Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - shower leak
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09-13-00, 07:27 PM
I have ceramic shower with a plastic base. In 1 corner a very small leak has developed, I have tried to find the leak but no luck. Is there any thing that I can do to finf out where this leak might start.
09-15-00, 07:42 AM
Melrose:
If there's no visible cracks and you can't access the other side of the wall where the leak is occuring, then your best bet is to use a "shotgun" approach. That is, fix everything that could leak.
I'd be inclined to remove any caulking you're not sure of, and replace it. Also, inspect the grout lines where the water sprays and look for cracks. Remove the faucet knobs and escutcheon plates and make sure the hole around them is tightly caulked.
Both a bathtub and a shower pan have a "lip" that bends upward about 3/4 inch all around their perimeter. The tile backer board extends down to about 1/4 inch above this lip, and the front of the tile backer board sticks out in front of this lip. The bottom row of ceramic tiles is stuck to the backer board and hangs down the 1 inch to the top surface of the tub or shower pan. Thus, there is a "channel" created by the lip, top surface of the pan, and the back face of the tile. Water leaking through the ceramic tiles anywhere will fill up this channel with water and once full, the water will leak out the lowest part of the channel, which may be at the corner just because of the slant of the pan.
An option may be to slit a large garbage bag open and tape it against each wall of the shower in turn. You know which wall the leak is in when the leak stops. Try to narrow it down a bit this way.
If there's no visible cracks and you can't access the other side of the wall where the leak is occuring, then your best bet is to use a "shotgun" approach. That is, fix everything that could leak.
I'd be inclined to remove any caulking you're not sure of, and replace it. Also, inspect the grout lines where the water sprays and look for cracks. Remove the faucet knobs and escutcheon plates and make sure the hole around them is tightly caulked.
Both a bathtub and a shower pan have a "lip" that bends upward about 3/4 inch all around their perimeter. The tile backer board extends down to about 1/4 inch above this lip, and the front of the tile backer board sticks out in front of this lip. The bottom row of ceramic tiles is stuck to the backer board and hangs down the 1 inch to the top surface of the tub or shower pan. Thus, there is a "channel" created by the lip, top surface of the pan, and the back face of the tile. Water leaking through the ceramic tiles anywhere will fill up this channel with water and once full, the water will leak out the lowest part of the channel, which may be at the corner just because of the slant of the pan.
An option may be to slit a large garbage bag open and tape it against each wall of the shower in turn. You know which wall the leak is in when the leak stops. Try to narrow it down a bit this way.