Hi,
I've got a bit of a problem here and I'm wondering if someone has some advice they could give me. I live in the upper unit of a condo that has upper and lower 2 story units. Our downstairs neighbour has noticed that when we shower she has a water leak in her unit. From the testing we've done, the water only leaks when the water going down the drain is hot. I can flush the toilet that's right next to the shower drain and there's no problem. I can also run cold water in the shower and there's no problem.

I've opened the wall and inspected the stack at the joint where the shower connects and it stays bone dry no matter how much it leaks in the lower unit. The water isn't leaking directly below the tub because it would drip into our kitchen and the ceiling there is dry.

My question is: has anyone ever heard of a problem like this before, and if so, is it expensive to fix?

I'm also curious what might have caused a leak like this (ie. Flushing the toilet right before or right after a hot shower)?

Thanks for any insight you might be able to provide,

ScottnJenn

Hi Scott and you too Jenn,
Since you mention both tub and shower I/m not sure if you have a leak in your shower or the tub leaks when you're showering in it. Drainage pipes expand when you run hot water through them so if it leaks with hot water and not with cold, that causes pipes to contract, then I would suspect a bad joint in the drain pipe. What material are your pipes made of? Until you can tell me where the leak's coming from I can't tell you how to repair it. That leak has to have a source. Start from where the downstairs owner saw the moisture and work back until you find it and when you do let me know and we'll see about fixing it. Cheers, Tom

Speedball1,
It's a combination tub/shower and the pipes are made of copper. Sorry for not being as clear as I should have, but I couldn't remember what the pipes were made of when I was writing my question. Your advice about tracking back the leak was good. I've traced the leak back to the joint where our downstairs toilet connects to the main stack. There's no leak when that toilet is flushed because it's cold water. It only appears to be an issue when the pipes heat up due to the large quantity of hot water used by the shower (especially when my wife takes a shower ;) ).

The good news is that since the leak is at the main stack the condo corporation will be paying for the repairs. I'll probably have to patch up the walls, but I can do that well enough. I'm just glad I don't have to try my hand at plumbing - especially since it's the drain for the toilet!

One final question - should I check to make sure they replace the fitting and don't just try to resolder it or wrap it with tape? There doesn't appear to be any cracks or holes in the fitting, but I've heard that it can be hard to properly resolder an existing joint.

ScottnJenn

"One final question - should I check to make sure they replace the fitting and don't just try to resolder it or wrap it with tape? There doesn't appear to be any cracks or holes in the fitting, but I've heard that it can be hard to properly resolder an existing joint."

If the fitting is copper then the fitting's OK and it can indeed be resoldered. You leak is so minor that it doesn't leak with cold water. This is a very tiny leak and should be resoldered with no problems. I'm glad the condo corp. is involved as the connection sounds like it's located in a common area. Good luck, Tom