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Leaking shower; ...the joy of home-ownership
Topic Started: Jan 3 2010, 07:56 AM (524 Views)
The 89th Key
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The condo unit below mine (same floor plan) says they are getting a wet spot right above their shower (so right below mine, where the shower drain is). It's actually a problem in my 2nd bathroom, so I can still shower, but will need to get the other one fixed. Going to find out tomorrow what the estimate is...the building engineer came out and says he's seen this in the past and it's not TOO bad of a fix. Anyway, wish me luck as I find out tomorrow what the exact problem is (most likely a drain-to-pipe connection) and then figure out the best way to get it fixed. The engineer said he has a person he recommends that is familiar with this building and not expensive, but I also got a 1-year warranty on this place when I bought it, and also have condo insurance in general, so it seems it'll be more of an inconvenience (for me and the folks below).
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Improviso
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HOLY CARP!!!
One of the truths I've learned in 44 years of home ownership is this: You better have one of two things. Either *build your repair skills and tool set* or *have a FAT bank balance*.

I chose the former. The only system in a house I can't work on is the heat pump.

Good thing you have condo insurance. Plumbers ain't cheap.
Identifying narcissists isn't difficult. Just look for the person who is constantly fishing for compliments
and admiration while breaking down over even the slightest bit of criticism.

We have the freedom to choose our actions, but we do not get to choose our consequences.
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JBryan
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I am the grey one
When my house was built they hung the sheet rock on the outside of the sheet of plasic that formed my shower pan. Consequently, it began to leak like a sieve a couple of years after I moved in. That was a $2400.00 repair that I would have had a hard time doing myself.
"Any man who would make an X rated movie should be forced to take his daughter to see it". - John Wayne


There is a line we cross when we go from "I will believe it when I see it" to "I will see it when I believe it".


Henry II: I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody.

Eleanor: At my age there's not much traffic anymore.

From The Lion in Winter.
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
It's not your problem as much as it is your neighbor's below.
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
And the best way to get at it is likely from the ceiling in his shower.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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The 89th Key
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Yeah they said they're going to come in tomorrow to cut it open from their end and see what the deal is.
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
89th, I sympathize. We've had a big hole in our kitchen ceiling fro two months now, as I've been tracking down several leaks in the plumbing in two bathrooms above. It's really annoying - it's like the entire system decided to go bad, all at the same time. I get one problem fixed, and another leak shows up. Another one cropped up - very similar to yours - just yesterday. I want to get it taken care of once and for all, but I'm afraid that as soon as I button up the ceiling, something else is going to start to leak. Visitors think the hole in our ceiling is odd, but it's been there so long the family doesn't even notice it any more. Maybe you could offer that advice to your downstairs neighbors. ^_^
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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The 89th Key
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Ha that's funny, Dewey. My folks' house, right after moving in....had the bathroom above the living room flood, requiring a large hole and a big patch'n'paint job. Not fun at all. At least this issue seems relatively minor and isolated.......hopefully. Hey, maybe you could invite your congregation into your house for a "real life" retelling of the Paralytic-Man-through-the-roof-to-see-Jesus bible story? :)
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
Heh, after the clunkers of sermons I've been coming up with lately, that could be a good idea.
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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Steve Miller
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Bull-Carp
Dewey
Jan 3 2010, 04:38 PM
It's really annoying - it's like the entire system decided to go bad, all at the same time. I get one problem fixed, and another leak shows up. Another one cropped up - very similar to yours - just yesterday.
Plumbing is not my trade, but I've done a lot of it.

The one thing I have learned is that if you are going to fix anything involving plumbing you replace everything you can see with brand new. Re-use nothing. Start at the wall and work out from there, including the angle stops.

You also use the very best quality stuff you can find, and you can't find it at Home Depot, Menards or Lowes. It comes from plumbing supply houses. It's not cheap but the upside is that it always works and is easy to install. This is especially true for things like traps, pop-ups and other bits of drain hardware. The difference in quality between a plastic trap-and-J assembly from Home Depot and the same thing from a plumbing supply house is like night and day and the $5 difference in cost is well worth it.

89, with any luck you have a little fitting leak. With less luck the shower pan has failed, or worse yet the waterproofing of the shower wall has failed. Talk to me if it is either of the last two scenarios - there is a lot to know about a proper repair and most repair guys do it wrong.

