Is Your Plumbing Leading To Ceiling Mold?

When you see ceiling mold, chances are your first thought likely is that your roof is going bad. While this is a potential cause of roof mold, it's actually much more likely that it's something that's gone wrong with the plumbing in your home. If you've had the roof checked and no issues have been discovered, then here's the most likely culprit behind your mold issues.

How Plumbing Can Impact Your Ceiling

While many people don't think much about it, the plumbing in their home doesn't go straight from the water main to the appliance in your house that needs it. The pipes wind through your entire home, going through walls and even through crawlspaces above and below your house. So what happens when one of these pipes starts to leak? Easy: you end up with a moldy ceiling.

How Leaks Happen

Leaks can happen to any pipe, anytime. The easy answer here is that pipes have joints that connect one stretch of pipe to the next. When these joints loosen or get particularly old, they can start to develop mild leaks that may only drip a single drop every few minutes. This is unlikely to produce enough moisture for it to actually penetrate the ceiling and come through as a noticeable drip, but it can leave the ceiling in a constantly moist state that mold loves as a breeding ground.

Alternatively, your pipes may be getting old and starting to corrode and leak as a result. This is more common in older homes that haven't had their plumbing replaced.

What To Do About It

The only thing you can really do in this situation is to call a plumber. It's not particularly safe or easy for a homeowner to get into a crawlspace to check the plumbing, and even if you locate a problem, fixing it is an entirely different matter.

Your plumber will be able to locate the problem by running a camera down the pipe to determine where the leak is. Then they can access the leak directly. This will prevent them from needing to tear up your home to try and find the problem.

Once the problem is located, it's usually an easy fix for a plumber. They'll simply remove the old plumbing parts that are leaking or corroded and replace them with new, shiny metal ones that are designed to last for decades. You'll likely need someone else to come out to fix the mold on your ceiling, but you won't have to worry about it coming back after it's done.For more information, contact a plumbing contractor like Marcum Plumbing Services, Inc.