My downstairs neighbor is complaining that his ceiling and wall has moisture and bubbling. This area is in his bathroom, directly under our bathtub. It starts on the ceiling and then runs down the side of his wall. (Our bathroom is stacked in the same set up as his.) He never told anyone of the moisture when it began, and months later - now that he has notified us of a problem, he is complaining of extensive water damage. We live in a condo, so if it is our pipes leaking, he is arguing that it is our expense.

Is it possible that we would have shared pipes in this area between our bathrooms?

We took off our bathtub faucet to see if there was moisture coming from there, but it is dry as a bone. Because of where his moisture and bubbling is, it seems that it might be coming from the bathtub drain. Again, could this be a shared pipe?

We have no visible leaks or water damage in our bathroom, so we cannot determine the source of the leak without opening his ceiling wall. We will be doing this next week, however I'm curious if there is any possibility that it is not a leak in our pipes...

I appreciate any advice!

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Originally Posted by henry56

My downstairs neighbor is complaining that his ceiling and wall has moisture and bubbling. This area is in his bathroom, directly under our bathtub. It starts on the ceiling and then runs down the side of his wall. (Our bathroom is stacked in the same set up as his.) He never told anyone of the moisture when it began, and months later - now that he has notified us of a problem, he is complaining of extensive water damage. We live in a condo, so if it is our pipes leaking, he is arguing that it is our expense.

Is it possible that we would have shared pipes in this area between our bathrooms?

We took off our bathtub faucet to see if there was moisture coming from there, but it is dry as a bone. Because of where his moisture and bubbling is, it seems that it might be coming from the bathtub drain. Again, could this be a shared pipe?

We have no visible leaks or water damage in our bathroom, so we cannot determine the source of the leak without opening his ceiling wall. We will be doing this next week, however I'm curious if there is any possibility that it is not a leak in our pipes...

I appreciate any advice!

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If there is no floor above you then it is most likely the tub drain leaking. The plumbing drain system is a multifamily setup is all interconnected for waste drain and venting. The difference is that each apartment is plumbed to where there is no backflow or common drain that is not fully enclosed with its own p-trap containment. In other words , his wet ceiling and paint blistering is due to a leak above his tub. Also note that there could be a possibility that the water pipe supply is leaking and draining in the walls. That is a building owner problem if it is old galvanized pipe joint leakages within the walls. See what you have as far as old piping first. Do not cut into anything as you will be liable for the repair. Nm

Quote:

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Originally Posted by henry56

My downstairs neighbor is complaining that his ceiling and wall has moisture and bubbling. This area is in his bathroom, directly under our bathtub. It starts on the ceiling and then runs down the side of his wall. (Our bathroom is stacked in the same set up as his.) He never told anyone of the moisture when it began, and months later - now that he has notified us of a problem, he is complaining of extensive water damage. We live in a condo, so if it is our pipes leaking, he is arguing that it is our expense.

Is it possible that we would have shared pipes in this area between our bathrooms?

We took off our bathtub faucet to see if there was moisture coming from there, but it is dry as a bone. Because of where his moisture and bubbling is, it seems that it might be coming from the bathtub drain. Again, could this be a shared pipe?

We have no visible leaks or water damage in our bathroom, so we cannot determine the source of the leak without opening his ceiling wall. We will be doing this next week, however I'm curious if there is any possibility that it is not a leak in our pipes...

I appreciate any advice!

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If he is telling you that this has been ongoing and not telling anyone then he is not entitled to the severity of the damage since he was neglect in exposing a problem.
Water and sewer piping is mostly common use pipe in condo's but they got clever and made you responsible for anything 'within your property'. Find out what 'within your property' legally is.
I have seen many of these same situations concerning a leak above a like fixture and usually it is either spillage or splash from the tub or shower and the proof is cracks between the tub and floor and mold or water stain on the wall near the tub and wood trim that has swollen and separated. The next thing to look at is the overflow. If it was the drain his problems would have been considerably worse and he would not have waited.