Today we discovered that the dark spot on our ceiling is serious. It’s under our upstairs bathtub, and for two years, we’ve just hoped that it was an artifact from earlier, unhappier times in our house. But today my wife tried to scrub it away, and discovered that the plaster there was wet and rotten, and a baseball-sized hole crumbled through, revealing wet, rotten wood behind it.
Yikes. In a big way.
Obviously, the time for ignoring this is over: we’ve got to get someone in to take a look at it. But we’re not sure who we should even call: is this a job for a plumber? A carpenter? Someone else? We’re very ignorant on the subject.
(And if folks want to chip in with advice on how to find a good, reliable person to do the necessary work, that’d be great, too!)
The trades involved may include plumbing, tile, carpet, framing, finish carpentry, drywall hanging, drywall finishing, painting, electrical, etc…
May not involve all that, but then again it’s pretty likely it will. A GC will coordinate all the trades needed, even if some traes are doubled up by the same people.
Dang it, I’m always forgetting something. The best way to find a good General Contractor is through references. Many independent contractors don’t list in the Yellow Pages and yet are superbly qualified to do the work. References from customers prove their abilities and honesty. So, ask around.
Stay away from the offers of “My Uncle Joe does that” unless that Uncle Joe can provide references. (imho, ymmv, etc…)
Just wanna second this. The times we’ve had “home repair” stuff done by “The Helpful Neighbor Who Fixes Things In His Spare Time” or “The Brother-In-Law Who Will Work Cheap” or the “The Friend From Church Who Will Come Over On His Day Off”, we always wished eventually that we’d hired a Real Professional Person to do the work. You get what you pay for.
Your problem is twofold. Leaks beneath the tub can be from the shoe gasket, the waste tee, the tub trap, or the drain lateral. If there is an access panel for the tub plumbing, the leak may be identifiable and correctable from there, otherwise the ceiling below would need to be opened. When rot is encountered, demo to sound substrate is urged. Once corrective measures are undertaken, let the hole beneath stay open for a while to ensure that the leak is fixed and also dry out the surrounding ceiling structure. Then you should be able to install some bridging wood strips to which a repair piece of drywall can be screwed. Then mud the patch in to the adjacent wall plane, sand smooth and paint.
Seriously, I appreciate it. While that’s not going to help me fix it, it does give me some idea of what I might expect from the contractor, and a sense that if they (for example) plaster it up right away or don’t try to approach the tub from the side, first, then there might be a problem.
