Water under flooring

Inspektor Ludwig said:

Jad has a point,
the shower pan is always something that could have problems. Did you install the pan yourself or have tile guy do it? Did you use a rubber membrane and a weepflange?

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The shower pan came with the house and I didn't remove the tiles from the floor during the remodel. The house was built in 1948.

It would be a thought, maybe I can lift the flooring around the shower and somehow test it for leaks. It will be tough because I installed the floor in one piece. Maybe I can make one cut down the middle or something.

I would plug the drain then fill the pan with water to top of threshold. Mark the water level and let it sit for 24 hours. See if it drops.

Inspektor Ludwig said:

This may be a little messy, if your not sure it's the toilet and you're going to pull up the floor anyway, you could try and put a little food coloring in the bowl and flush a few times to see if you spot any color. It's effective but as I said a little messy, don't use too much but it should tell you if it's the toilet. If you're going to replace the wax ring (if that's the problem) and your going to stack them, I've had luck with the bottom ring of just wax and the 2nd ring a wax ring with a "horn" in it. Set the toilet on the rings and be sure to sit on it before you screw the bolts down. Hope this helps, just an idea.

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or... you could put alittle bit of blue food coloring in the snow on the roof, Actually, use purple there, blue in the bowl, and this will also entertain the kids if you got any.

Ooooh, like snowcone! I like it!

Inspektor Ludwig said:

I would plug the drain then fill the pan with water to top of threshold. Mark the water level and let it sit for 24 hours. See if it drops.

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That shouldn't be too tough... Thanks for the idear.

What would you use to stop up the drain in the shower? I'm thinking that is where my leak is or I at least want to make sure that isn't my leak.

You need to find a test plug that will go into the tailpiece of the shower drain. You need to have water above and below the drain body to get a good test. There are inflatable plugs (small, black rubber with a schrader valve and chain) or a compression type plug ( has a long metal handle with a wing nut and long screw which when turned will squish the rubber ball between two metal plates). The inflatables will be easier to find and are less expensive, HD and Lowes should have them, the other kind is usually sold at plumbing supply houses and are pricey. Read the instructions carefully if you're going to use the inflatble kind. Don't exceed the psi limit or it will explode (sounds like a gunshot!). Shove it down into the tailpiece below the drain and above the trap. Fill your pan and mark a water level. The inflatables can prove difficult at times with not sealing right and allowing the water pass through which may cause you to think the pan is leaking. Put some food coloring in the pan and check for leaks. If the water level falls but you can't find a leak then check your plug and test again.

They make test plugs for stopping drains, but it's not quite that simple. If this is a tiled shower base, there are two openings into the drain...the one at the top of the tile you can see, and a second set (called weep holes) burried in the pan above the liner. The weep holes provide a path for any water than migrates below the tile to drain out rather than accumulating. The liner is burried in the deck mud, and must be sloped to channel that slow migration of moisture to the weep holes.

You can emulate a drain plug with a long balloon. Since the weep holes are about an 1"-2" below the top of the drain, if you blow it up while in the drain, you can plug both the top of the drain and the weep holes with one. If you have a leak in the liner, it should still show up after 24-hours. Unless you live in the desert, you shouldn't have much evaporation in 24-hours, so the level shouldn't go down much. Common pan leaks are from the clamp area, and the curb. Occasionally you'll get them from the sides when someone put a nail too low, or didn't run the liner up high enough, or let the metal lath poke a hole during construction, or just plain sloppiness during construction.

Boy was it the shower. I had water everywhere before I had a good two inches in the pan. I didn't have any food coloring so I may have to do a second test to see where it's leaking.

Thanks all for the suggestions, at least now I know where the leak is.

Well that's kinda good news! At least you know where you DON'T have to look now! Good luck and let me know what you find.