For almost a year, we've been trying to figure out the source of a smell in our basement and first floor, near a newly remodeled powder room. More recently, we noticed a leak in the basement ceiling, more or less below the new toilet in the powder room. A plumber cut open the wet area of the ceiling and we saw the pipe we THOUGHT was coming from the toilet. There was wet insulation around it, also. He lifted the toilet, sealed the flange, installed a new wax ring, and replaced the toilet. He said we'd either see water in the powder room, around the toilet, if that was leaking, or the pipe below was leaking and would need to have a section replaced. (The smell also seems to have dissipated.)
The same day, we saw water in a bucket we put in the basement below the ceiling opening and an occasional drip from the pipe. To confirm the water was coming from the toilet, we put blue food coloring in and flushed. Did that a bunch of times. No new water in the bucket, no blue water. We started putting other colors in other likely sources. We now think the pipe we see isn't even coming from the powder-room toilet on the first floor. We think we are seeing subfloor but NOT from the powder room and that there's a leak in a pipe somewhere between a second-floor bathroom, approximately but not exactly above the first-floor powder room. We think water is running from the leak, along the outside of the pipe, getting the basement ceiling wet. Every time we use the sink and/or toilet in the 2nd-floor bathroom, water starts dripping in the basement. Measurements confirm that the 2nd-floor bathroom is probably above the basement leak. We think maybe when the first-floor bathroom was remodeled, including wainscoting and a new cabinet, someone punctured the pipe with a nail.
Now our concern is, how to pinpoint the source of the leak without tearing up the house? Is there some kind of equipment that can do that? Any advice would be appreciated. I hope I've explained things adequately.
The same day, we saw water in a bucket we put in the basement below the ceiling opening and an occasional drip from the pipe. To confirm the water was coming from the toilet, we put blue food coloring in and flushed. Did that a bunch of times. No new water in the bucket, no blue water. We started putting other colors in other likely sources. We now think the pipe we see isn't even coming from the powder-room toilet on the first floor. We think we are seeing subfloor but NOT from the powder room and that there's a leak in a pipe somewhere between a second-floor bathroom, approximately but not exactly above the first-floor powder room. We think water is running from the leak, along the outside of the pipe, getting the basement ceiling wet. Every time we use the sink and/or toilet in the 2nd-floor bathroom, water starts dripping in the basement. Measurements confirm that the 2nd-floor bathroom is probably above the basement leak. We think maybe when the first-floor bathroom was remodeled, including wainscoting and a new cabinet, someone punctured the pipe with a nail.
Now our concern is, how to pinpoint the source of the leak without tearing up the house? Is there some kind of equipment that can do that? Any advice would be appreciated. I hope I've explained things adequately.
