Leaking ceiling from the rain

happywithlife

Leaking ceiling from the rain!
Based in north cork and in the middle of that rainfall warning.. It's being bucketing down all day and no signs of it letting up. I now have a leak in my ceiling coming in from outside. 3 leaks actually cos it's spreading as the night goes on
It's 1 am as I'm typing so obviously couldn't get at it tonight have someone coming in the morning..
But how do I deal with the ceiling. I reckon the leak is coming in along a V in the roof where the roof from the main part of the house joints with a projected front area of the house. It's a detached rural house.
Started dripping in one area; then a second patch developed and now a third but all in the same area.
I knew the gutters were blocked but stupidly had hoped to wait it out as money is always tight. Gonna cost me now :-(
So what do I need to do now? Who ideally needs to come look at the ceiling? Assuming we get the outside problem sorted what do we do about inside?

briman1983

possibly puncture a small hole in the roof with a small screwdriver and let the water drain into a bucket. It sounds like its running along the plasterslab.

Do you have an attic, if so try gather the water at source before it gets to your roof.

happywithlife

Yes it's definitely running along the plaster board. Thanks for the description. Didn't know to describe it
Don't fully understand the attic bit? Get to it before it gets to my ceiling is it?

the_pen_turner

basically you have a roof then a gap (attic) and then the ceiling.
can you get into this attic. probably an opening into it somewhere.


put a hole in the ceiling where the first leak came through to let the water escape as fast as possible. if you let it go where it likes it will destroy all the ceiling and could bring it down if wet enough.

get into the attic and try to catch the water before it gets to the ceiling

happywithlife

Attic directly above is converted but there's a trapdoor into the eve's of the house at the side. Can't get at it tonight though. Met Eireann says worst of it should be past

the_pen_turner

there is a room in between. any sign of water in therr

happywithlife

No we checked that and it seems fine

TopTec

Nothing can be done until the leak is fixed and the gutters cleaned, if they are the source of the leak. Let the plasterboard dry completely and then you can assess the damage. If you are really lucky a small bit of filler and a repaint will do the job. Usually, you will have to either get plasterer in to fix the ceiling, not a difficult job, but you do need to have some DIY skills if you want to do it yourself.

TT

happywithlife

Thanks to everyone for their help! Gutters were cleaned and flashing fixed where it had lifted. Ceiling is ok. Stained a small bit but needed painting anyway so I will use that stain blocker first and then repaint. Thought it would never stop raining that night.