Steven L. wrote:
On 2/6/2013 6:12 PM, Norminn wrote:
On 2/6/2013 11:09 AM, Tegger wrote:
"Steven L." wrote in
m:

I live in an apartment, and the living room ceiling near the deck
has a rain leak: During the biggest rainstorms, some water drips
down onto my carpet from one particular spot on the ceiling. There's a
stain on the ceiling there too.

I've had the maintenance people in my apartment twice, but so far
they have failed to fix the problem. They'll have to try again
next week. While they're still trying to figure it out, is there some
*temporary* fix I can use to stop the water from dripping from the
ceiling every time there's a big storm?

Silicone caulk?
Rope caulk?
Anything else?





Others have given you good advice (bucket). Move any possessions out
of the
way of the water, and out of the way of the eventual collapse of the
ceiling's sheetrock. Quite a bit can come down at once, so clear a
large area.

About the only temporary fudge-fix I can think of is to try and
re-direct the water so it runs off to the side. You may be able to
affix a sheet of heavy plastic (e.g.: vapor barrier) to the ceiling
inboard of the leak, and
slope it down, off to the side, and into a bucket. But that may be
more trouble than it's worth.


I think that is insane! If the ceiling is saturated, it might come
crashing down. I would pester the daylights out of the owner (or
management company?!) Is the roof obviously in bad condition? Live
in a condo?

They're forecasting a major blizzard for Massachusetts.

My ceiling probably has another 48 hours to live.

Unless dry snow doesn't get into that crack as easily as liquid water
can. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Might be time for a bigger bucket! :-)

But, seriously, if they open the ceiling up now it will help with a number
of things. One is that it will help dry things out and prevent or reduce
mold and mildew growth. Another is that should prevent a ceiling collapse
during or after the coming snow storm. And it may help them see exactly
where the water is coming in. And, finally, it actually may mean you'll
need "a bigger bucket" -- meaning something larger to collect water from a
slightly larger area rather than just from the one drip spot you had before.