I am a novice in home repair and yet I am buying my first home which is
conditional upon home inspection, during which I plan to find out about
the problem which is haunting me. This house is 6 years old and was
rented out so, of course, the tenants didn't bother to take care of the
house. What I see is a stain from water leak on the ceiling of the
living room, which seems to follow the outline of the shower stall in
the bathroom right upstairs. It is about 4-5 inches long, straight line
kind of, and is on only one side. Then there is another stain about a
couple of feet away near the smoke detector. This is more kind of
circular stain ..... there is the upstairs hallway here and the
upstairs is carpeted..... I can also feel that that section of the
carpet is kind of raised as if someone spilled a whole lot of water
there....surrounding is ok.

So now my question to you is that do you (experts and experienced
people out there) think this may be something major ??? I know that the
home inspector probably will find this out...but I still want to know
about the experience people have had. Can a big jug of water if spilled
can show stain on downstairs ceiling like in this 2nd stain I am
talking about?? Any advice on what to look for and what to ask on the
day of home inspection??

Thanks for the help!!