fishsticks72
New Member
I've had an issue with my upstairs bathroom for some time now, but the problem has gotten worse. I called in a plumber, who initially said there was no evidence of a leak and thought that it was due to the fact that the caulk around the bathtub was older and cracked in some places. He didn't charge me for that (he was on site for some other work that he did get paid for), and suggested I caulk the surround carefully.
I did so, and it almost seemed to have solved the problem (this is a seasonal house and this bathroom doesn't get a lot of use). The leaks did continue, but it seemed like they had reduced in volume.
I opened up the house this year and the first time someone tried to use the shower I got a good volume of water coming through the ceiling downstairs. I decided to do some troubleshooting myself, and it seems like there's no issue with the drain or bath. I started by dumping a 5 gallon bucket of water into the tub while I was standing in it, no leak. I turned on the water with the diverter in the bath position, no leak.
I took off the trim around the shower valve body and repeated the process. I couldn't see any water leaking, but it's tight in there. Same went for the shower pipe (to the showerhead). It was on tight, and although it was a very small hole I didn't observe any water there.
But when the spout is on and the diverter is in the shower position, I get a full stream of water falling down. I removed the spout and it seemed like there was a decent amount of caulk behind it, but the end of the pipe there seemed to have a fair bit of corrosion (see attached).
I'm not 100% familiar with how a diverter works, so I'm not sure if this is something that warrants replacement. Could enough water be shooting back behind that caulk to end up flooding my ceiling downstairs? Is the o-ring on the piece shown the only gasket/ring involved in this?
My next course of action was going to be to buy a new spout with diverter and caulk the heck out of it. This pipe seems like it might be a screw-on piece as well, does it make sense to remove it? Replace the o-ring (which by visual inspection seems OK)? Or do I dig out the inspection camera and get into the wall because maybe there's a leak somewhere on the pipe to the showerhead? I'm assuming if the valve body were leaking I'd be able to see it since I can see/touch it and it doesn't appear to be losing any water.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
I did so, and it almost seemed to have solved the problem (this is a seasonal house and this bathroom doesn't get a lot of use). The leaks did continue, but it seemed like they had reduced in volume.
I opened up the house this year and the first time someone tried to use the shower I got a good volume of water coming through the ceiling downstairs. I decided to do some troubleshooting myself, and it seems like there's no issue with the drain or bath. I started by dumping a 5 gallon bucket of water into the tub while I was standing in it, no leak. I turned on the water with the diverter in the bath position, no leak.
I took off the trim around the shower valve body and repeated the process. I couldn't see any water leaking, but it's tight in there. Same went for the shower pipe (to the showerhead). It was on tight, and although it was a very small hole I didn't observe any water there.
But when the spout is on and the diverter is in the shower position, I get a full stream of water falling down. I removed the spout and it seemed like there was a decent amount of caulk behind it, but the end of the pipe there seemed to have a fair bit of corrosion (see attached).
I'm not 100% familiar with how a diverter works, so I'm not sure if this is something that warrants replacement. Could enough water be shooting back behind that caulk to end up flooding my ceiling downstairs? Is the o-ring on the piece shown the only gasket/ring involved in this?
My next course of action was going to be to buy a new spout with diverter and caulk the heck out of it. This pipe seems like it might be a screw-on piece as well, does it make sense to remove it? Replace the o-ring (which by visual inspection seems OK)? Or do I dig out the inspection camera and get into the wall because maybe there's a leak somewhere on the pipe to the showerhead? I'm assuming if the valve body were leaking I'd be able to see it since I can see/touch it and it doesn't appear to be losing any water.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.