix the leak on basis of the report, but couldn’t find anything after removing kitchen units and accessing pipe. They said the insulation was rotten around the pipe with damp, and believe it’s actually coming from top floor flat. Top floor has a small patch of damp on his ceiling- contractors now believe it’s the roof causing the damage via a leaking roof vent. My question is, could a roof leak cause damage to the ground floor, especially as the middle flat appears to have no signs of leaks, stains etc, on their ceiling? It seems my flat has the most visible damage despite being furthest away. It is a flat roof I believe if that makes a difference. Water stains also seem to appear sporadically and not always when raining. Any advice appreciated, thank you!
Are you a tradesperson and able to answer this question?
there is dampness on the top floor, the insulation in the middle flat is rotted & damp , yours is the worst, surprisingly this is because water runs down not up.
from reading your account the water is getting in and running down the stack pipe, the top is getting damp as the source, the middle flat the insulation was holding the water in preventing any signs of damp and as you are at the base it all stops at you, its the roof. most likely wind driven rain getting under the roof tiles when it rains and the wind blows only in a certain direction thats why it doesn't show up every time it rains. only when all the conditions are right.
good luck Alex
Hello,
I was carefully reading your question and I saw you mentioned that is not leaking all the time is raining, which gives us the conclusion that not the roof is the problem, second reason to think at this is that the middle floor is not damaged at all.
In your grand floor must be a pipe most probably cracked from the weight,
I saw an identical case few years ago in a shop, the leak comes from a pipe in a corridor.
Thank you, hope is helpful.
Answered3 July 2021
0
Anonymous user
Firstly if the inspectors using thermal cameras have said in their report that leak is showing from the flat above you. Then there is a problem there thats needs attention, using a water kit you will know if it's from the roof, a leak of this nature needs resolved as soon as possible in the event that it is in fact a leak from the soil stack a water colour kit should find its way to the problem.
This is a costly method used in hotels and private flats as it can cause some damage and or discolouration .
However it sound like you already have discolouration.
My advice is to have this resolved sooner rather than later.
There are some fantastic professionals on Mybuilder
