I have these spots on my ceiling. I think they're wet spots, but I'm not sure of what. They've been there for years, and when I first noticed them, I heard an irritating persistent bumping sound, that stopped when I tapped the ceiling with a metal water bottle.
Turns out we had rats, and they have since been killed with rat traps, but I still have these spots on my ceiling. Have I been imbibing moldy/poisonous rat germs in my body?
I don't think it's fluid from a carcus since the mouse traps that killed them were not laid above my room. But it would be very difficult to investigate because the section directly above my room in the attic is a bunch of puff, that I would need to wedge myself through.
Is there any possible solution? Should I make an effort to stop sleeping or breathing in my own room in the mean time?
I don't know how I would begin to clean it. Scrub the ceiling? I'm pretty I'll tear through it, and even though I said it's probably not a rat carcus, I don't know how I would handle a dead rat falling through my ceiling.
Scrubbing from above as stated earlier isn't a real option. without getting through the puffs in my attic.
if it really does have dead rat juice soaked through, no scrubbing is going to do it
it shouldn't be that difficult to cut it out and make a patch to fit
>>957642
Should I try to get as much of my ceiling replaced as possible? Does dead rat juice have poisonous fumes and has it likely been extending its radius beyond what I can see from below?
>>957646
if there isn't any other visible damage, I don't think that would be necessary
no, I slightly doubt it...
does it smell? is it actually wet? if there was a rotting rat, I would think you'd know it for sure....dead mice stink
if it's a water leak, that would be something to be worried about
cut it out and find out what made the stain
>>957649
>if it's a water leak, that would be something to be worried about
Why? Would that mean it's mold? My dad says we can't cut it because it provides insulation to our house.
>>957652
water leaking and pooling in a ceiling is bad
either it would be coming from a pipe, or leaking from the roof, both will become more serious until dealt with
trust me when I say you don't have to have to deal with part of the ceiling falling in
you obviously wouldn't leave a hole there, you'd cut a piece of drywall to fit, and then just tape an mud over it
ignoring problems do not make them go away or magically fix themselves
back to my previous question:
is it wet to the touch?
can you poke through it with a pencil?
have you seen it dripping?
if there isn't water pooling up there (drill a hole to make sure), and it doesn't smell, and you don't want to cut it out, and you're worried about mold...sponge it with bleach
>>957656
>either it would be coming from a pipe, or leaking from the roof, both will become more serious until dealt with
I drew those lines around the spot several months ago to see if the gap is expanding at all, and since they're not getting any closer (as far as I can tell) I doubt their is a pipe problem.
My biggest concern is if some kind of fumes/mold is coming from the spot.
>>957657
>is it wet to the touch?
No.
>can you poke through it with a pencil?
Yes, I could, but only the dark center really.
>have you seen it dripping?
No.
>if there isn't water pooling up there (drill a hole to make sure)
Will the pencil be good enough?
>>957659
>you can't smell anything
I'm not sure whether or not I would be desensitized to any smell in the house, and my mattress is a hand-me-down from my older brother who was a slob, so even though my room smells noticeably different from the rest of the house, I don't know how much of that to attribute to the mattress or the stain.
>>957664
a pencil, a wire hanger, a screwdriver, a nail....anything pointy...it doesn't have to be large, if there was water up there you'd notice it slowly start to drip down
if it isn't wet, and there isn't water up there, a regular pipe leak could probably be ruled out
are you somewhere with snow? it could have been a temporary leak from an ice dam
have you ever smelled a bad potato? a dead animal is one of those things where you would know something smells fishy (metaphorically)
>>957636
Burn the house down and rebuild without rats.
>>957672
>>are you somewhere with snow?
No. I think it was rain from room damage that has since been fixed.
Never smelled a bad potato. I will have to try it some time.
>>957689
you mean there was roof damage, but it was already fixed? that could have been it
if you're worried about possible mold (but I don't think it would be) use a sponge to apply bleach, it will kill any mold
wait and see what happens...if whatever you think might be mold disappears and stays gone, it should be fine to paint over provided it's still dry
(bad potatoes literally smell like death...don't get it on your hands)
>>957698
>if you're worried about possible mold (but I don't think it would be) use a sponge to apply bleach, it will kill any mold
Thanks. but are you sure that will work? I can only apply it from below. Not from above. Do I need to tape a bleach towel the ceiling.
Thank you so much for all this help, too.
>>957729
if you're really paranoid, the only way to know for sure is to replace the drywall
otherwise I'd look for bleach/mold+mildew cleaner...some people say they use vinegar, I haven't tried it
if possible, try to get a look above and see if it looks bad up there
>>957735
Thanks a million. Any particularly good or shitty bleaches?
>>957755
I don't think there is really any difference between name and generic brands
>>957636
rats and mice piss to mark their territory. if its not froma dead rat then its just piss
Just dab the bleached sponge against the stain. No need to tape anything up. Dab don't wipe. The plaster will absorb the liquid as it released from the sponge.
>>957785
Thanks a shitton, guys!
Might be rat piss. Rats piss where they sleep, they piss buckets, and they sleep in communal piles (fucking rodent hippies), so if there was a nest directly above where the spots formed, that would be a likely answer.
If they were living in the house a long time before getting killed off, there could have been generations of them living in old nests over the years, handing pee stank down from one generation to the next.
Someone sneezed and threw their coffee cup up in the air
