Roof has leaked into an exterior wall

[Umby]

My Mom's house is a 1951 two-story bungalow. Her roof is completely shot and she is presently negotiating with a roofing company to get it fixed. However, during a rainstorm last week, water leaked into the attic from a roof valley. This occurred at a corner of the house above a bedroom. The plaster is cracking and falling off the ceiling and wall in this first floor bedroom and I noticed, in the basement below, the sill plates and floor joist above me in that corner are wet. Besides this being a plaster and paint repair job, is it possible the the internal wall structure (i.e. studs, plates, joists, etc.) has been compromised? Do they just need to be dried out or are we talking about a lot more needs to be done? Thanks in advance for any help.

[mrcaptainbob]

Don't you have enough projects?! The condition of the studs, sills and plates would depend on how long that valley's been leaking. Certainly fixing the leak is a first step, removing all that drywall from the ceiling and walls would be the second. Most likely would be easier rather than tying to patch, too. That would also give a chance to dry things out and inspect the condition of it all. Sorry about the poor luck lately....

[Umby]

Thanks Capn'; Yes it's been a busy year. I have missed an entire season of sailboat racing because of these projects. But thankfully I have a house and so does my Mom unlike so many down south.
I'm pretty sure the leak is new and the interior would have only gotten wet two or three times since mid-summer. Unfortunately we are dealing with plaster and not sheet rock.

[mrcaptainbob]

Aw, Umby! I'm all the way with ya' on this! I'm a stink-boater and I haven't seen that craft in such a long time I forgot what color it is! Part of my problem is doing stuff here similar to what you're going through. Had about a thousand #'s of that wet plaster to remove from the first floor bath. More difficult to haul to the dump then removing it. Score the stuff at the corners as best you can and yank it off the wall. There most probably is a screen mesh in the corners that should be cut so as to not impose too much on the adjacent wall. Keep a large plastic trash can handy and dump it in there. Don't fill it, as it get's too heavy! I have a small trailer that I kept dumping the stuff into. Since it got that wet, there's a chance of mold growing.