Shower Leak

Hey All,
Been fighting this shower leak for what seems like ever. Worse part is that it doesn't seem to leak all the time. Have had several fresh pairs of eyes look at it but all seem clueless. Little back ground. It is a second floor fiber glass shower base with tiled walls and ceiling that leaks down through my kitchen ceiling. Done numorous recaulks including behind the faucet and shower head plates, Worse part is that through the hole in the ceiling, I just can't seem to get a good look at where the leak is actually coming from. Water takes the least path of resistance, I know. I can see the drain and thats not it. The bath room is tiled as is the stall so I'm really not anxious to start peeling tile. Might as well gut. Its a relatively old bath {maybe 20 plus} but no real noticable wear. Only leaks when I am on board. But couldn't make it leak when I had friends looking on. After one caulking, It didn't leak {or so I thought} for the longest time and I even closed up the hole and was ready to paint. My bad. Any way, quick showers, nothing noticable, longer ones show water. Could it be something faucet related when its turned on? Don't really know much about the different types of faucets but its a single handle. Would a repair kit be worth a try? Not even sure what brand it is. No names or numbers on it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the novel. Trying to avoid numorous questions. Thanks

It could be from the valve or the pipe to the showerhead. If you take off the trim plate, you should be able to see if the area is wet. My guess, though, is that the tiled walls were not installed properly and that it is likely that there is no mortar under the pan, which allows it to flex. If it has been doing this for awhile, there might be a bunch of wood rot and mold underneath things. Since it is 20-years old or so, maybe it is time to bite the bullet.

The tile, grout, and caulking slow the water, but the build structure is important to channel any water that gets behind it back where it can drain. There should be a vapor barrier behind the tiled walls that ends over the pan's flange. If that was installed, it shouldn't leak.

It is possible that the water is leaking around the door, through maybe some screw holes holding the door in place or maybe getting around the shower curtain, if it is there.

You might notice it more with one person verses another if one weighs more, causing the pan to deflect more.

There's no magic bullet to finding this leak. You need to start removing things one at a time. Start with the access panel behind the shower. If there isn't one, you'll have to make one. From there, you can eliminate the supply lines, riser pipe, shutoff valves, cartridge, overflow plate, and some of the drain as the cause. If you still can't track it down, you'll have to enlarge the hole in the ceiling below. You shouldn't need to remove any floor tile--just drywall.

By the way, have you totally eliminated the toilet as a posibility? Try flushing that a few times and see if you get any water leaking.

Thanks for the replies

Hey Eric,
Thanks for the reply. An access panel would be just super if there was one. I definately would of inspected that. The way the shower is set up, the shower valve and head side backs to where the tiolet is situated with a tiled wall seperating them. I wish life could be so easy especially since I'm trying to get this house ready for sale. Really don't need a bathroom gut right now. I noticed those faucet repair kits are relatively in expensive. Would it be worth while to give that a shot. The only thing with that is I have know idea what brand I have since there are no name or numbers. I have a picture of it though. Any web sites out there for comparison? Maybe I'm just grasping for straws. I'll have to give it a little more thought. Thanks again.

Making a hole in the wall for an access panel or a hole in the ceiling underneath isn't exactly a "bathroom gut".

If you post a photo of the faucet in question, someone here can probably tell you who makes it. But those repair kits you are talking about generally take care of leaky faucets that drip water inside the shower. You seem to have a different problem.