I have a ~2×3 foot water stain in my living room ceiling, I think because my toddler was forcing water behind the bathtub faucet. If there's insulation in the ceiling, then it should be removed. If there's no insulation, then I could just repaint. Of course if the source of the problem is a plumbing issue, then the question of insulation is moot.
Is there a way to find out without cutting? I saw somewhere that I could use an IR thermometer, but I'm not sure how that would work.
For what it's worth, the house was built in 1999 and is in the Mystic, Connecticut area where winter temperatures tend to stay in the range of 10-20 °F at the coldest.
[update] I asked the former owner. I didn't expect him to have info, but he did! He said that there was a bathtub related overflow from the owner before him which left a stain about the same area when he bought the house. That owner had just left it to dry, and that would have been before 2008-2009. So I assume that if they were able to let it dry out, then we could get away with that, too. That said, the next question is how many times can you spill water on sheetrock before it needs to be replaced… but that wasn't my question for this post. 🙂 Thanks! I'm not sure what I'll do… This is already the 2nd water damage issue of the year, and I'm not sure I feel like shelling out another chunk of money if I don't need to (i.e., what if a kid dumps water again next year). I did buy a blower fan so I'll try to dry it out completely and see if it stays dry.
Best Answer
Interior walls aren't typically insulated. But to be sure you could just drill a small hole (make sure you're not on a stud) and if there is insulation it should come out on the drill bit. But be very cautious if there is plumbing in the area, you don't want to pierce a water line or drain pipe. Other than that, this won't hurt anything since the ceiling is already water damaged. Just putty over the hole before you repaint.
Though, if there is significant water damage you should probably replace the section of ceiling anyway as it may be weakened and/or also have mold growing on it.