Hello everyone and thanks in advance for any help.

Just bought a new house 2 months ago and one of the upstairs showers seems to be leaking. We already cut out a section of the ceiling to get a better look, and it looks like the previous owner was aware of it or something because previous repairs were made (it was rented before we bought it so we figured the renter saw the problem, "fixed it," and stopped using the bathroom just in case).

Anyway, caulked the whole bathroom and it is definitley coming from the shower. There isn't a tile floor so it wouldn't be the gout. The water from the ceiling is leaking from in between two pieces of wood that make up one of the joists.

We thought it was maybe the rubber O-Ring that was the problem. We were able to get it out of the drain pretty easily, which makes us believe even more that's the problem because shouldn't it be pretty tough to take out? I've looked at other posts that mention the shower pan, but the leak isn't that bad and the drain drains quickly.

Any thoughts? I have order an O-Ring (Fiat) but wanted to see if there was anything else I should be aware of.

Thanks.

Your supply pipes or mixer could be leaking as well as the drain leaking. A leaking floor pan is your third option. Fill a bucket with water and then pour it into your shower. If the leak start it is a bad floor. No leak, bad supply or mixer. Emove the handle and bezel on the shower mixer and look inside with a flashlight. Come back and tell me what you see>

Thanks for the reply. We have already looked behind the handle at it was dry as a bone. I'll try the shower floor idea next and see if there is anything.

I did have another question though; does all of this testing cause any kind of permanent damage to the walls/house? It's not a ton of water coming through, but every time we try something new, more water leaks into the walls and through the hole in the ceiling. Assuming we cut out all of the rotted parts of the ceiling, will everything still be OK for the long haul?

Your testing probably isn't causing much more damage but you do need to pin this down and get the repair started. I would leave the ceiling open for a few weeks once the leak is fixed. This will allow thye wood to dry out.