Minor disaster...I hope

[tenohfive]

Long story short I've just bought my first house (having lived in rented accomodation since birth) and the only practical knowledge I have as a homeowner relates to drainage and s**t...I know all about s**t. Sod all else though, so I'm probably worrying unnecessarily.

I've just managed to overfill the bath. The first I knew of this was splashing as the water found its way through one of the kitchen spotlights.

I'm leaving it to drop dry at the moment, then when that stops I'm planning on getting the bulb out and drying everything I can in there, and leave it out for abit so any residual moisture dissipates.

How much of a drama is this, what should I be doing, and whats the worst case scenario?

[Glassman]

depends how much water overflowed and what your floor / ceilings are made up with

[Munter]

Let it all dry out. Then assess any damage to the celing.

This used to happen regularly in the OHs student house. Apart from stains on the celing nothing bad happened.

I'd suggest you don't make a habit of it though.

[Rich135]

As you say, take the spotlight out and mop up any water you can with kitchen paper, then leave it out to dry fully - will take a few weeks.

Hopefully you won't have damaged the plaster ceiling as it sounds like you caught it early, but you may get water staining marks on the kitchen ceiling. You can't just paint over this with emulsion, you need to use a damp stopper paint first, then emulsion - ask at your local DIY store. I tried without this stuff, and the stain just returns again and again.

You could always take floorboards etc up in the bathroom, but if it wasn't that major, just let the air get in the hole in the downstairs ceiling.

Not a disaster as long as the electrics are still fine.

[mgtony]

If the ceiling is going to need painting anyway, poke a screwdriver through carefully in a few places to let any pooling water to drip down rather than let the weight of it sit up there on the plasterboard. Then fill and paint.

[spikeyhead]

Ordinary undercoat will cover the water stains prior to repainting with emulsion.

[tenohfive]

Brilliant, doesn't sound too major then. I had visions of baths falling through the ceiling etc.

I'm not planning on lifting floorboards as I wouldn't know where to begin - its a pebble style floor thing (sure theres a proper name for it.) Might open the side of the bath up though to see if theres any obvious pooling.

And as said above, I hope I caught it early - I heard the water coming through straight away. I'd hazard a guess at 2-10 litres coming through.

Cheers for the advice everyone.

[VxDuncan]

This spot light - is it low voltage or mains? Whatever you do make sure it's all isolated before poking around. Wet plasterboard will still conduct 240V... Also make sure if it's low voltage that the transformer is totally dried out, preferably replaced. This may be situated on each individual spot, or (worst case) sat in a puddle of water somewhere in the roof void...

[tenohfive]

VxDuncan said:

This spot light - is it low voltage or mains? Whatever you do make sure it's all isolated before poking around. Wet plasterboard will still conduct 240V... Also make sure if it's low voltage that the transformer is totally dried out, preferably replaced. This may be situated on each individual spot, or (worst case) sat in a puddle of water somewhere in the roof void...

I don't know what a transformer would look like (other than the Optimus Prime variety.) I sense some googling needs doing.

Thanks.

[Simpo Two]

Have a look at the lamp. Hopefully it will be marked either '240V' (mains) or '12V' (there's a transformer somewhere.

As for transformers etc, you can learn a lot from a Screwfix catalogue!