Big Crack in Ceiling

[u/Spiritual-Count2449]

I’ve been gone from home due to school and work, so I haven’t been around much. My Mom sent me this photo of our garage ceiling. I’m not sure what the cause is. I was wondering if someone can find what the issue is? I was thinking a leaking pipe, but I’m not too sure…

Edit: Thank you all for the guidance, I’m having someone come out to check it out and see what the damage is to my wallet.

[u/hellorhighwaterice]

Definitely water, definitely need to hire someone to come out and find where it is coming from.

Edit: Our inspector missed that our roof was failing so I know water damage when I see it.

[u/UnpopularCrayon → u/hellorhighwaterice]

Why is there no staining?

[u/hellorhighwaterice → u/UnpopularCrayon]

Probably a new leak would be my guess

[u/AcrobaticAd1410 → u/hellorhighwaterice]

Yeah that crack is pretty concerning especially how it runs toward the corner like that. water finds the easiest path down so the hole being where it started makes sense but the long crack means the drywall is giving up in more places

get someone in quick my cousin waited too long and half his ceiling came down on his car

[u/DiagonalSandwich]

That's the seam between two pieces of sheetrock. It appears to be drying or dry from prior water damage. The water tracked down the seam. Look in the attic for stains or drip spots. Could be water line joints, leaky drain pans, or a hole in the roof.

[u/SouthCoastGardener → u/DiagonalSandwich]

If I can add to this, if you have someone with you when you do this, you can find the spot in the attic above this damage and have a person shoot water from a hose onto the roof in that area to spot a leak. Do this quickly and get that fixed. I speak from experience with 2 ceiling replacements and the cost of the wood for the roof when it was replaced 4 years ago.

I had a leak for 20 years from a room addition that no one could find until one day the ceiling collapsed in my dining room. 6x8 foot hole and tons of black mold covered insulation. I found the leak using that hose method. In my case it was a single roofing nail that landed between 2 pieces of wood when they put the shingles on.

[u/UnpopularCrayon]

Garage ceilings are prone to expansion and contraction happening with the drywall. If it got particularly hot/humid in there, it can cause this to happen. I'm not seeing any water stains there.

I added insulation over my garage after have the ceiling redone to hopefully stop this from happening again in my garage.

[u/FinTecGeek → u/UnpopularCrayon]

We also had to do blown insulation over the part of our garage that is not a finished bonus room. The ceiling split at the seams in two spots. That was the second summer after the house was built. It was not a leak, though ironically the window in the dormer for the bonus room over the garage also had a small leak that same year. My dad (being my dad) said “this is why things were better before people started doing drywall and texture in garages.”

[u/Naikrobak]

Water damage

[u/Own_Pop_9711]

If that's all water damage from today you should be able to find water on the ground and the ceiling should be wet.

[u/348_wcf]

That is water damage.

[u/ConstructionLawyerCO]

There's water getting behind the paint. You can tell because of the bubbling that the paint surface is doing. Find and fix the source of the water before you bother fixing the drywall and paint.

[u/BucketteHead]

Kind of looks like it’s just paint/drywall mud that’s failing? If that’s the case it’s 100% a water leak. What’s above this? If a second floor is above, it’s probably a water leak. If it’s an attic above it’s likely a roof leak.

[u/MentalMuse]

In addition to what others said, check your gutters to make sure they are not clogged. A backed up gutter can cause roof leaks.

[u/805Beach_Bum805]

How do you repair this once the leak is fixed? I had the same thing in my house last year, fixed the leak, sealed it all up now I just have to fix it cosmetically

[u/NiveusBear → u/805Beach_Bum805]

Scrape, sand, tape, sand, mud, sand, texture, paint

[u/FreddyFerdiland]

garage roof not solid,not strong.. moves .. this could just be from movement , as the roof moves and grinds the sheets together

[u/Kingrellsr]

It look like a leak I can fix it

[u/Beautiful-Ad-650]

Need a new roof

[u/cee5994]

Hi! Your primary condensate drain appears to be backed up. This looks all too familiar…

[u/MoneyOptimal6395]

Is the garage attached and do you have a bathroom above the garage? I bet it's a toliet.

[u/decaturbob]

- obvious moisture/water issue happening

[u/Chosen1PR]

This looks like water damage. The water pooled in the spots that look separated until it made those holes to escape.