I was having carpet replaced in a bedroom and noticed mildew under the carpet at a wall that is adjacent to a shower in another room. I ran the shower and can see water slowly seeping under the 2x4 wall frame at the base of the wall that joins the bedroom and the shower. My home is on a slab and the shower is a tile stand alone shower (no bathtub).

What is the best approach to find exactly where the leak in the shower is coming from?

Thank you for your assistance.

Let me ask you few questions first:

1. Who build the shower pan ? You ? Was it there already when you bought the house ?
2. Any repairs done to your shower faucet recently ?
3. Did you replace shower head ?
4. Did you have shower door installed recently ?

Back to you... Milo

Shower pan was installed 7 years ago by previous owner after they had a leak to the same room from the same shower. No recent repairs have been done to the shower. We would not have known about the leak if the flooring was not being replaced.

I recaulked around the base of the shower and along a lot of the grout at the lower levels of the shower today. I was going to let the caulk set oversinght and run the shower to see if it leaks tomorrow. I may also plug drain hole and pour water into the base of the showere to look for leaks. Is this a good approach.

Thanks again

I'm a Florida plumber and all of our first floor showers are on slabs. As a rule we dap out and hot mop a shower floor on a slab. Would this be a tile floor or a manufactured shower base?
Would the moisture that you see on the floor be on the same wall the shower stream hits when you're showering?
Back to you, Tom

The stream hits that wall and the rear wall the most, I believe.

I recaulked around the base of the shower and along a lot of the grout at the lower levels of the shower today. I was going to let the caulk set oversinght and run the shower to see if it leaks tomorrow. I may also plug drain hole and pour water into the base of the showere to look for leaks. Is this a good approach.

Thanks again


It is a ceramic tile shower floor and all the walls are ceramic tile

the stream hits that wall In that case I'd be giving a hard look at the tile grout on that wall before tearing anything up. Tile grout has a way of shrinking over time and allowing the water to leak past the shower pan onto the floor.
To test the pan seal off the drain and fill the shower withy a inch of water. Watch for moisture.
Good luck, Tom

I conducted the shower pam test by letting water sit in he base of the shower for several hours. It seemd to pass this test with no leaks. I them put caulk over the grout lines and ran the showere for a while after it dried. I saw no leaks.

But then I took a showere today and noticed a little leaking into the adjacent bedroom.. ARGHHH!!

Guess I will put more caulk over the gout lines as a next step and try that.

Any other suggestions?
Thanks again