Soaked insulation and ceiling... now what

Constantin

... so I come home yesterday and find a small puddle in a room under a bathroom. I look up, and sure enough, we have water dripping out of the ceiling. Given that they were working on the system that day, it looks like the plumbers managed to create a leak while making some attachments in the bathroom. The origin of the leak are the supply pipes for the tub.

So I shut off the water supply, brought in a bucket, sopped the water up (maybe a cupful), and now wonder what to do next. The ceiling doesn't show any sign of damage (it's blueboard) other than two thin wet lines where the water came through. However, like all areas of the home, this ceiling was also insulated with Icyenene. Thus, I can assume that there is some wet Icyenene pushed against the floor joists, a pretty good recipe for mold and rot, I imagine.

There is a range of possibilities I can think of, from letting it dry out naturally to ripping open the ceiling and replacing the Icynene. Two holes and a dehumidifier might be a happy medium... But what would you do under the circumstances?

Weezbo

open up the sheetrock....

directly under the tubs drain opening back to at least the nails you see comming thru the floor of the partition above....you can then better decide what to do from there. it can be simple and then again go look in the basement...did water follow the HVAC Electrical,plumbing lines Vaccum lines All the way down stairs?

Constantin

It wasn't the drain...

... it was the supply line that leaked. I don't think anything went down the wall simply because there is a window that would block the flow under the leak, and the walls in that area are Corbonded. However, opening up a small peephole in the original area of the leak could be just the ticket. Thanks for the suggestion!

Anyway, how cold are the conditions now in your area of Alaska? We had to turn off the heating system two days ago when a circulator seized, I imagine you guys don't have that kind of luxury at this point in the season, right?

Weezbo

It may seem like you dont need the Heat *~/:)

huh?

trust me.

an opening you can actually ventilate is the ticket.

Right now the temps preclude flipping the heat off for any cavalier expression of homeowner intervention

usually the water will follow the drain down...as that is what they do. we use foam here also,and it is my practise to have the foamer foam every tub and shower,whirllpool, jacuzzi, bath tub ,..in place after it has been thouroughly tested and inspected....

You would love your Viessmann Here*~/:)

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

I would just let it dry, Con

Sooner or later, every house gets wet somewhere. Once it drys, a 50% bleach solution in a spray bottle may remove the water stain. Bob

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jeff_51

agree with bob

as a service plumber for many years I have run into this many times. you won't hold any water to speak off with that type of insulation. Doubt you will have any mold issues either.

Constantin

Thanks everyone!

I will simply allow the stuff to dry. If mold develops, we'll open the ceiling and replace the blueboard and any foam that is still wet.

Patchogue Phil_30

Crazy idea

Here's a concept, you'd be best able to see if it could work on site.

Since with all that icyenene insulation, the affected space is probably very "air tight". Can you make 2 small-ish holes, one to blow air in and the other to let the air out? Run a dehumidifier on super max in the room where the "in" hole is. This way you are injecting very dry air into the dampened ceiling/floor cavity.

How you force the dry air into the cavity... hmmmmm, shop vac sucking the air out or blowing the air in.

Injecting dry air in would be best I think.

You could even inject some Lysol vapors in there along with
the dry air to zap any mildew if any at all. But keep it away from the CO detectors. ;-)