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Hi, I am a single female with zero mechanical skills, and I need plumbing advice.
My 20 year old home has two upstairs bathrooms. I recently noticed water leaking through a cold air return in the ceiling of my downstairs laundry room. After a week or two of observation, I found that is only seems to leak after the shower is used in the smaller of my two bathrooms upstairs. This bathroom is not directly over the laundry room where the water is leaking.
I called a plumber who looked at it and said that he could find no leak after taking apart the shower and the faucet, and that the leak would have to be found by cutting a hole in the wall of the bedroom that is behind that shower. He was not interested in doing the job.
I called a second plumber who said basically the same thing, and was supposed to call me back with an estimate. He didn't seem interested in the job, and I wasn't surprised when he never called back with an estimate.
My questions: do plumbers normally cut through a wall to find and repair a leak, or do I need to call a carpenter or drywall repair person to do this? If I have someone else cut a hole in the wall will a plumber be more likely to do the repair?
Is there a way to isolate the source of the leak so that I know where it is coming from? Is it likely to be coming from the drain? Or the top part where the shower head goes behind the wall?
The shower in that bathroom cannot be used until the repair is done because the water leak became quite severe the last time it was used.
Thank you for any advice or suggestions you can offer.
Do you only have a stand alone shower, or a combination shower/tub in that bathroom? If it's a combination shower/tub unit then try filling the tub about half full of water and let it sit for a few hours. Do you notice any water leaking from the ceiling in the laundry room? If so then you might have a weak seal around the drain.
If not then open the drain stopper and allow the water to drain out. Do you notice any water leaking from the ceiling in the laundry room? If so then you might have a crack in the drain line itself.
If no water is leaking from either of those "tests", but only leaks when you're using the shower, then a fitting for the shower pipe (from the diverter valve to the shower head) might be leaking, or the shower pipe itself has developed a hole or crack.
As for your question, Yes, plumbers have to cut into walls all the time to get to the pipes inside the wall. They should be able to fix the wall afterwards.
If not then you'll have to call in a sheetrock repair guy.
Thank you! I am at work now and will try the tests when I get home.
I didn't know if plumbers cut holes in walls themselves, so I thought maybe that is why neither plumber was interested in the job.
I appreciate your reply.
No problem at all.
Sheetrocking isn't all that difficult, but it does require enough time for the joint compound to dry. Then sand it smooth. Then primer the area. Allow that to dry. Then paint. Allow that to dry. Etc.
And, if you have textured walls, then there's an added step in getting the texturing to match, etc.
Those plumbers probably didn't want to have to come back two or three times to finish the sheetrock repair.
You could also after the test, have the plumber repair the problem. Make a deal with the plumber to repair the problem and you can have a sheetrock person come in a repair the sheetrock. If the plumber knows the sheetrock repair is NOT part of the estimate he/she will be more likely to want to do the repair. You can then have a sheetrock or handyman repair the damage left by the plumber. It's better to have fixed the problem and have a damaged wall then to let it sit and wait.
In my experience (limited, since I do most of these types of repairs myself), the plumber usually cuts the hole but doesn't repair it afterward. They usually have a drywall guy that they contract with for the repair so you only have one bill, but most will just fix the plumbing and leave the hole for you to deal with if you prefer. Homeowners sometimes go this route if they have a friend/parent/cousin/whatever who will repair a small job like this for a 6-pack.
If the water is showing at the ceiling of the laundry, and the shower isn't over the laundry, but the plumber couldn't find anything at the shower (above the floor) then that would lead me to believe that the leak is in the ceiling. And cutting a hole in the wall behind the shower valve will do nothing. I believe the hole will need to be cut in the ceiling below the shower.
In other words- it's not a supply leak, it's a drain leak.
And as previously mentioned- plumbers usually contract with a d/wall contractor to do the repairs and of course pad the bill to make a little off of that.
You could save a few dollars by finding your own d/wall guy. Or just keep the one call that's all- and be done with it.
If the water is showing at the ceiling of the laundry, and the shower isn't over the laundry, but the plumber couldn't find anything at the shower (above the floor) then that would lead me to believe that the leak is in the ceiling. And cutting a hole in the wall behind the shower valve will do nothing. I believe the hole will need to be cut in the ceiling below the shower.
In other words- it's not a supply leak, it's a drain leak.
And as previously mentioned- plumbers usually contract with a d/wall contractor to do the repairs and of course pad the bill to make a little off of that.
You could save a few dollars by finding your own d/wall guy. Or just keep the one call that's all- and be done with it.
I did ask him why the leak was over the laundry room and not directly under the shower. He said that the water was probably running along the ceiling until it found the air return over the laundry room then dripped down through it.
A couple of years ago the toilet in that bathroom overflowed, and the water ran down into the laundry room through the light fixture which is next to the air return. So maybe the ceiling slopes down a little to that point? There isn't a noticable slope, but I thought that might explain it.
There are MANY honest and fairly priced plumbing contracting firms that operate in the Chicago region that have the staff to do this job correctly.
I would NOT recommend trying to do this "piecemeal". Odds are that the drain is the problem BUT it could be the valve or the tile/ surround or some combination of all of these. Worst case you will need the firm that does the work to demolish any rotten wood and reframe the whole thing.
Firms that have the staff and expertise to rebuild the structure and install tile / surround in the proper manner and use the right materials for drain and supply / control valve will charge more than some randomn dry wall guy and random plumber, both of whom can do the whole "blame the other bloke / that's not my yob" game if they don't fix things properly...
Quote:
Originally Posted by K'ledgeBldr
If the water is showing at the ceiling of the laundry, and the shower isn't over the laundry, but the plumber couldn't find anything at the shower (above the floor) then that would lead me to believe that the leak is in the ceiling. And cutting a hole in the wall behind the shower valve will do nothing. I believe the hole will need to be cut in the ceiling below the shower.
In other words- it's not a supply leak, it's a drain leak.
And as previously mentioned- plumbers usually contract with a d/wall contractor to do the repairs and of course pad the bill to make a little off of that.
You could save a few dollars by finding your own d/wall guy. Or just keep the one call that's all- and be done with it.
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Well, in my neck of the woods...
