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Originally Posted by KB24
We had heavy rains the other day. Our bedroom ceiling showed discoloration. I assume this is from water damage. It is a small spot that's about a meter long and half meter wide. What is the best way to handle this?
It's absolutely water damage and that doesn't sound like a small spot, especially if it showed up from one rain. Depending on your home there's a good chance it's worse that you think. You've got the backside of the drywall, probably insulation soaking up a bunch too, and lots of water could be going somewhere you can't see. You need to find and address the source of the leak.
Assuming drywall the interior part is easy once the cause is fixed. At worst you replace some drywall/tape/spackle the area, but if no real damage you can prime/paint over it. [Actually worst case if you just got the place there's a chance the previous owners just hid a preexisting issue with paint themselves, and there's mold waiting for you.]
Was recently in one place with a small discoloration in the bathroom ceiling about the size of a softball, and it turned out to be a leaking water heater in the attic that mostly went down into the wall behind the shower and was buckling the shower enclosure. After taking that out there was all kinds of black mold (and they'd used regular drywall there making it even worse). Had to move the tub, strip down to the studs, put up proper backer, put tub back in, redgard and new tile...and of course still had to replace the water heater anyway.
Water's a bitch. Treat it as urgently as you would fire.