When I took a shower this morning, My wife noticed that downstairs was leaking from the ceiling. What causes this?

I had that happen when the caulk was no longer good around the base of the tub. If you shower curtain isn't catching all the water it can drip down between the floors.

You have a leak in your drain pipes or there is a leak in the water supply pipes. Would suggest you have this fixed as soon as possible and don't use the upstairs shower facility until it is fixed. Water damage can be very expensive to repair in ceilings, etc.

Well first tell us what type of shower you have and what type of fixtures are on it that might help us narrow it down a bit. (Is the shower ceramic tile or a shower tub combo etc)get back to us. AC

Szymanski:

Hi everyone... ;) I think we need to start at Ac101's suggestion here... describe shower unit and how old it is.

Then we will need to narrow this down to 1) tile (if present), 2) water, or 3) waste issue?

For now I am going to assume that you don't have a tile shower... let us know if you do.

If the shower unit is fiberglass is the floor spongy when you step into it..?

First thing I do when I get this call is check what Emland suggested... look at curtain and between shower and floor for water getting by (more common than you would think).

Second thing... take a few buckets of water and pour them down the drain... 10 or 20 gallons if possible and see if this leaks downstairs (make sure NOT to use the shower water for at least an hour or so before doing this test). If leaks downstairs then definitely a DRAIN issue and will probably need to open the ceiling to evaluate further (wait though 'till talk to us, OK?).

Then if issue still not clear, you want to REMOVE THE SHOWER VALVE HANDLE AND FACE PLATE... then with flashlight in hand run the shower and see if leaks behind the wall. Use the volume control knob if present during this test and make double sure not leaking from above at the shower head threads (inside wall).

Start at these tests and let us know what you discover... especially need to know if this is a custom tile shower unit... may be that the shower pan has failed... but again, guessing at this point so let us know more... ;)

And like TWINK said, after these tests, stop using this shower until issue resolved.

Get back to us... MARK

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