Could the cracks at the ceiling and wall be from the intrusion of water into your home? Good luck...! Keep us posted! I'd suspect poor flashing or incorrect caulking around the window. Whats people lookup in this blog: Tiny Brown Spots On Ceiling; Small Brown Spots On Ceiling; Small Brown Patch On Ceiling I had 3 inches of water in a 5 gal bucket come out of the duct. A stain on the ceiling of a home is certainly an unattractive and worrying occurrence. It doesn't look like the paint are coming off. Even experts say that removing the spots is “virtually impossible.” Scrubbing and scraping helps somewhat but you may end up doing damage to the surface and making things worse. When the water dries, it leaves behind the iron, which produces a reddish-brown stain. 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Second story above the room with the spots---probably not a roof leak. have you looked at the ducts?manhattan has the right idea based on youroriginal post.if the spots are near ducts it is more than likelycondensation from leaky or uninsulated ducts. I notice for awhile there are brown spot on my living room ceiling. We had to call not just an expert on HVAC but also an expert in painting in NY. Time to call out an expert. Size: Range from 3/16 inch to 1/2 inch in length Behavior: Carpenter ants forage alone or along trails 300 or more feet from the nest. Over time, water damage can weaken a ceiling until it sags or even collapses, so it is important to detect and repair damage early. little red spots and streaks appearing just about everywhere. Carpenter Ants. Time to look in the space above the spots. As others have said, that's definitely water spots. If there is, it will be a small plumbing leak. Join Yahoo Answers and get 100 points today. You Will Need: White vinegar If you can’t identify a possible water source above the ceiling stain, you may have a leaky pipe. What is the brown spots on the living room ceiling? Brown spots on my bathroom walls water stains on your ceiling common showing through my white paint water stain marks these yellow spots showed up in my. It simply did not show through until it reached a place where it started pooling - and this was a few feet away from the exterior wall in the lower level. How do you think about the answers? 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What they look like: Hobo spiders are tannish-brown and the top of the spider may look mottled, with darker and lighter spots, Potzler says. I cannot see any other areas in this room or the room next to it. Could this be mold? Pillbugs and sowbugs are two tiny insects that often are found in these areas. A garden hose directed at specifit points of suspicion helps in diagnostics. You'll have to do some gentle persuading for that one ;) Anyway, you are so close to having a wonderfully cozy and inviting living room. Brown spots on a ceiling are usually due to moisture, but there are several possible sources and causes of the moisture depending on the exact situation, and each would require an appropriate solution for the situation. We had plans to gut the area we didn't worry about it - figured we'd find the problem at that time. ... Courts Ellie Wain is standing trial accused of murdering boyfriend Kieran Brown. If there is an apartment above yours, it is likely water is leaking from some pipe or, more likely, a plumbing fixture (sink, toilet, bathtub, shower). After the source of the problem has been determined and the problem is solved, the ceiling needs to be painted with a stain blocking primer in the stained area before painting over with regular paint, otherwise the chemical stain will bleed through and still show. I agree with Cathy. I clean them when I can, but they are difficult to remove. Should you turn off water when leaving house vacant for a month? They're often glossy or sticky. If you haven’t noticed brown spots or streaks on your bathroom walls in the past (or anywhere else in your house), but start to see them after recently painting, the problem could be something called surfactant leaching. http://www.flickr.com/photos/63686333@N0%E2%80%A6. You can sign in to vote the answer. Mold can't live without moisture.Determine if those spots are moist. Lots of possibilities. We experienced the same thing before, twice actually - brown spots on our bathroom ceiling because we had no exhaust fan and spot on the dining area's ceiling as well 'cause of the a/c. I saw it happen in over a hundred units of a large condo complex on the ocean. Water spots are caused by leaks or prolonged condensation that collects between the floors of a building. Water stains on your ceiling common 3 common ceiling stains their causes brown spots on my bathroom walls got brown spots on your ceiling causes. It’s also not uncommon for water to run along rafters or piping before dropping onto your ceiling, obfuscating the true source of the problem. Trying to cover a small area where the popcorn peeled off when being repainted. The HVAC vents on the second floor, however, are located right above the spots, so I was thinking the source of the spots has something to do with the HVAC pipes. I painted over them and they re-appear. I tried to view your photos but neither link worked. This should be fairly easy since whatever should be directly above the ceiling is often the main cause of the stain. When I cut the two sections of duct apart water started coming out. A few months ago, I noticed light brown spots on the ceiling in my living room and dining room (they share the same wall). Each cluster is made up of 5-10 spots, the largest about the size of a quarter, the smallest pea-sized. You did not indicate if there is a third floor. Additional comments after viewing your photo using the new link. I guess I live in the second floor. Any thoughts? Thermal tracking ceiling stains, usually black, gray, or