Hi everyone,
My wife and I recently purchased a mid-60's house. She was taking a bath recently (with a lot of water flowing into the overflow drain) and I discovered a considerable amount of water running down the block wall under the bathroom. When she drained the tub, the water dried up. As we've had no problems while using the shower, I'm fairly sure that the problem is a faulty overflow gasket, which I was planning to replace myself. (From reading the forum, I guess I still need to try the half-full tub test...)
I am a bit hesitant though, because should something go wrong, the business end of the tub is pretty much inaccessable, otherwise. From beneath, the furnace completlely obstructs the ceiling, and from the back, the kitchen cabinets would have to come out.
I guess what I'm asking is: in your experience, what is the risk of making a small problem into a big one if I go noodling around with these drain pipes? In your experience, are the stresses put on the pipes when doing this sort of repair ever sufficient to disrupt seals and such deeper into the drain pipe? I have no idea how old they might be.
Also, how much variability is there in overflow gaskets? Can I just walk into a hardware store and tell them I need an bathtub overflow gasket or do I need to bring the old one to match?
Clearly, I'm very naive about these things, and any advice is very much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
My wife and I recently purchased a mid-60's house. She was taking a bath recently (with a lot of water flowing into the overflow drain) and I discovered a considerable amount of water running down the block wall under the bathroom. When she drained the tub, the water dried up. As we've had no problems while using the shower, I'm fairly sure that the problem is a faulty overflow gasket, which I was planning to replace myself. (From reading the forum, I guess I still need to try the half-full tub test...)
I am a bit hesitant though, because should something go wrong, the business end of the tub is pretty much inaccessable, otherwise. From beneath, the furnace completlely obstructs the ceiling, and from the back, the kitchen cabinets would have to come out.
I guess what I'm asking is: in your experience, what is the risk of making a small problem into a big one if I go noodling around with these drain pipes? In your experience, are the stresses put on the pipes when doing this sort of repair ever sufficient to disrupt seals and such deeper into the drain pipe? I have no idea how old they might be.
Also, how much variability is there in overflow gaskets? Can I just walk into a hardware store and tell them I need an bathtub overflow gasket or do I need to bring the old one to match?
Clearly, I'm very naive about these things, and any advice is very much appreciated. Thanks in advance!