LESLIE: Alright. Pat in Michigan, tell us what’s going on with your ceiling water stain.
PAT: Yes. We had some shingles that blew up and the water got underneath and it leaked and then onto my ceiling. And we had high winds with – like we call “side,” you know.
And so I’ve had the roof repaired but I still have some leak water stains on my ceiling. And I’m trying to figure out how to cover them up without having to paint all of the ceiling. And my ceilings have never been painted; it’s just raw drywall but it’s been textured.
TOM: Now, since this ceiling water stain was storm damage, did you think to call your homeowners insurance company?
PAT: No. Because it’s only three little – like one is a dime size, one is a quarter size and the other one’s a dollar-bill size.
TOM: Well, just for future reference, whenever you have shingles that blow off and leaks occur, that is why you pay for insurance. So small or big, that’s the kind of thing that’s covered by homeowners insurance.
If it was a worn-out roof, that’s one thing. But if you have storm damage where shingles blow off and water gets in, then you could have had that whole ceiling repainted at the expense of your insurance company.
But OK, we’re past that now. So the question is: how do you deal with this ceiling water stain? Whenever you have a ceiling water stain, you have to prime the stain. Since they’re small spots like that, you can spot-prime it, which basically means just to prime over those little spots themselves. And then you’ll paint over that.
You’ll have to – if you don’t have some of the original paint, you’re going to have to pick up something that matches.
PAT: There is no paint. This is just drywall – textured drywall – and they did not paint the drywall.
TOM: They never painted the drywall?
PAT: No. Ceilings here are not painted unless you ask for it.
TOM: OK. Well, all I can tell you is if you want to get rid of the ceiling water stain, you have to prime it. You have to prime on top of it. If you don’t prime on top of it, anything that you put over that is going to leak right through. So it might be time to think about painting the ceiling, Pat.
PAT: Oh, boy. OK. Well, thank you very much. I certainly do appreciate your time.
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