Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - Bath/Shower leak on opposite wall from spout?

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jokun
02-08-07, 06:05 PM
I just realized that I have what looks like a leak on the wall opposite the spout, valves, and shower head. It's a normal cast iron tub with 3-wall tile surround. Lately the grout has gotten kind of bad, with some cracks, and some of the caulk at the rear wall where the tub and tile meet has peeled away. Well, I've been planning to regrout and re-caulk, when the other day the wife called me in there after her shower to show me water dripping out from between the tub and rear tile wall. There's no water coming out when the valves are turned off, and I can't imagine there being water pipes running behind that wall since the only thing behind it is a bedroom, and the spout and valves are on the opposite wall.

Any ideas where this water may be coming from? I'm thinking that somehow water is getting back there through cracks in the grout. The weird thing is that the rear wall is the only one with no cracks in the grout. I also noticed that the valves look like they're leaking when the water turns on.

walkman
02-09-07, 07:34 AM
You're talking about the wall at the foot of the tub, right?

If the water spot is about the level of the tub, or below, then the problem is the gaps that you need to caulk. Water is notorious for running a long way (especially with roofs). You need to fix this pronto. You're probably getting water damage in other places too.

If it's above the level of the tub, try to determine if the water shows up after a rain.

Be sure to fill the tub up before you caulk.
jokun
02-09-07, 09:04 AM
Yeah, it's the wall at the foot of the tub. It looks like the caulk at the gap between the tub and tiled wall started to peel back and that's where the water was dripping from. I've pulled all the old brittle caulk out of the gap and ran both the spout and shower head (shower massager on a hose left dangling, so no water splashing on the walls) for about 30 minutes and didnt see any water dripping out from anywhere. I've also scraped out all of the old cracked grout, so it looks like I've got my weekend project now.

Thanks for the tip about filling the tub.