Hey all,
So I purchased a house a year ago and unless these spots were always there I just recently noticed them
I ran 2 moisture readers which said dry and ran a thermal scanner on them and it looks dry but I’m not expert.
I’m not sure these are new water spots being developed or not. I can confirm the texture in these spots for sure seems different as if some type of touch up was done in the past.
Surprised I just haven’t noticed til now.
Let me know your thoughts. Thanks!
To me it looks like a texture ceiling stomper with different compound on the double headed brush. 
Welcome to our forum, John!..enjoy participating. 
Observations: That there are two fully-separated spots leads me to believe that it was likely not caused by a single water leak. The spots appear lighter in color, whereas a water stain would most-often appear a bit darker with some rings around the edges. It does not look like it is due to a repair, because the ceiling texture is undisturbed. It is perhaps something else, like a contaminant of some type that leached through the ceiling and caused some bleaching. Have you looked in the attic to see what, if anything, is above that location? If you can safely get to that location in the attic, you might take a peak under the insulation.
Looks like missed paint. I do a lot of 12 month warranty inspections and can’t tell you how many times this is discovered because clients just don’t look up at their ceilings. It doesn’t look like a water stain to me but why don’t you climb into the attic and see what’s going on?
What is above this area? attic? if not, what is above and near this area, any bathrooms? It just spots, you have provided no information to even attempt to deduce something.
Light dirt or grease on the ceiling surface before the paint was applied. Water stains will show as brown misshapen rings around where the water first contacted the sheetrock. Purely cosmetic, does not indicate a larger problem.
Someone touched up the ceiling / spots with different sheen.
Im with Martin and Dominic
prolly what one of them said…
Or more likely what one of the other ones said!
Hey all just to answer some questions.
Furthermore right above the ceiling directly where the spots are is the giant AC supply duct which is just air flowing through it through the house.there is no vent directly in this area either. Closest vent is 15 ft away.
I have attached a photo also of the thermal reading
Where I’m pointing is directly the spot.
Hey Brian!
Thanks for responding.
Are you sure it could be something leaching through.
I have added a video that for sure looks like this is a different product on these spots. These spots are much smoother then the rest of the drywall and the entire drywall ceiling has a sparkling reflective feature to them but these 2 spots have no sparkling feature to them at all.
They for sure look like different texture here.
Nobody can be certain of anything as we aren’t there to see with our own eyes. Photos are generally always useless to make a determination of anything of this manner.
Looks like you have your answer. If that isn’t good enough, hire a professional to come out and take a look in person.
Good luck.
Pin moisture meter (a good one) is going to be your best indicator for moisture. Thermal imaging is great but only under certain circumstances I am not going into here. If it is dry…nothing to worry about. Not sure what is above this ceiling, but plumbing, roofs and HVAC may all leak under different conditions.
Have you contacted the builder about this?
2 moisture readers were used including a pin one both said dry.
And there you have your answer, at least it’s not an active leak. Again it sure looks like mismatched paint or missing paint I see it all the time.
