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nagala · Jan 7, 2009, 07:36 PM

For years, I've had a small amount of water in the crawl space under my house. Directly above that is my wife's bathroom. We had a towel rack hung above the toilet with some very unsturdy screws. Yesterday, the towel rack fell, exposing a larger mushy hole. So I started pulling back the drywall, which was rotten. A PVC pipe is obviously leaking on the other side of the wall and has ruined the wall. It had been hidden because of the wallpaper which was painted over. Upstairs directly above that is another full bath, and I'm assuming both the toilet, bath and sink would all drain through this pipe? Correct me if I'm wrong. When I flush the toilet upstairs, obviously there is some flow down the outside of the pipe.
Here's my question.
I realize I'm going to have to replace the drywall in the downstairs bathroom. So I'll just start low and go to the ceiling pulling it off? Will I be able to access the joint or fitting that is leaking? If not, where would I go next? Into the ceiling of the downstairs bathroom or the floor of the upstairs bathroom? Any help or advice would be great.

massplumber2008 · Jan 7, 2009, 08:07 PM

Hi Nagala:

YUP! Open the wall and see what you find first. Have a strong light and rags available to inspect the pipe as you TEST for the leak by flushing toilet/draining tub and sink from upstairs.

If that reveals nothing obvious then pop back and we'll see what steps to take next... ;)

Let us know...

MARK

21boat · Jan 7, 2009, 11:17 PM

Is also very possibly the toilet wax ring could be leaking. They don't always leak out on the floor by the toilet. If you run the sink and the try the bathtub and no leak I would head to the toilet and if that makes it leak its worth to pull the wax ring and check before tearing out floor and ceilings. A wax ring is $1.98 and 1/2 hr of time to reset at most.
See what the flashlight shows. Good Luck we area all curious

Signed 21 Boat

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nagala · Jan 8, 2009, 07:41 PM

Thanks to you both. I don't think it's a wax ring because it's still leaking even with the water off on the toilet and the water from the faucet in the upstairs tub still has a steady stream from a leak in it, so I'm having THAT fixed this weekend. I've started a blog so you can all laugh at me as I destroy my house if you're interested. :)

http://hammeredthumb.blogspot.com/

massplumber2008 · Jan 8, 2009, 07:57 PM

Nagala..

Is this just a hole in the pvc pipe? And the water is coming from the faucet at the tub upstairs and won't shut off..?

If this is all true then shut off the main water pipe and go get some plastic epoxy putty over at home depot. Bring it home, scuff the hole and pipe up with sandpaper and then knead the epoxy putty and use to patch hole as indicated on the package.

Let dry 15 minutes or so and then turn water supply back on. That should buy you some time until the plumber can look at it and give his recommendations...

Feel like tackling the leak at the tub yourself?

Let me know more...

MARK

nagala · Jan 8, 2009, 08:16 PM

No, the leak is from the faucet in the tub, which is about 10 feet away from this pvc pipe that I can see water coming down (as seen in the photo). So it can't be the tub drain itself leaking. It's just that the constant water coming out of the tap (more than a drip) is constantly in the drain, and also hitting the inside wall because of this. I imagine that had it not been for the faucet leaking, I'd have never known because it would have been short times of water coming down the drain at a time instead of all day and night. It's not a fast leak, but if you put some tissue paper to the pipe, it'll be soaked in less than a minute. So I guess that really is a fast leak, but you get what I mean. I'm stopping the shower faucet leak, then the drain leak.
And I have tried to fix the shower before, but I have no idea what I'm doing. It's the kind where you pull out on a knob for pressure and left or right for hot and cold. It's just a slow flow, and if I put pressure on the knob either way without turning it, it'll stop or at least slow.
A friend came over and said he just had to change like a cartridge or something in his, but mine is different. There isn't really a part to be able to take out of the faucet. It's just like a big piece that I can't get to because of the tub in the way. I can take a pic if I'm not describing it right. My house was built in the 70s if that helps.

nagala · Jan 8, 2009, 08:19 PM

Dangit. I just posted a long response and it's not here? TEST

nagala · Jan 8, 2009, 08:20 PM

Originally Posted by nagala

Dangit. I just posted a long response and it's not here? TEST

OK, it showed up. My bad. Ignore this and the post above it.

massplumber2008 · Jan 8, 2009, 08:21 PM

Let us know what the plumber finds... :)

Have a good night!

nagala · Jan 18, 2009, 02:20 PM

Originally Posted by massplumber2008

Let us know what the plumber finds...:)

Have a good night!

Sorry, it's been a while. I was able to fix the leaky faucet by changing the cartridge. I previously didn't know that there was such a thing in a faucet. I'm THAT ignorant. Haha
And I found the leak in the drain, which was what looks like a screw gouge in the pvc right at the edge of the joint, causing it to come out when water was in it. So that turned out to be a blessing that it was in a relatively accessible spot. Now I'm learning to hang and repair drywall. Haha. Thanks for all the help. I've been updating my blog during the process if you're bored and/or interested. I figure that any time I do work on my home, I'll just blog about it and have that be the sole purpose of the blog. :)
Thanks for the help!

This Old House