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Posted by Don Young on January 8, 2007, 11:09 pm
> Jim Beaver wrote:
>> I've got a small upstairs bathroom (tub w/a shower). The bathroom has a
>> bedroom on either side with no access panels to the plumbing. The third
>> wall is to the exterior. It's a newish house (three years old).
>>
>> Directly below the bathroom, on the first floor, is a dining room.
>> Evidence of a leak is showing on the ceiling, more or less directly below
>> the upstairs bathtub. It strikes me that there are three most likely
>> sources for the leak. (Note: the bathroom serves as a very
>> infrequently-used guest bath. Probably not more than ten or twelve
>> showers have been taken there in the three years it's existed.)
>>
>> Possible source 1: plumbing, either the drain or the supply.
>>
>> Possible source 2: leaks in the tile wall or joint between tile wall and
>> tub, or (less likely) joint between tub outside bottom and floor tiles.
>>
>> Possible source 3: the roof joint where the exterior wall of the second
>> floor joins the top of the extended downstairs roof (the upstairs portion
>> of the house sits atop only half of the downstairs house, and the
>> exterior upstairs wall joins the lower roof almost above the leak spot on
>> the dining room ceiling.)
>>
>> With no ready access to the underside of the tub without pulling out the
>> drywall, how can I determine which of these is the actual source of the
>> leak? I'm hesitant to just spray water all over to see which possible
>> source ends up on the downstairs ceiling, partly because I'm hesitant to
>> further wet down that ceiling and partly because I don't know how I can
>> be sure that water from testing one area isn't just taking a delayed
>> trip, fooling me into thinking it's water from testing the next area. Am
>> I overthinking this? How do plumbers do it -- just wet things down and
>> see what leaks?
>>
>> The matter would be a little simpler to solve if it weren't for the fact
>> that the rare use of the tub for showers is pretty well matched by the
>> rare rains. I've never seen the leak when it was actually wet; I only
>> noticed it recently when it hadn't rained in months and no one had
>> showered there in months.
>>
>> Thanks for tolerating (most of you) my simplistic questions over the
>> years.
>>
>> Jim Beaver
>
> A tradesperson won't have the time or patience to do
> "testing", unless you were willing to pay for it.
>
> Most direct would be to make a small incision in the
> drywall opposite the front of the tub (bedroom?).
> Or into the affected ceiling. Might not need to
> be very big.
>
> Besides the obvious tub leakage places, don't overlook
> things like the tub overflow plate. Often, the
> gasket on the back side of the tub doesn't seal well
> at all and water running down during a shower can
> produce quite a flood inside the wall.
>
> Less likely, but still possible, is a leak at the
> tub drain (shoe) gasket underneath.
>
> Can you get into the attic to look for any sign of
> roof leakage up there?
>
> Jim
Jim's advice is good. I had a severe leak around the shower valve plate. I
would locate the studs in the wall behind the plumbing end of the tub and
cut an access door into the wall. If you work carefully, you can reinstall
the drywall and make an invisible patch or make a good looking permanent
access door. Some local plumbing codes require such access doors. You can
look under the tub and up into the wall to detect any leaks in that area.
Don Young
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