That would be two holes we currently have in the ceiling in our kitchen. A little backstory on this is perhaps needed.
One night in May, we came home from having dinner with my parents to find a puddle of water on the kitchen floor under the ceiling fan. There was a visible wet spot on the ceiling, and when the fan was tipped water came pouring off. To identify the source of the problem, we cut a small hole in the ceiling and postulated that it was the guest bathroom toilet. You may recall this photo...
We thought we had the toilet issue fixed, so we patched up the ceiling also and moved on with our lives. Enter July amidst the furry of flooding in the basement, I again found water on the kitchen floor. This time, I told Andrew we were calling in professionals. As luck would have it, we had about one week remaining on our home warranty that came on the house when we purchased it. HSA dispatched a plumber who "fixed" the toilet. I say "fixed" because I honestly don't know what he did. Not more than a week or two later, we again had water on the floor in the kitchen.
Having passed the HSA expiration date, I call them again to explain that the issue wasn't fixed the first time they called someone out. So, they dispatch the same company to come look at the toilet again. Meanwhile, I'm not convinced the toilet is the issue. I kept asking for someone to cut into the ceiling, but my plea was ignored. So, the toilet was fixed a third time around. I told Andrew we weren't fixing the ceiling again until we went sixty days without water on the floor.
After taking a shower yesterday, I noticed a puddle of water on the floor. However, it was in a different spot. Andrew was convinced one of the dogs peed on the floor, or I flung water on the floor when I put a container in the recycling bucket. I wish I could say I was as convinced.
After showering today, I went downstairs and was working in the kitchen when I heard the familiar sound of dripping on the floor. I looked over to see water coming out of the ceiling above the location where it was puddled on the floor on Sunday. Andrew came down to investigate and I had him cut a hole in the ceiling. Water pouring out of your ceiling isn't something you want to see, but that is what we witnessed today.
After sitting on the phone with HSA for an hour on hold between speaking with someone who was no help and trying to speak with a supervisor, I was no further down the road to solving our water issue. I insisted this time if they sent someone out they were cutting open the ceiling because they were going to identify the source of the problem. I was told that unless it was related to the original toilet issue, it wouldn't be covered under the prior claim. In addition, it had been more than 30 days, so the only thing that was covered were defective parts. So, because the first person they sent out was too busy answering phone calls to actually figure out the issue, we are stuck with this issue which has likely been brewing for months. Word of warning if you have an HSA warranty on your home and you have an issue.... be as vague as possible. If I had said "we have water coming out of the ceiling" and not hypothesized about what it could be, we might not be in this mess.
After calling a couple of plumbing companies in the area, I found one who was able to send someone out right away. When I told them everything that had happened, the woman looked at me and said "cutting open the ceiling is the first thing they should have done". At that moment, I wanted to throw my arms around this woman standing in my kitchen and thank her for using her brain! Yes, we had a female plumber today and she was amazing! She cut into the ceiling, all the while apologizing for making such a mess. We exposed the plumbing from the guest bathroom toilet and discovered that wasn't the source of the issue. We then moved over to where the water was coming from the last few days, which was directly below our master bathroom shower. When we ran water through the shower, there wasn't an issue with the pipes. The issue, we discovered, is either with a chip in the floor of our shower, or with the pan under the shower. Either item doesn't bode well for us.
There are a lot of things I want to re-do in this house, but being forced into redoing them earlier than we can afford isn't my preference. While we were trying to identify the problem today, the plumber checked our toilets. Turns out, the toilets are the original toilets that were installed when the house was built in 1986. Needless to say, I think we will be replacing those soon as well. This summer has been unintentionally expensive, and I'm not a fan. Stay tuned for the bathroom facelift that may be coming soon. Meanwhile, we are showering in the guest bathroom, and I'm thanking my lucky stars for having a second bathroom with a shower.
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