Unravelling the truth about the leaky ceiling

Friends of mine would have heard me whinging about my bathroom ceiling that rained over the weekend. It was troubling enough for me that the drip-drip noise woke me up in the middle of a deep slumber. First thing I saw was the puddle of water on the floor...my bleary eyes followed its path of descent and I thought I was dreaming to see water bursting out from the cracks in my recessed light.

Of course, the sight of that mini rainstorm in my bathroom left me sleepless for the rest of the night.

The contractor came a few days later but could not find the cause of the problem as the pipe area was totally dry. He hypothesised 2 possibilities:

1. Condensation from aircon
2. Leaky pipes

He advised me to wait and observe. The next time the incident happens (he assured me that it would happen again), I should poke my head into the pipe area and take some photos if I can.

Last night, again, I was awakened by the sound of water dripping! I was in a quandary as to whether to get out of bed to investigate, or pretend that the noise was non-existent. Finally, the sleuth in me dragged my sorry arse out of bed and into the bathroom and there it was again - a mini storm in my bathroom! I didn't have a ladder so, armed with my trusty G9, I climbed onto the toilet bowl and tip-toed on the narrow cistern to try to catch a glimpse of what was happening inside. On hindsight, that was such a dangerous stunt - wet feet on tip-toes, one hand holding onto some support and the other maneuvering the camera in that hole trying to snap a clear picture of the leaky pipes.

At that point, I still had no idea what was causing the leak. First thought was the rain, as it was raining rather heavily outside last night.

XXX

I got home today and stopped to chat with the guard on duty. The moment I started complaining about my pipes, he told me that the tenant who moved in above me had also been complaining about hers. I asked the guard what she could have been doing at 4am in the morning last night, to which he replied that she is a trader who comes home at 3+am everyday, so naturally, she takes her bath at about 4am when the rest of the sane world is sound asleep.

Lesson learnt? Why bother speculating or conjuring up reasons when you have a guard downstairs who knows everything? Name a unit and he knows exactly who resides in it, his/her nationality, origin, occupation, marital status, gender, car being driven or none, etc etc. Time to "bribe" him into spilling dirt about my neighbours! LOL