Holes in my ceiling

About two weeks ago, we discovered the wood floor in front of our stairs was starting to warp. We didn't know why and we tried in vain to figure out what was the problem. It wasn't that bad and we finally concluded that it was probably the air conditioning line underneath the floor condensing and creating the problem. (It has been a miserably hot summer and the air has been running almost non-stop.) Well, on Sunday, the wall above the wood floor CRACKED! CRACKED! We then discovered bubbling paint all around it. So, Monday morning, I called a plumber to come in and figure out what was going on. So, yesterday afternoon, he came and did this in my front room:

This is about one foot by one foot square and completely dry. An unnecessary hole.

Then, they did this:

A three foot long by one foot wide hole above my stairs. It turns out my washing machine--when running on warm or hot, leaks--not much maybe about 4 Tablespoons--runs into the grout and down the wall, and into my wood floor below. Since I do at least 2 loads a day, it added up and created the current problem. If we had had our washer in a tray none of this would have happened. So, for $130 I now know the problem but am left with a washing machine that still leaks, and two holes in my ceiling.

We are waiting a week to let everything dry out and then calling in dry wallers to fix the holes. On the bright side, we were planning on painting the ceilings anyway, so this might force us to do it sooner than later. Oh and in some crazy cosmic turn of events, we do have a spare washing machine in the basement.