[JAR1000]

Hi all -- please help!

I've just purchased a house (my first).

The bathroom has a concrete floor. The shower has a concrete floor as well which is elevated about two inches from the bathroom floor. On two sides, the shower is glassed in and the floor sits inside a concrete "frame" that is about 3 inches high and 4 inches wide. (so you step up three inches and then step down only an inch onto the shower floor -- I hope that makes sense.) tiled walls make up the other two sides of the shower.

There is a leak. After a few minutes of running the shower, water seeps out from along the seam where the bathroom floor meets the frame of the shower on one side. The water seems to escape most quickly from the corner where the shower frame abuts the wall. But when I held a towel against that exit point, the water continued to seep out along the length of the frame, so it does not appear the leak is isolated to the corner, but instead runs along the length of the frame.

The water appears to drain and then seep out. My fear is that there is some problem with the shower pan (assuming there even is a shower pan!) -- maybe it rusted through, but that doesn't seem to make much sense. If I caulk the seam where it is leaking, I am concerned that will just be masking the bigger problem of the apparent fact that water is not being contained by the shower pan and is somehow seeping under the 4-inch wide concrete frame of the shower. (I had the shower drain pip snaked and there is no back up, so drainage doesn't seem to be the problem.

Any suggestions on what to do? Is there a way to assess and hopefully fix the problem without tearing up the concrete?

Thanks!

[Milo Dolezal]

It depends... Let's see what you have:

First, make sure it doesn't leak along side of the shower enclosure (walls and curb)... Also, look for large cracks in shower pan floor.

Do you have shampoo niche built into shower wall? These niches are not sealed therefore leak very often...

You may also have a problem with your shower pan. Shower pan must be hot mopped or have PVC liner. If it doesn't than it will leak. See if it has one of these two water-proofing membranes: remove drain cover ( 2 small s.s. screws). Look inside. About 2" inside the drain you should see either tar like residue or edge of PVC liner ( gray or red )