u/ComfortableProfit420

Just moved into this place a few months ago. We are on a 6 month lease with about 2-3 months left until it’s up. Initially when we moved in, we were aware of a few sealed cracks in the ceiling. They never posed an issue other than being unsightly.

Within the last month, I’ve noticed a lot more issues. The paint is bubbling up in our ceiling in various spots. Even the previous sealed cracks appear to be much more pronounced than they were in January/February. Last night was the first time I noticed that at least two of these areas are soft and slightly damp to the touch. I proceeded to climb on all of the counters and furniture to gather the rest of the images to formulate a request for maintenance to come check it out.

This morning the rental management company emailed me back informing me that despite these cracks and bubbles appearing suddenly and being mushy, they are simply normal drywall separate and settling. I do live in a house built in the 70s, however, I’m finding their explanation hard to understand. Rather than having someone come to see everything in person, they accused me of showering with the doors closed and not using the bathroom fan to help with the indoor humidity. Funnily enough, my partner and I do shower with the door open, and our bathroom only has one switch for both the light and the fan, so yes- it is always on when someone’s in there.

My father, who has quite a bit of experience in HVAC, suggested that it could be an issue with the AC leaking above us because we have central air conditioning. There also has only been a moderate amount of rain in our area lately.

I’m now awaiting another response from our management company after informing them, politely, that their explanation of us showering with the doors closed and not allowing proper ventilation doesn’t make much sense. However, I’m driving myself crazy over this. Does this look like a moisture issue in our attic? Or is this really just “normal” dry wall separation?