What could cause the ceiling above the shower in my bottom floor apartment to cave in?

I can’t tell you, but I can say that this happened to me years ago. The landlord had the second-floor unit and I was on the first floor. One night (luckily when I was not in the shower) I heard an astonishing phlumph and found that my entire bathroom ceiling was on the floor. What a mess.

It did turn out that my landlord had a leak around his bathtub. He had the whole thing fixed, of course, but it sure cramped my style for a little while there.

I hope you notified your landlord right away.

This sort of thing happens more than you would think. Some sort of flooding from the apartment above most likely. If you aren’t inclined to knock on the door of the apartment above then report it to your super right away or the emergency number for your apartment complex right away.

I agree. Most likely a flood or leak from the floor above. Get your super or landlord involved.

First thing I did in my house was have fans installed in the bathroom. It really could be either of those two depending on the age of the home.

The good news is if its JUST the drywall, thats easy peasy to fix. Just make sure they get the waterproof sheetrock. :) My husband replaces a ton in bathrooms and laundry rooms for a living.

It’s highly unlikely it’s just humidity. Normal humidity does not cause the ceiling to sink in like that.

Probably both you should get a fan in your bathroom and go ask your upstairs neighbor if they have a leak or see if you can check.

Yeah, talk to your landlord. It’s their problem, you don’t want to let this go. If it goes too far then you’re dealing with black mold in your home. that’s never a good scenario!

@snowberry Some people cheap out and don’t use the waterproof, especially in rentals, but generally I agree.
My home was built in 1973 with no fans until we bought it on 2004, but its in the master so we rarely use it. No mold or damage other than a bit of acoustic ruined.

If you’re a renter, it’s the building’s problem.

If you’re an owner, you still need to look into it.

Talk to the people upstairs or talk to the landlord or superintendent (if you’re a renter).

If you’re an owner, I want even thinking that until @jca2 mentioned it, but in NY the term apartment is used for ownership and rentals, and maybe other places too.

If you are an owner usually your insurance covers your damage, not the apartment that caused the leak. Even if you rent, it might be your insurance that covers any personal belongings and the landlord’s insurance would cover structural. If there was some sort of old plumbing issue possibly your insurance would go after the building insurance.

If you’re an owner, and the leak was caused by the people above, then they should pay for the damage to your unit. It will clearly be spelled out in your contract what you’re responsible for and what the management is responsible for. First, and foremost, you have to let someone know.

So many variables here. If it is not your responsibility, then don’t worry.

It is either humidity and age or a leak from above.

It happened to me – cold water dripped on my butt as I was showering. Turns out the upstairs shower seriously needed caulking. When they showered, water ran past their tub and onto my ceiling. The ceiling got saturated with water and started dripping right over where I like to stand in the shower. I had to call their landlord so that she could call in a contractor to fix their caulking, remove my ceiling, dry out the structure, then put everything back.

I asked my sister and @jca2 is right according to her, I was incorrect.

It’s almost 100% certainly a leak from above. It could be from floors above the adjacent floor.

It’s the landlord’s problem to fix. Your problem to live with until then.

one cause to consider is if they have a waterbed and they fill it using the bathtub taps.

Overflows occurs and backwashes though the fixtures theus causing overflow downstairs.

It happend to me and my Boyfriend years ago and that was the cause. ( we think, thus we got rid of that waterbed.

A pet elephant.