We just bought an old house. The ceiling on the first floor bathroom is leaking. Right above thecleak is the second floor bathroom where the tub meets the wall that has the shower head. There is a continuous leak from the bath spout. There is also leak on the bath floor where te bath tub meets the floor and the wall that houses the shower. We opened up the wall that had the shower knobs to turn the water on just above the spout and the pipes there llooks dry. A plumber told us that we will have to open up the whole first floor ceiling to see what's wrong. Can you please suggest what we can do to check what the problem really is and suggest possible cure. We cannot afford opeining up the whole ceiling. Also there are no access panels to the tub. If we had to cut one should this be done on the wall that houses the shower? Please also refer us to a picture of what we should expect to find once we can view under the tub. Thanks for all your help.

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Originally Posted by dassuzan

We just bought an old house. The ceiling on the first floor bathroom is leaking. Right above thecleak is the second floor bathroom where the tub meets the wall that has the shower head. There is a continuous leak from the bath spout. There is also leak on the bath floor where te bath tub meets the floor and the wall that houses the shower. We opened up the wall that had the shower knobs to turn the water on just above the spout and the pipes there llooks dry. A plumber told us that we will have to open up the whole first floor ceiling to see what's wrong. Can you please suggest what we can do to check what the problem really is and suggest possible cure. We cannot afford opeining up the whole ceiling. Also there are no access panels to the tub. If we had to cut one should this be done on the wall that houses the shower? Please also refer us to a picture of what we should expect to find once we can view under the tub. Thanks for all your help.

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Valves to shut off the supply to the second floor tub/shower? From your post it sounds as if the tub may be the source of the leak but you seem unsure as you indicate this is also where the shower wall may be the source? If you remove the tub, you are likely to find little more that whatever flooring is under it and hopefully the leak itself. One would hope you could sort out whether the tub drain or tub supply is at fault before removing the tub or even better that the supply be shut off thus allowing things to dry up a bit making it easier to troubleshoot. Take a look at Lasco's or Koehler's website for more photos or drawing otherwise there is not much to see but the drain and supply pipes when the tub is absent from its place.
http://www.lascobathware.com/index.htm
http://www.us.kohler.com/index.jsp