[Lv2drft]

The floor on the lowest story of our two story condo puddles up with water when we take a shower. We only have one shower and it's upstairs. I've inspected the puddle source quite carefully and it is definitely NOT coming from the ceiling of the downstairs area. So it appears it is not the drain pan or tub caulking of the shower tub. The walls are not damp, brittle or discolored nor is the ceiling of the area beneath our shower. It looks like the leak is coming from some part of the drainage system near the floor of the bottom level of our house.

With that said the question is: how would one go about addressing this problem? I'm trying to save on the cost of a plumber, so if anyone knows how to do this alone, please give me some pointers. If a plumber will definitely be needed, what would be a reasonable cost to expect so I know I'm not getting ripped off? I'll also add that my wife has a problem with clogging up the drain with her hair. Right now water can still go down the drain but you can tell there's some "backup." as I stated earlier, I already know the leak is not coming from anything in the actual upstairs level where the shower is, but I'm thinking that possibly her hair made it down the drainage pipe and got stuck at the lower level floor area. Maybe there's some kind of final gooseneck somewhere down there? Anybody have any experience with this kind of problem? Thanks in advance for any help!

[joypulv]

What's under the lower floor?
Is there a baseboard around the room in the lower room that water could leak under?
I agree that hair is clogging a trap or bend and it shouldn't be too hard to locate it. You can measure a snake down the drain until it hits something and go from there.
Then, for $2 you can put a plastic hair trap in the shower. There are ones that look like a wide brimmed mesh hat and don't have to be down in the drain.

[Lv2drft]

If only she would allow me to put a plastic hair trap in. Had one installed before and she kept removing it because she didn't like how it made the water pool up. Women...

[joypulv]

That's why I suggested the filter that is above the drain, not in it.
Even an upside down stainless steel kitchen sink trap works and isn't kicked aside as easily if standing right over it.

Approximately half of us on this site, some even answering plumbing questions, are women, so watch it.

[mygirlsdad77]

Hi all,

Even if the drain is plugged up, you should not have any water puddling anywhere except IN the shower stall. Unless the water is coming up a floor drain. Odds are there is a leak in the drain line either in the wall, or (hopefully not) under the basement floor. Only way to resolve this would be to locate where the drain line runs down in the wall, open up the wall and see where exactly the leak is. Then, once you find the leak, let us know what kind of pipe it is, where the leak is, and what kind of access to the leak you have. We may then be able to talk you through repairing the leaking portion. Good luck and please let us know what you find.

[Lv2drft]

Ok thanks all for the help. I completely forgot our HOA covered this kind of thing. Plumber just stopped by and determined it was a broken "overflow cap" is what I think he called it. I didn't see the moist wall portion because it was blocked by the washing machine. Thanks for all your help. Thanks to the women experts as well :) and to all the women in the world who are smart enough to use hair stoppers :)

[mygirlsdad77]

Glad you got it fixed. Yep overflow is a common area of leakage, didn't even think about that. Thanks for the update.