Handyman
Small Leaks Lead to Big Problems
13 March 2025 · 3 min read
How a tiny ceiling stain becomes a full re-board — and the moment to phone someone.
By the time most leaks get reported to us, the customer has been politely ignoring them for weeks. We get it — there's a horrible logic to hoping a stain will dry out and disappear. It almost never does.
Why small leaks aren't really small
Water finds a route, then keeps using it. A pinhole drip from a bathroom waste can soak a ceiling joist, then the plasterboard, then trickle down a stud and bloom on a wall in a different room.
When to phone us, when to phone a plumber
- Active drip from pressurised pipework — plumber, today.
- Mystery brown stain, no visible water — us first, we can investigate, lift a board if needed and either fix it or call in a plumber on your behalf.
- Around silicone seals — usually us; it's a re-seal, not a plumbing job.
Repairing properly afterwards
Once the leak is dead, the ceiling needs drying out, stain-blocking with a proper product like Zinsser BIN, then re-painting. Skipping the stain block almost always means the mark bleeds through your fresh paint within a month.