What Caused This Shower Leak?

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Cv000000

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Hello everyone recently a friend over my house has taken a shower in the upstairs shower the last few days. Right below the shower this was found

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The shower is right above this with water also dripping down a little at that vent.

infrared showed that entire ceiling had water all over it.

currently drying it.

at the upstairs shower area this area was the most wet

cv0-02.jpg


as you can see with a 99% rating under that tile.

also in the corner right near the shower door

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dry wall chipping due to water.

question is from where?

now my friend told me the door was broken and didn’t close all the way. It closed about 80-90% which I verified and then he said he didn’t think it was a big deal so closed it as much as he could which was 90% basically and placed a towel down.

that towel was soaked by the way.

now the question is that what really caused this? Or was there some other overlying issue with the pipes etc causing this?

anyone have any ideas?

why is that area that99% not drying at all.

that bathroom is about 85-90 degrees and we’ve been drying for 3 days and nothing is drying there any ideas.

Thanks
 

Terry

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If the door was open, and the towel placed on the floor was found soaked, a good guess would be the door not being closed.

Further examples:
A shower head threaded onto an arm, with water spraying high and outside the bathing area. Yes, that was causing water damage.

Husband showering with the slider door ajar. I asked before I cut drywall to look for the leak if that was happening. The wife said he husband wouldn't do that. A year later I came by and the drywall had been patched. It was the husband leaving the door ajar.

Other examples, third floor broken shower arm. I looked on the first floor of the condo, that was the person that called me. Found no reason for the leak, asked to see the top floor. Tenant was, Yes, the shower arm has been broken for a month now.

When water hits the ceiling drywall below, it flows to the lowest point. Not everything in construction is perfectly level. Support in the way of joists and even concrete pads in the crawl space can settle, causing new angles and ways for water to drain. I lived in a home where the pads in the crawl were not even in the right spot. When I moved them over, jacked up the walls, the doors started latching again. Before that, if I dropped a ball in the kitchen it would roll out into the hallway.

First things to check, are to start low and work yourself high.
Plugging the drain and pouring buckets of water in the pan.
Checking the wall plate at the valve, are there gaps that can let water flow when it's bounced off of a body.
Is the tub spout pushing water into the wall when it's diverted.
The shower arm, they sometimes crack over time.
 

Cv000000

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seriously?? the guy told you he took a shower with the door part ways open....

Now, if you want you can always open a hole in

the celing below the shower and look up at the drain...
then you can install a dummy heat register over the hole to hide it....
I am debating that.

I have a dry wall repair guy however that can fully patch and match texture if I do that.

If the door was open, and the towel placed on the floor was found soaked, a good guess would be the door not being closed.

Further examples:
A shower head threaded onto an arm, with water spraying high and outside the bathing area. Yes, that was causing water damage.

Husband showering with the slider door ajar. I asked before I cut drywall to look for the leak if that was happening. The wife said he husband wouldn't do that. A year later I came by and the drywall had been patched. It was the husband leaving the door ajar.

Other examples, third floor broken shower arm. I looked on the first floor of the condo, that was the person that called me. Found no reason for the leak, asked to see the top floor. Tenant was, Yes, the shower arm has been broken for a month now.

When water hits the ceiling drywall below, it flows to the lowest point. Not everything in construction is perfectly level. Support in the way of joists and even concrete pads in the crawl space can settle, causing new angles and ways for water to drain. I lived in a home where the pads in the crawl were not even in the right spot. When I moved them over, jacked up the walls, the doors started latching again. Before that, if I dropped a ball in the kitchen it would roll out into the hallway.

First things to check, are to start low and work yourself high.
Plugging the drain and pouring buckets of water in the pan.
Checking the wall plate at the valve, are there gaps that can let water flow when it's bounced off of a body.
Is the tub spout pushing water into the wall when it's diverted.
The shower arm, they sometimes crack over time.

I can confirm the leak only seems to happen when water is running. So maybe it was from that door being open ajar?

Towel was for sure soaked with water so water was coming out of it.

I’m just concerned why that one area near the tile shower bed is not drying at all.

The room is 90 degrees with 3 fans and a dehumidifier running and it hasn’t dried at all,
 

Cv000000

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I am debating that.

I have a dry wall repair guy however that can fully patch and match texture if I do that.



I can confirm the leak only seems to happen when water is running. So maybe it was from that door being open ajar?

Towel was for sure soaked with water so water was coming out of it.

I’m just concerned why that one area near the tile shower bed is not drying at all.

The room is 90 degrees with 3 fans and a dehumidifier running and it hasn’t dried at all,
I don’t know if but I also put a new shower head on recently.

Maybe I didn’t screw it tight enough?
 

Master Plumber Mark

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Their is no call I hate more than going out on a mystery leak in a ceiling.....

Look for the obvious first.....

if you just installed a new arm in the shower wall you might want to be sure that you
put enough teflon tape and pipe dope on the threads.....

If you are wise you will just cut a hole under the shower where it is wet in the ceiling
perhaps a 6x10 hole in alignment with one of the side walls to look up into the cavity
to see the drain ...... then just go to lowes and buy yourself a dummy heat register and
screw it up to the ceiling .... this saves you the cost of the drywall guy......

murpheys law says that if you actually repair the ceiling and have the drywall man to make it perfect like it was...... then I can 100% guarantee
that it will leak again....

put up the dummy heat register
 

Cv000000

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Their is no call I hate more than going out on a mystery leak in a ceiling.....

Look for the obvious first.....

if you just installed a new arm in the shower wall you might want to be sure that you
put enough teflon tape and pipe dope on the threads.....

If you are wise you will just cut a hole under the shower where it is wet in the ceiling
perhaps a 6x10 hole in alignment with one of the side walls to look up into the cavity
to see the drain ...... then just go to lowes and buy yourself a dummy heat register and
screw it up to the ceiling .... this saves you the cost of the drywall guy......


murpheys law says that if you actually repair the ceiling and have the drywall man to make it perfect like it was...... then I can 100% guarantee
that it will leak again....

put up the dummy heat register
So this is a new bought house.

I can confirm on the shower head it was replaced by my wife.

I asked her about it.

She confirmed to me she did rip off some type of tape that was on there to put some new shower head (ended up not doing it anyway)

So there used to be Teflon tape there and she did take it off.

Could that be the source?
 

Terry

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When replacing a showerhead, that's all exposed. A leak would be easily spotted. I'm assuming she didn't change out the arm into the wall.
 

Cv000000

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When replacing a showerhead, that's all exposed. A leak would be easily spotted. I'm assuming she didn't change out the arm into the wall.
No arm wasn’t replaced.

Just the shower head.

She just took off the old one, took off the Teflon tape, and screwed a new one one.
 
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