Good luck!
Wag more
Bark less
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The 89th Key
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Thanks Steve for all the offered help! I'll be sure to update everyone once we have further word tomorrow. The possible good news is that if it is leaking into the condo below, the leak is right above their shower so it's (at least for the time being) going down THEIR drain as well. AKA no flooding. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's a relatively simple solution.
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Big John
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Senior Carp
my first house had a hole in the ceiling of the second bedroom. it took years to figure out that some flashing under the shingles had rotted under some asbestos siding letting water seep in and we finally fixed it. For years we just used the room for storage with a bucket. We put fake blackbirds all over the room and called it the "Tippi Hendron Room"





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The 89th Key
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They cut it open from beneath and says its definitely a leak between my drain and pipe, so time to get someone in here ASAP to fix it!
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Jolly
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Geaux Tigers!
Don't know about the long term durability, but this stuff is the schiznit when it comes to plumbing:

http://www.pexsupply.com/PEX-Plumbing-515000
The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros
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The 89th Key
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Earliest they can get here is on Wednesday. That's after being told the earliest was a week...prob a very busy time for contractors, so I'll take what I can get.
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Jane D'Oh
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Fulla-Carp
Reminds me of the time I was in our bathroom when I suddenly heard this huge noise next door, I left in a hurry certain that our neighbor was about to come through the wall any minute.

A couple of hours later we hear a huge screaming row as the wife gets home and discovers what has happened.

Turns out that while wife was out husband hears a drip which starts to annoy him. So he goes at the ceiling below his bathroom (and sort of diagonally down from our bathroom, hence the noise) with a sledge hammer to figure out what is making the noise. He manages to tear down the ceiling completely (I think that some alcohol was involved) and she gets home to discover the mess.

The next morning he was surprised to realize that he now needed to pay a contractor to come fix his ceiling.

And after all that the drip was in the basement.
Pfft.
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The 89th Key
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Oh wow!
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Qaanaaq-Liaaq
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Senior Carp
A funny thing about water leakage is that the dripping doesn’t always go straight down. This can make it harder to track down the source.

A damp spot on a ceiling might not be directly below where the leak is occurring. The water can travel for a distance by going diagonally along a wooden beam or something.

This happened to me once with a roof leak.

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sue
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HOLY CARP!!!
Qaanaaq-Liaaq
Jan 4 2010, 11:47 AM
A funny thing about water leakage is that the dripping doesn’t always go straight down. This can make it harder to track down the source.

A damp spot on a ceiling might not be directly below where the leak is occurring. The water can travel for a distance by going diagonally along a wooden beam or something.

This happened to me once with a roof leak.

Oh yeah. We have a flat roof, and have had lots o fun tracking down leaks over the years.


hope your shower to shower leak is as straightforward as it sounds, 89th.
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The 89th Key
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Update - well the drain connection to the pipe came down to the gasket that sealed the connection between the two. The folks before had (pointless) caulk there too ("hey, lets use caulk, it solves everything!" :rolleyes: ). At one point it looked like I was going to have to replace the entire shower pan (aka which means I have to replace everything, shower floor, door, tiles, etc) but the plumber tried putting in a new gasket (thicker, newer, etc) and it seems to have done the job! The ironic thing is because of the caulk the previous person put in, we were able to dig that out and have better access to put in a new gasket. So far it's bone dry (yes, I looked through the ceiling of the neighbor below me) but have to give it a week or two of usage before we can patch their ceiling back up and call it a day. Worst case scenario is it doesn't do the job and I need to put in a new shower (cringe even thinking about it), but let's hope it doesn't come to that please!

I use a lot of parenthesis.
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QuirtEvans
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
The 89th Key
Jan 5 2010, 09:06 AM
Update - well the drain connection to the pipe came down to the gasket that sealed the connection between the two. The folks before had (pointless) caulk there too ("hey, lets use caulk, it solves everything!" :rolleyes: ). At one point it looked like I was going to have to replace the entire shower pan (aka which means I have to replace everything, shower floor, door, tiles, etc) but the plumber tried putting in a new gasket (thicker, newer, etc) and it seems to have done the job! The ironic thing is because of the caulk the previous person put in, we were able to dig that out and have better access to put in a new gasket. So far it's bone dry (yes, I looked through the ceiling of the neighbor below me) but have to give it a week or two of usage before we can patch their ceiling back up and call it a day. Worst case scenario is it doesn't do the job and I need to put in a new shower (cringe even thinking about it), but let's hope it doesn't come to that please!

I use a lot of parenthesis.
Well, look on the bright side. I had to redo my shower entirely in the last year. At least you get it the way you want it ... the tile you want, the fixtures you want, etc.
It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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