Shower leak questions

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Rime

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There is a water spot on the ceiling of the hallway below the shower in the master bedroom above it. There is a bathtub on the other side of the shower wall. The plumbing for both tub and shower is in the same wall. Cutting a hole in the ceiling where the water spot is, there's water stains on the subflooring and a plastic p trap. There's some kind of white crunchy deposit on the p trap. A plumber was called in and he said the shower pan leaked and needed replacement. A contractor was called in and said that the pans in old houses hardly ever leaked, but if it needed replacement that it would be very expensive.

After several showers, there was no visible leakage, so I went on to tape a piece of plastic over the drain and add water until it was level with the curb. After 10 hours, there was a drop on the plywood around the p trap in the hall below. Water level in the shower had not sunk noticeably. Does this sound like a bad pan ? Are there any other easy tests ?

The house is 47 years old.

Thanks !
 

Terry

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Is this a plastic (fiberglass) pan? Or a tiled pan?

Sometimes the drain on the fiberglass pans can loosen over time. Replacing that is sometimes the fix.
I have also seen p-traps that crack. A single drop of water may not be enough to nail down where the prolbem is.
I' have also seen cracked shower arms, leaking shower cartridges, bad caulking around the shower valve, and showers doors left open during the shower, to name just a few times I've seen.
 

Rime

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This is one of the old style mud tile pans, which is why it's going to be so insanely expensive to replace. The 3 drops were not around the bottom of the P trap, but on the edge of the hole in the plywood subfloor.

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