Here is my problem...

I was down in my basement to investigate a cable line issue and my girlfriend was using the shower (2nd floor of the house, we have two floors and a basement). I heard a trickling noise coming from the area of the basement that would be below the shower. It wasn't exactly Niagara Falls, but there was some water running down and a steady "ping ping ping" noise of water dripping. At a first glance, it appears to be coming from the pipe itself, but a) I'm not a plumber and b) the basement is very dimly lit.

Some house background... the house was rebuilt in 1977, though it could have been older, nobody really seems to know. The shower seems to be something new that was added in when they remodeled and decided to sell it halfway through the remodel over the past year. We just switched shower heads, but that does not seem to be the source of the leak. To the best of my knowledge, the toilet, washing machine, and sinks do not have any leaking issues, but we are going to dig a bit deeper to find out what we're dealing with tonight.

We already have someone with plumbing experience (he is our handyman for most everything we do, he has built houses from the ground up and has redone our electricity recently) coming over tonight or tomorrow night, but I want to know what kind of cost range I could be up against.

Does anyone have any ideas of what could be wrong and what kind of money I might be looking at shelling out? I appreciate anybody's input. Have a good day!

To fix the problem you first have to locate the source of the leak. It could be a faulty drain seal, in which case you would see the water leaking from around the reain if you opened up the ceiling up to look. It could also be tile grout that has shrunk and allowed water to leak behind the shower pan in the wall. You may have to open up the ceiling and check. Let me know. Tom

Which ceiling? The ceiling on the 1st floor right under the shower or the basement ceiling? It's an unfinished basement, so there really is not a ceiling... just flooring for the 1st floor. There don't seem to be any water spots on the first floor ceiling, which leads me to believe that the pipe issue is down near the 1st floor/basement ceiling... but I'm not even close to an expert. This is just what I can visually see. I'm just trying to avoid tearing apart the house if possible. Thanks, sir.

I heard a trickling noise coming from the area of the basement that would be below the shower. It wasn't exactly Niagara Falls, but there was some water running down and a steady "ping ping ping" noise of water dripping. At a first glance, it appears to be coming from the pipe I would open up the area I hear the dripping noise. Until you know exactly what's leaking you can't even begin to repair it. Check it out and let's get started on a repair. Tom