Leaking shower

[matt1976]

I've got a water leak from the bathroom into the kitchen below from the bath/shower area but I can't work out where from. The shower is buried in the wall and I can see the water dripping down the wall under the bath.

I've put a plastic disk in the shower hose and left it on to pressurise the buried pipe for 40 minutes, no leak.

I've drenched the wall with the garden hose for half an hour, no leak.

I left the shower running into the bath, no leak.

I drenched the wall with the shower, on hot, leaked badly.

So today I put plastic sheeting up on the wall to protect it from the water so we could use the shower, leaked again.

Any suggestions on how to find the leak and what I've done wrong before I start pulling tiles off the wall for no reason.

Cheers, Matt

 

[vicvapour]

Is the shower upstairs?

Could the water be coming from the trap / waste?

Can you access the trap / waste.

Thats where I would start.

 

[matt1976]

The shower is upstairs over the bath. It's not the trap or waste, I can see that and it's bone dry. It comes out the bottom of the bath, has a u bend and goes out the wall.

The leak seems to be coming form the other end of the bath. Can grout leak more with hot water than with cold? If so I'll try pouring hot water from the bath tap down the wall so I'm not using the shower.

If it is the grout passing water, could the water be travelling along behind the tiles till it finds the easiest way out? It seems to be coming down the channel where the shower supply pipes go up and also running down the wall.

The only time it will always leak is when we have a shower. If I just run the shower then nothing.

 

[vicvapour]

When the bath was installed did you silicone to bath to the wall BEFORE tiling, then siliconed again once the tiles where installed.

Many manufacturers recommend this practice as to avoid future leaks.

Is it possible this has happened if we exclude the trap from leakage?

 

[matt1976]

The bath and shower were installed before I bought the house, so I doubt that the bath was sealed to the wall before the tiles we put on.

I did reseal the bath about 2 months ago because I thought that was the source of the leak and it's still leaking in the same place.

The previous owners put a new layer of grout over the old stuff which is now coming off so I think I may have to get the old grout out and replace it.

 

[vicvapour]

The bath and shower were installed before I bought the house, so I doubt that the bath was sealed to the wall before the tiles we put on.

I did reseal the bath about 2 months ago because I thought that was the source of the leak and it's still leaking in the same place.

The previous owners put a new layer of grout over the old stuff which is now coming off so I think I may have to get the old grout out and replace it.

If you suspect the grout is bad, you can (with certain adhesives) tile over tiles, just use waterproof adhesive and grout.

It would also be advisable for you to use aqua-board underneath the tiles too, for further waterproofing.