If water is dripping through your ceiling right now from the condo above, call RestorationXpress at (954) 932-5420. The line runs 24/7, and the crew carries a 4.9-star rating across 138 Google reviews from condo and townhome owners across Davie and Broward County. Before that call connects, two faster steps buy you time: knocking on the upstairs door and notifying your association.
Who do you call first when water is coming through your ceiling from above?
Call your own unit’s water shutoff only if the source is actually inside your walls, then knock on the unit above, then call your association or property manager, then call a restoration company for extraction and drying. The order matters more than speed, because the leak usually starts somewhere you can’t reach: a failed supply line, an AC condensate pan, or a slab-level pipe one floor up.
- Shut off water at your own fixtures if you suspect your own plumbing, but in most ceiling-leak cases the source is upstairs and this step won’t stop it.
- Knock on the upstairs unit’s door. If nobody answers, call the front desk or on-site manager immediately; many leaks keep running for hours because nobody upstairs knows yet.
- Call the condo association or property manager. In communities like Pine Island Ridge or the townhome rows near Forest Ridge, the association’s on-call maintenance holds the key to the building’s main riser shutoff, something an individual owner usually can’t access.
- Call a restoration company. Once the source is stopped (or while the association tracks it down), extraction and drying need to start the same day. South Florida’s humidity means wet drywall and insulation can start growing mold within 24 to 48 hours, according to the EPA.
- Cut power to any affected outlets or fixtures at the panel if you see water near electrical, and don’t touch wet switches or ceiling fans. Call an electrician or 911 if sparking or arcing is visible.
Do this before any cleanup starts: photograph and video the ceiling stains, drips, bulging drywall, and any damaged belongings. Your HO6 insurer and the association’s carrier will both want this record, and it’s much harder to document after a crew has pulled down wet drywall.
When do you need a plumber instead of a restoration company?
Call a plumber when water is still actively flowing and nobody has found or stopped the source. Call a restoration company once the leak is stopped and the job shifts to extraction, drying, and repair.
A plumber (usually the association’s or the upstairs owner’s) traces and fixes the actual failure: a burst supply line, a corroded water heater fitting, a cracked AC drain pan. RestorationXpress’s water damage restoration crews handle what comes after: pulling standing water, mapping how far moisture traveled through your ceiling and walls, and running drying equipment. If the source stays hidden even after a plumber’s repair, a water leak detection inspection can trace lingering moisture behind drywall or under the slab before it causes a second round of damage.
Who pays for water damage from the condo above, you, them, or the association?
In Florida, responsibility usually splits between the unit owner upstairs, the association’s master policy, and your own HO6 policy, depending on where the water originated and whether it was sudden or a long-term leak. Florida’s condominium law (Chapter 718) sets the baseline for what the association’s policy must cover versus what belongs to individual unit owners, but every declaration of condominium can modify those lines. For the full breakdown of who pays for what, see Who Pays for Water Damage in a Condo?.
What happens when you call RestorationXpress for ceiling water damage?
The first call establishes whether the source is stopped, how long water has been running, and what’s below the ceiling, so have your unit number, the association’s contact, and a rough timeline ready. From there, a technician inspects the ceiling, walls, and flooring with a moisture meter to map exactly how far the water traveled, since drywall often looks fine while the insulation above it is soaked.
Extraction and drying follow the ANSI/IICRC S500 standard: air movers and dehumidifiers get placed based on the moisture map, not guesswork, and the crew rechecks readings daily until the materials are back to a dry standard. If the ceiling drywall is sagging or has already failed, that section gets cut out and documented before drying continues, and ceiling water damage repair covers the rebuild once drying is confirmed complete. Everything gets photographed and logged, both for your own HO6 claim and for the association’s documentation.
For the broader first-day checklist beyond this specific scenario, see What To Do in the First 24 Hours After Water Damage.
A ceiling leak from above isn’t something to wait out. Call RestorationXpress at (954) 932-5420 once you’ve knocked upstairs and reached your association, and get extraction started the same day.
About RestorationXpress
RestorationXpress has served Davie and Broward County since 2011, holding Florida license #1057 and a 4.9-star Google rating across 138 reviews. Written with input from the RestorationXpress team, led by Jaziel Nahum, the crews handle water, flood, storm, fire, smoke, and mold damage calls across Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, and the surrounding communities.