dark brown in color, may appear to follow the lines of ceiling joists (and will typically appear roughly 16-inches on center or 24-inches on center depending on how the building was framed (photo at left). Old caulking is a common source of water seepage. The day after I finished, these brown spots started to appear on the ceilings of the bedrooms (but not the kitchen ceiling or any walls). It could be a lot of things, but the most common source of condensation is a poorly or unvented bathroom. The run had a low spot in it. Water Stains On Your Ceiling Common Causes Solution sounds like damp sheetrock. The spots haven't changed since my first post, even though we had some heavy rains and wind about a week ago. The ones you had there are a bit oversized for the mantel. The spots could be mold or they could be chemical staining (from stuff dissolved out of the building materials and then redeposited as the moisture comes through the ceiling and evaporates). These spots are spreading at a very rapid rate. A few months ago, I noticed light brown spots on the ceiling in my living room and dining room (they share the same wall). The rubber seal drys out over time and wind and rain causes slow leaks down the black pipe. However, the spots are a few inches from where the wall and ceiling meet. Common Causes of Brown Spotting on the Ceiling. If the leak gets worse when the rain is wind-driven, it *could* indicate a seam leak. Jump to Latest Follow 1 - 8 of 8 Posts. At first, I thought it could be leakage from the windows in my master bedroom and office upstairs, which are directly above where the spots appeared. I love your lamps on barstools to get the idea of a console--very creative! In my old house, I had water spots show up on the ground floor ceiling caused by a leak in the second story roof, and not directly below the leak. Cast Iron Pipes - Noise Reduction. Until recently the spots were limited to the walls, mainly in the bathroom. The humidity would dissolve smoke residue on the ceiling and then as it pooled into drops and evaporated it'd leave the stains behind. I noticed last night that there are black mould spots in the top corner of my bedroom ceiling (near the external wall) and there is also moisture running along the coving in this area. Without being able to see what the spots look like it's hard to answer your question. Left untreated, the mold stain may grow and become darker over time. Brown spots on ceiling after skim coating. There is no plumbing on that side of the house, so a leaky water pipe seems unlikely. If there are occasions of high indoor moisture and condensation on walls you may see concentrations of brown stains running down walls in a water pattern or droplets or small brown spots where moisture accumulated on ceilings. And be aware that the leak or whatever may not be directly above the stained area of your living room ceiling, because water can and will often travel a ways (usually not too far) before it leaks through. Here is a link that might be useful: expert in painting in NY, please advise type of light - i.e. I would guess fly specks as well (fly poop). Re: Painting Old Ceiling-Little Brown Spots All Over information we need to know is the age of the paint, was it tinted, how recently had it been shaken, are the spots random or do they line up where screws/nails would be, and did you prime first? Now that the weather is warmer, I'll check around the second floor windows to see if they need re-sealing. I don't remember whether or not it looked exactly like that, but that's the general idea anyway - yellowish brown spots on the ceiling where water drops containing residue evaporated. Start with a good carpenter. They always appear in groups, sometime looking like drips, sometimes like spots… If you are on the top floor, it will doubtless be a roof leak. I quickly stopped it a grabbed a bucket. That kind of water infiltration problem is common especially since the sills of many modern clad windows have poor sill overhangs/drips so eventually the horizontal caulking fails and water is drawn back into the wall cavity. Brown spots on a ceiling are usually due to moisture, but there are several possible sources and causes of the moisture depending on the exact situation, and each would require an appropriate solution for the situation. I've noticed some weird spotting, like animal print in certain parts. Looks like the ceiling paint is flaking off showing the brown plaster underneath. Water stains are probably the most common types of ceiling stains and man are they UGLY! Love that coffee table too! Again checked my attic and seems dry. Another idea would be to have sconces installed on either side of the mirror (I know, more $$!) looking for low energy ceiling spots that give a soft ambient light, covering spot on vaulted popcorn ceiling without sanding or scraping. I don't see any brown spots anywhere in my apartment except the living room. Also, you said you're on the second floor of an apartment, but what's above your apartment? Since you mentioned that this was years in the making,it's probably old stains. What's causing cracks in our ceiling/walls? I live on the second floor of an apartment. If you have an acoustic ceiling, you must lift few shingles and inspect where's is coming from. Question about financing the home repair projects. Regarding the dark fireplace mantel, hmm. If you are a renter, you should contact the landlord or manager about this right away. Rust spots from leaky plumbing in the ceiling or a roof leak. You seem to have lighting in the ceiling right in front of the fireplace--are they facing down only or can they be adjusted to highlight the fireplace? This yellowish color will soon turn into an ugly brown color, and in fact, it may even start off as brown in color right at the beginning. 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