Time to Address the Last Remaining BIG Item...

Well, no work today.  This is more of a pondering about what to do.  When I first purchased the house, one of the items I noticed was a leak in the kitchen ceiling (frankly, it was hard to miss, as they drywall was bubbled in that area).

The bubble in the ceiling.  Been there since Day One.

If you remember, I was hoping it was an old leak but never fixed.  Well, that would be too easy.  During an aggressive thunderstorm in December, I quickly learned that it was very much an active leak.

Tonight I peeled away the paint to get a better idea as to what I'm dealing with.  And much to my surprise (ok, nothing surprises me about the previous owner in this house anymore), I found an old patch job!!!  I literally found a piece of mesh screen under the bubble where the previous owner tried to fix the leak!

As soon as I saw this mesh, I knew the previous owner had tried to do something...but obviously wasn't successful.

The actual hole with the big bubble of paint removed.  We've got a leak, folks!  Time to fix it.

Aggggggghhhhhhh!!!  It seems like nothing was ever REALLY fixed in this house.  Things were patched.  In the walk-in closet, 2 x 4's were set under the shelves to hold them up.  In the Master Bedroom, tubes of caulk were used to stop the water leak from the exterior door.  In the living room, laminate floor was put down in place of the carpet that became wet from the French doors leaking.  And now here, a patch job was done on the ceiling, but the actual leak itself was not addressed!

I can only guess it was financially related.  After all, the house was foreclosed.  But wow, you HAVE to put money into your house!!!  You just have to.  If you can't afford to, then you bought too big of a house.

But I'm looking at a decent-sized hole in my ceiling now.  I'm glad the bubble is gone.  But where exactly is it coming from?  I know it's the roof (I used to think it was the exterior door upstairs, but that just doesn't make sense seeing as how far over it is laterally from this location).  So it's got to be the roof.  Now it's time to go get some advice and bids as to how to fix it!