Hi - hopefully someone can answer my question for me. Recently I had my main upstairs bathroom renovated. I didn't do any of it myself, but hired a contractor to do it. The old bathtub was removed, a new tiled walk-in shower with full glass doors was installed. New drywall throughout, new tile floor, etc.

The job was finished a month ago and everything has been working perfectly - until last night. I noticed that there is a water stain on the ceiling in the room right below where the new shower is. The stain is new, only a day or so old. At first I thought it might be a problem with our roof, but upon further inspection, the only spot in the house with the water damage is the ceiling in the basement.

I had a long shower last night then immediately afterwards went downstairs and yep - you can actually hear a dripping of water on the ceiling below where I'm assuming the drain is.

So my question is: is this a drain problem, a pipe problem, something that was installed improperly, or all of the above? I find it hard to believe it could develop after a month of having absolutely no problems with it. I'm no plumbing expert, but I'm wondering if it has something to do with the drain in the floor - since admittedly, I'm a 'long shower' kind of guy. Shorter showers don't seem to cause problems. Or am I just imagining that? If it's a pipe problem, it'd happen right off the bat, no?

I called the contractor who did the job and he's coming out tomorrow morning to have a look. Just not sure what to expect - will he have to take out a chunk of the ceiling to see what the problem is? Should I expect to have to pay for his time, or would this be covered under his own warranty of work provided?

Any thoughts would be REALLY appreciated. Thanks.

Blair

This should be fixed by the contractor. Many states have laws regarding warranted work and you should check into that before he comes just in case he says he doesn't cover your leak.

Lets wait and see what the contractor has to say. And please do keep us posted.

Now, whatever he finds, it should be of no charge to you, unless there happens to be some strange circumstance that is not related to the reno. Any good contractor will cover his work for at least a year. Most likely the ceiling will have to be opened up. This may be an annoyance to you, but if they will cover all expenses and fix the problem in a timely manner, think of it as a contractor that is willing to stand behind their work, rather than them not doing it right the first time. These things happen, sometimes from shoddy work, but just as often from plain bad luck. We are all human after all? Give the contractor a chance to make this right, and like I said, please let us know how things work out.

So basically, we know there is a leak. The contractor or his plumbing sub should fix the leak and any damage caused by the leak at any cost. This is what separates good contractors from fly by nighters. All in all, you will know what kind of contractor you hired at the end of this process. Good luck and take care.

All great answers! But you can do a little checking yourself before he comes. To check for a drain leak remove the strainer and jam some damp rags in the drain to close it off. Fill the base with a inch or so of water and watch the ceiling for fresh moisture. If you see any you have a ruptured drain seal.
If that checks dry then drain the base and put the strainer back.
The next check is the tile grout, Run the shower so it hits the tile wall where you shower. If you see fresh moisture then the leak's in the tile grout. That's about all you can do short of opening up the ceiling and checking the trap and drainage pipes. Good luck and let me know what he finds. Tom

Thanks so much to everyone who gave suggestions for my dripping water/shower problem. As it turns out, it's a silly problem.

Just to troubleshoot, I dumped a large bowl of water in the shower drain then quickly ran downstairs to check if I could hear water dripping (thinking it must be a drain problem). Nothing. No water. Then I got down on my hands and knees and started inspecting the shower floor. Everything looked fine, until... there's a section of tile where the curb has been built where the grout is gone (either it cracked, or shifted, or whatever). Anyway, I took another bowl of water and dumped it on that part, ran downstairs, and yep - water dripping. Problem solved.

And for what it's worth, the contractor is coming out to fix the problem tomorrow and said he warranties his work and materials for one year, and will come out and fix any issues that may arise in that year.

Thanks again!

Blair

Thanks for the update. Best of luck.