Asked on Apr 01, 2018

Best way to remove water stain on dropped ceiling tile.

Lully
by Lully
  6 answers
  • Bijous Bijous on Apr 01, 2018

    Well, you can lessen the stain with 1 part water to 1 part bleach. Put in spray bottle. Put plastic on floor. Wear protective glasses and spray. Check it in about 30 minutes. If still visible, spray and leave overnight. If still there, sorry to say, you'll need to prime and paint. Good luck.

  • Suzzann Suzzann on Apr 01, 2018

    Just replace the ones that are stained, they are not that expensive.

    • Wayne Johnson Wayne Johnson on Aug 05, 2018

      But if the pattern is discontinued it makes it expensive to do the entire room for 1 tile.

  • Cynthia H Cynthia H on Apr 01, 2018

    If you want to keep that tile, Kilz will seal the stain and then you can paint over it. The only issue may be if the other tiles have faded or changed color. They are fairly easy to pop out, dust off and repaint.

  • DesertRose DesertRose on Apr 02, 2018

    We always painted the ceiling tiles to cover over the stains and make sure there is no more ceiling leaks to re-stain the tiles. A small can of paint is inexpensive and much less work. Hope this helps

  • Alice Alice on Apr 02, 2018


    First, fix the leak if you haven't already done so and then we'll get to work. There are two ways to tackle the stain;


    Mix 1 part bleach to 1 part water and put them in a clean spray bottle. Spray the offending stain and wait 15 to 20 minutes. If the stain hasn’t faded, repeat with the spray.


    This method worked okay for me, but it didn’t do much for that dark ring that invariably frames such stains. So, this is what I did:

    I dipped a Q-tip in 100% bleach and GENTLY swabbed the ring of the stain. This also works if you have a particularly stubborn stain that doesn’t succumb to the spray bottle method. Just swab the entire stain with the Q-tip. This method, however, does come with a warning: if you rub the Q-tip too hard against the tile, you’ll risk actually rubbing off its white surface.


    Photo courtesy of corwinok on flickr.

  • Barbara Barbara on Jan 23, 2020

    Try waterproof ceiling tiles. They won't stain or grow mold. newceilingtiles.com