I've had a similar problem, with 2 plumbers and 1 roofer just passing the
buck between themselves. I ended up opening the wall myself to locate the
leak. It was a bit messy, but I eventually found it, it was a cracked cast
iron pipe that normally carries the flat roof rain water to the sewer. Not a
large crack, but a surpising amount of water ended in the basement,
specially in the springtime.

I don't think it would have been possible to find this without opening the
walls, and I can understand why a plumber won't want to start randomly
putting holes in a wall just to diagnose the problem. If you don't want to
do this yourself, just find an experienced handyman and pay him by the hour
to make holes and find the problem. After the plumber fixes the actual
problem, the handyman can fix the walls/ceilings.

Good luck and let us know how this was resolved.

"Richard and Tracy Lambour" wrote in message
...
I have a leak somewhere between the two floors of my house (water drips
out
of a ceiling fixture hole). Due to a layer of board above my ceiling (35
year old house) I cannot see any of the piping. Who should I talk to that
may have expertise locating this leak? I have tried plumbers and general
contractors, both of whom kind of scratched their heads and said something
useful like "boy you have a problem don't you?" My goal, of course, is
not
to have to destroy large portions of the house to find the leak.

Is there any other type of person I should be talking to, or am I just not
having luck finding the right people? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Rick L.