HELP, Shower leaking

[XXrice]

My tiled shower started leaking and I can't find the actual leak. Pictures are attached one looking at shower floor and one looking at subfloor from basement. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thank you

 

[Nebojsa]

Do you know who did the work or is this a DIY. Need more detail.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Breplum]

Normally, when the waterproof membrane is installed and then clamped in place to the drain assembly, the whole pan is filled with water to prove that there are no leaks.
In this case, looks like a membrane to drain fitting failure.
Expect recommendations to tear up the floor tile/entire pan.
It is hard to redo a pan membrane w/o also going up the wall.
It is the tile contractor domain.

 

[XXrice]

Thank you for the response breblum. That's what I was thinking "membrane to drain failure" but wasn't sure of the terminology. Is there any intermediate fixes for this. Thanks

 

[Jeff H Young]

yes a plumber might be needed but the scope of work is beyond plumbing. basicaly tear out pan rebuild. the walls generally need some torn out as well. are you attempting yourself? possibly new work some sort of warranty?
I will add its possible water entering from another leak, but highly unlikely coming down wall and going under shower pan

 

[XXrice]

Nebojsa, A contractor did it about eight years ago. It is membrane liner over cement.
Thanks

 

[XXrice]

I will probably be doing the repair / rebuild myself. Question, would regrouting would be a waste of time?

 

[Mr tee]

Before you start breaking tile get a bucket of water from a different source and pour it in the shower. There is a chance the leak might be from the valve (water leaks can be sneaky) and it is best to be sure you are trying to solve the actual problem.

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

Proper diagnostics are needed to determine the source of the leak. As Mr Tee mentions. I was going to type out a diagnostic process. But its already been done in this article.

TL;DR shortcut

Q. How can you determine if a leak is at a shower pan rather than somewhere else in the shower? Usually, when the source of a shower leak is not obvious, the leak is localized to a shower pan (or some the location in or near the shower) by the process of elimination. First, the drain plumbing is tested by introducing water into the shower’s drain plumbing below the level of the shower drain assembly. If a leak is observed, it's in the plumbing below the drain base. If not, the leak is somewhere in the pan, and at this point you can just demolish and rebuild the pan, or you can try to narrow down the leak's location. If you want to attempt to narrow it down, the next step to make a dam about 1" high and about 8" in diameter around the drain on the surface of the tile floor (I use plumbers putty) and run water into it. If this results in a leak, it's almost certainly somewhere in the drain base assembly, most likely at the liner clamp. If not, you can then start wetting other areas of pan to determine the approximate leak location. Be aware however that if the leak is anywhere in the pan, you will likely have to demolish the entire pan at least down to the liner and a foot or so up the tiled walls to perform a reliable repair. Sometimes if it's a slow leak, you will need to hold standing water in the pan for a considerable period of time before the leak becomes apparent. I such cases I use a pneumatic test ball plug. Mechanical stoppers as well, however it's easiest to control the exact location of the stopper with the pneumatic type (I've not had good results with improvised stoppers).

 

[Jeff H Young]

good advice I got a little ahead of the process that it was shower pan. absolutely pour water in pan both with drain open and properly plugged. also could be leaking from shower valve or riser to the head before demo work begins

 

[XXrice]

Thanks everyone for all the good advice. Here's a picture of the drain / clamp, can this be type of drain be taken apart to inspect the integrity of the clamp with the liner?

 

[Jeff H Young]

Is there a membrane , mud bed and pre slope? or curbless hard to tell from picture if it is a standard curb shower?

 

[XXrice]

I remember it being a sloped dry mortar base with a membrane not sure if it was under or on top of mortar base. Also could this be a weep hole problem?

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

There is no way to visually inspect the interface between the layers. And yes, it could be a weep hole issue. But any issue that isn't the p-trap is going to require demolition and rebuilding the shower pan at minimum.

Here is a John Bridge thread on the composition of a mudset shower installation that shows the layers.

And when you do rebuild the base, get a square strainer if you're installing similarly sized or larger tiles per my tile installer. They like round strainers for small 1" tiles only.