Mystery ceiling leak in Kitchen/ LR
 

A few weeks ago my son called me at work. " Pop,there's water coming
thru the kitchen ceiling." By the time I got home the drywall of the
ceiling had started to cave in. The plumber said the toilet seal was
bad and replaced it. I was skeptical of this since the toilet was
fairly new. Anyway the leak stopped completely and we watched it
closely for 3 weeks. Finally we decided to go ahead and replace the
sheetrock in the ceiling. On the night before the work was to begin a
severe thunderstorm came thru with very heavy rains. Not only did the
kitchen ceiling begin to leak again but we also had another leak in our
adjacent living room ceiling. I called the drywall people and told them
to hold off.
The fact that my ceiling was leaking again and we had a heavy rain
could not be a coincidence. Clear rain water was finding its way into
my house. I'm having my gutters cleaned out tomorrow just in case.
My gutters are a bit "dirty" but not bad. I have them cleaned thrice a
year. What other problems should I look for to determine the cause of
water leaks inside my house during a rainstorm?
There were no signs of a leak in our attic during this same storm.
The leaks appear to be confined to our kitchen and LR in our 2-story
home.
Many Thanks for any suggestions!!!

Yeah, I'd be looking at the vent stacks too. In my case the idiot
roofers forgot to put a flange on one of the stacks and rain would come
through.

Hopkins wrote:
Yeah, I'd be looking at the vent stacks too. In my case the idiot
roofers forgot to put a flange on one of the stacks and rain would come
through.

I had a plumber, used at the customer's request, use silicone caulk to
hit up a joint in the vent that didn't quite fit well enough for the
glue to work (too much of an angle - idiot). I usually go over the
subs work with a fine tooth comb because I'm, well, a pain in the ass -
didn't pick it up, everything looked right. Ten years later there's a
growing discoloration at a ceiling/wall junction right near an AC
register and right below a valley cricket. Had to open the wall to
discover it wasn't the other suspects, but the vent letting that little
bit of rain water drip through.

R

I don't know how silicone caulk became the answer to so many questions
but I really wish it would stop.