Leaking shower, which professional can I get in to help?

[TracyA]

Hello,

We have just re-tiled our bathroom and had a power shower fitted over our plastic bath. And yes, you've guessed it - the blo*dy shower's leaking. It seems to be leaking down the side of the bath and is so bad that it is wetting the floorboard, leaking through into the living room ceiling then onto the carpet!

Anyway, we've tried re-grouting / new silicone sealant to no avail. And we're too busy with our jobs etc to try anything else now. The insurance company has agreed to pay for new floorboards and ceiling as long as we sort out the leak, so now we want to get someone in to have a look and fix the problem before getting a plaster in to do the ceiling.

So my question is a) any miracle answers that we can try before getting someone in and b) what kind of person do we get in?! Plasterer? Builder? Decorator? Can someone sort out the leaking AND re-do our floorboards / ceiling? And what if they re-seal etc and it still leaks: can I tell them that I am paying for the problem to be fixed so won't pay if it still leaks?

Many thanks, Tracy

 

[jime17]

I'd say tackle the cause and the rest should be less of a problem.

If the shower is leaking heavily then theres not many bath to wall seals that would withstand that over a period of time.

Is it the pipework that is leaking or the shower internally? If its the pipework then get a plumber if you have to (although it shouldnt be that hard to fix with a bit of common sense). Re-sealing the bath is not to hard either.

A decent plumber should be able to fix your leak, remove/refit your bath and seal it. and if he can do that I wouldnt have thought replacing a few floorboards would be beyond him.

The plastering is another matter.

 

[traineegasman]

Your cold water supply for your power shower should be fed from a storage system (tank) in loft? you should be able to isolate the supply by means of a gate valve located close to the tank. Your hot water supply to your shower should come from the top of your cylinder from a connection known as a `surrey flange`. This will also have a gate valve to isolate your hot water to your shower. Isolate these whilst you deal with the leak as jime posts..

 

[ChrisR]

ANyone who fits bathrooms regulary.
Be sure of the source of the water - take the panel off and look in there with a good light and a mirror. It might turn out to be the waste pipe.
A problem with a lot of cheaper plastic baths is the amount they move, relative to the wall, when full of water and wobbly thing.

 

[traineegasman]

If you have had your bath installed for a while with no problems, & it hasn`t been disturbed when installing shower over bath, & the leak is running down the SIDE of the bath, can`t see being a waste pipe. Isolate the feeds, see if it stops, there`s your answer. I could be wrong.. not often.. THAT WAS A HARMLESS JOKE....

 

[brumylad]

try running water into the bath from the taps. If it don't leak then its not going to be the drain. Like chris says take the pannel off and look what happens with the shower running. Don't use the shower with it leaking or it could be joists that get damaged and not just floorboards.

 

[TracyA]

Thanks for all your advice. The shower isn't leaking internally as it only leaks when the shower is on and the shower head is attached to the wall ... it doesn't leak when I hold the shower head to take a shower. So this suggests it IS leaking through the sealant and tiles. On inspection, the water is leaking from the sides of the bath on the wall the shower is attached to and the wall cornering it.

My boyfriend is going to book some time off and re-grout and re-seal. If this still doesn't work, we're getting someone in to do it. Any advice to make sure he does the job properly? I have done a search on the forums and it does sound like the advice is to use the right grout etc. Should he grout around the sides of the bath and then use silicone sealant on top (he only used silicone sealant last time!).

Cheers, Tracy

 

[Bahco]

Tracy

I have had the pleasure of this too.

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