Ceiling Repainting

[NETWizz]

I have a relatively new house, and the roof leaked causing a stain. I took care of that issue and now that 6 months have passed, and I am 100% sure that problem is resolved, I wish to fix the stain on my second-floor ceiling.

Above that is attic. I replaced the insulation that was wet when it happened and did not see any visible signs of mold or mildew or anything. The attic is not air-conditioned, living space.

As for this area, should I cut out and replace the drywall, OR do is it likely sufficient to paint over it with something like Killz, maybe then some latex primer, and proceed to repaint the entire ceiling with a normal latex ceiling paint?

 

[Tdbo]

I'd just go over it with a coat or two of Kilz, and paint with normal ceiling paint.
I'd only go through the hassle of removing the drywall if mold/mildew were present, or the drywall itself was damaged in some fashion.

 

[ChrisMU]

I just dealt with a similar issue when repainting (and scraping the popcorn texture from) the ceiling in my son’s bedroom. There was some brownish staining from a leaking pipe.

Chances are your ceiling is painted with latex, so you’d have to use Kilz 2 (latex). I did that first, and the stain was still faintly visible. I did some research and settled on a small can of Zinsser BIN shellac-based stain-blocking primer and that did the trick. One item to note is that it’s very watery, so use caution.

Current pic attached… the stain was between the corner of the room and the Metallica poster.

 

[KevinMalone]

Try dabbing the stained area with a sponge soaked in bleach first. I had some water staining on a popcorn ceiling finished with flat white latex paint and this worked for me - it's like nothing ever happened. I just used cheap bleach from Walmart which is <3% as far as I can tell.

I assume this varies by region, but should there be a vapor barrier between the ceiling drywall and attic insulation? My staining occurred because a contractor did not replace the vapor barrier after doing other work, and I had attic condensation issues after adding more attic insulation (soffit vents were blocked).

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Try dabbing the stained area with a sponge soaked in bleach first. I had some water staining on a popcorn ceiling finished with flat white latex paint and this worked for me - it's like nothing ever happened. I just used cheap bleach from Walmart which is <3% as far as I can tell.

I assume this varies by region, but should there be a vapor barrier between the ceiling drywall and attic insulation? My staining occurred because a contractor did not replace the vapor barrier after doing other work, and I had attic condensation issues after adding more attic insulation (soffit vents were blocked).

Vapor barriers in attics are uncommon. The most common is spray foam insulation which depending on the thickness and type (open vs closed cell) can be a vapor retarder or a vapor barrier.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

Kilz makes a paint specifically for ceiling water stains. No point in replacing the drywall. Its fine.