Overflowed toilet - soggy ceiling - now what?

[SheilaJ]

Our upstairs toilet overflowed last night and no one noticed for a couple of hours. By the time we found it, there was about 3/4 inch of standing water all over the bathroom floor and seeping into the hallway carpet. (Luckily no poop appeared to be involved!) We mopped up the water. The water has seeped through into the drywall on the living room ceiling, so far several spots around a foot in diameter, and two stripes a few inches wide about 4 feet apart and 10 feet long.

Do I need to worry about structural soundness and mold? Do I call the homeowners insurance? Or do I just wait for it to dry and deal with the drywall repair/painting. We are not handy and will have to have any drywall work done.

There was also water dripping from the ceiling fan vent in the powder room below the upstairs bathroom. We've had leaks a couple times before (darn kid didn't tuck the shower curtain in, overzealous bathtub use), and the fan hasn't worked ever since. Are we in immediate danger of electrical fire?

Help!

[Joyce]

I think you should just wait and let it dry out.
We've had a couple incidents like that here too.
We've just let it dry out, respackled, repainted, and it was fine.

[Esther]

You shouldn't have any structural damage with just one or a few wet times. But I suspect that you'll notice stains on the ceiling below where it was wet. You'll have to seal that before painting though or it'll bleed through.

Funny the fan doesn't work. It must have been on when the water went into it and shorted out. That is when the danger would have occured I would think. Why don't you take it down, clean it up, and oil the moving parts with WD40 or 3 in 1 oil. Sometimes it gets gunked up with dust after many years and can't work. Did you mean it doesn't make any motor noise or the fan blades don't turn?

Also, why is the toilet overflowing if it isn't clogged with poop? Is someone using too much paper and clogging it that way?

We had put a brand new toilet last summer in one of our duplexes and the tenants were calling about once a month saying it was clogged. They have two little boys about 3 & 4. We suspect the kids were using too much paper. DH took the toilet out and put the one we had used at our house and bought a new one for us. That was about a month ago and we haven't had any complaint from them yet.

[happyoutsidegirl]

You can rent snacks to clean out the tolit line. Something must of been in there?

[MikeW]

Sheila -
I'd go with Joyce's advice.
Was reading recently about, what with the current paranoia about mold, that people who called their homeownwers insurance about water damage, were dropped as clients. Also they could not find a new insurance company.

Seemed the moral of the story was, that if you have any water damage, quietly fix it yourself, and don't go anywhere near your insurance company.

Cheers,

Mike

[seanmckinney]

I am not familiar with american ceilings but here with plaster over plasterboard ceilings the advice would be to puncture the damp patchs so that any 'free standing' water above the ceiling can drain out! I think a 1/4" drill would suffice USE A HAND DRILL NOT AN ELECTRIC DRILL.

[Mikey]

Depending upon: the estimated amount for repair of drywall, carpet etc.; your insurance deductible and your relationship with your insurance holder, I would at least contact your insurance company representative.  We've had the same insurance holder for 30 years and know he won't screw with us.

[SheilaJ]

Thanks to you all for the suggestions. I had to leave this morning for work and don't have computer access while I'm on the road all day, so I called my dad the engineer early this morning to see if I needed to do anything before I left. He suggested drilling the holes too, and no water came out. Hooray. He also suggested avoiding bringing in the insurance company unless it looked like a big claim. I did find one web site about cleanup that was REALLY paranoid about mold contamination - heroic measures that would cost a fortune. I'm not THAT worried about it. Now if it had been hurricane floodwaters sitting for weeks, I might be.

So far, I have many stains visible but no buckling or sagging. I think we got lucky this time. Perhaps stain blocker and paint will be enough.

As far as the toilets, we have those newfangled "low flow" toilets that are required in the US now. They use so little water that if you look at them crosseyed, the toilet paper backs up. It doesn't take much at all. The drain lines are fine.

[Sandye]

I would suggest not looking at the toilets cross-eyed   

JK!!!! 

Actually, I'm sorry you had plumbing problems, Sheila.     I thought our sump pump had failed because we had a small puddle in the basement last weekend.  It turned out to just be in one spot on one wall that seems to have a crack or leak behind the built-in cabinet.  Fixing it will entail digging a LARGE hole outside and waterproofing that part of the basement wall again.  I'm not ready to tackle that problem right now and just hope it doesn't ruin the flooring in the basement.   

[SheilaJ]

Sandye, I tried finding a smiley with crossed eyes but no luck. Your waterproofing project doesn't sound like much fun at all. Maybe you could just turn it into an indoor water feature?