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LucyGucy · Dec 9, 2004, 06:55 AM

Hi... recently I took a trip down into the basement where my washer and dryer or located... I noticed there was dripping coming from the ceiling... and also took note that the shower which is one floor above the basement was in use... it seems that it only drips off the beams when the shower in in use for a long time... my husband and I want to repair this ourselves... we can see where the shower pipe is in the basement, but it seems that the drip must be traveling about 6 feet away from this... we really can't see any water dripping from the pipe itself... I know leaks can be tricky and not from the actual site... it deff. Has something to do with the shower running... what should be our first step...

Thank you Pam

speedball1 · Dec 9, 2004, 07:25 AM

Good morning Lucy,
Water doesn't always act the way you want it to. Like electricity it will take the path of least resistance. You could notice moisture feet away from the leak. Your first priority should be to localize the leak. Ya can't fix it if you don't know where it's at. So let's start to nail it down. I've found that most shower leaks don't come from faulty drains or pipes. They occur when the shower stream hits tile grout that has shrunk over the years and allows water to run down inside the wall. So where does that leave us? Tile leak or drain leak? We start by the process of elimination.
Tonight before you go to bed, block off the shower drain. I usually do this by removing the strainer and packing wet rags in the drain. Next fill the shower pan with one inch of water and let it set over night. You are testing the shower pan and the drain for leaks. No water coming out in the basement? Good! Now let the water out of the shower pan and check the basement for fresh moisture. Still dry? Great! That checks out the drain pipes That only leaves one possibility. The tile grout. You are left with options here. You can call in a tile man and regrout the tiles or you can purchase a tube of clear silicon grout and go over the tile grout where the stream hits it and runs down the tile wall to the shower floor. Hope this helps, good luck and thanks for using us. Tom

LucyGucy · Dec 9, 2004, 09:45 AM

Tom, thank you for answering... we just had the plumber up... he said he believes it is a grout problem... like you said... the grout looks in pretty good shape... but he did point out some spots along the metal framing where it looked like it never had been sealed... the obvious looked fine... so we are going to clean it up real good... throw a space heater in the tub... for awhile... dry it and then try sealing it...

Thank you very much for your help... Pam

speedball1 · Dec 9, 2004, 12:44 PM

Hi Pam,
You look like you have the situation well in hand. Am I forgiven for calling you Lucy?