[cpawithfins]

I have a stand alone shower in my master bath - 2nd floor - that has a small leak. I can't see where it is leaking the corners of the dry wall by the base were getting wet.

I noticed that the rubber pieces holding the glass in place had either shrunk or were cut to short to fit the space and assume water was getting in the grooves and running down into the wall.

I pulled the plastic pieces and caulked in the groves. This solved the problem with the right hand corner but not left. So, I took to the left hand side with two bottles of GE's Silicone 2 and now I have an impressive caulk wall and its still leaking (its a cermaic tile on the walls so I even went over some the grout thinking it might be that).

I've had someone out to look at it and they couldn't find anything specifically wrong and the suggestion was to replace the walls and doors and leave the base or replace the whole thing which would require drywall, tile, etc. with a cost of about $2.5K.

I'm thinkng about tackling this myself. What do you suggest? I'm leaning towards ripping it all out and replacing with shower/surrond system. What books websites should I look at before I do? Keep in mind I'm an Accountant=)

Thx!

[speedball1]

Let's see! You have a working shower that developed a small leak on one hand.
You had a service man out that couldn'r locate the leak and wants to replace the entire shower for $2500. Hmmm! Small leak on one hand and plunking down $2500 That would pay for one hellava HD Plasma TV or a cruse to Aruba on the other. Small leak Vs. cruse? My call? Fix the leak and take the cruse. It's been my experience that over time tile grout shrinks a bit. Before I did anything I would go over the tile grout with GE's Silicone 2 where the stream from the shower head hits the tile. That's where I find most of the tile shower leaks. Mine leaked out of the cornor and I worked silicone into the tile grout and the leak was gone. That was in 1993. Good luck, Tom

[cpawithfins]

Well, my father in law came over for dinner and I was able to talk him in to having a look.

He pulled the handle off the shower and the back plate to look for a leak there. Nothing.

He pulled the drain cap off and found that there was no caulk around the area where the drain sits in the base of the shower. So, I caulked in that area and two weeks later no leak.

His suspicion is that the water was getting under the drain into the base and then wicking up via a stud or something and getting the green board wet from behind.

Anyway, I don't have to replace the shower!!

[speedball1]

You owe your father in law a service call or a good dinner! Happy holidays! Tom