About a year ago I had a a big renovation done (using professionals) and this included new central heating, plumbing and bathroom.
2 jobs I had to finish on my own was installing the bath panel and putting a doorstop into the bathroom floor. This was right at the end just as I was about to move in. There was no one living there at the time and the bathroom was not in use (no one has showered in it)
After I had just installed those 2 items (including putting screws into the floor) I got a water leak from the bathroom into the kitchen below.
I assumed it MUST be related to what I had just done as I had screwed into the floor. I got a good flow of water going into the room downstairs (kitchen). I drained the boiler and called a central heating guy in the next day. The water stopped coming through when i drained the boiler so logically I thought it was related to that.
The central heating guy spent a good 3 hours at my house doing all sorts of tests. You can see in the photo he drilled a hole into the floor - we also then took up a big section of flooring to look for pipes.
I was 100% sure there were no pipes when I had drilled because I had photos of where all the pipes were and when we lifted the floor we found no pipes. The boiler was put back on and I have not had the same leak in the same way again (i.e that much amount of water). So I am happy that it is not a boiler issue. The central heating guy did not find any leaking central heating pipes.
Fast forward about 11 months and I hadn't got round to putting the panel on (as the vinyl floor needs replacing). I am just about to do that job now.
I consulted a family member about whether there had been any leaks in the past year as I had not seen any and the only time was when we had my sister and her children staying and they were showering - but the water coming down was not as major as the original leak. This gave me a clue that the leak or A leak it likely down to when the bath is put to extreme use as we don't normally have children here and they will have filled the bath up/splashed water all over etc.
I came to the conclusion therefore that the water is somehow getting out of the bath and going through the floorboards. I have rock wool insulation in my floors which is quite solid and this means if water goes through it will not necessarily go directly through the ceiling below as it can travel - that said the bath is almost directly over where the water was coming in downstairs.
So anyway, I checked the bath properly and it is all silicone sealed in and I then tested the bath taps, waste and the handles to see if water was going through by putting the shower on them for extended periods. I noted that the handles are allowing water through.
This is what I need help on.
Here are some photos.
Shared photos 5-1-2017
Water is leaking through one handle hole on the outer side and possibly both on the other side.
You can see the bath has water staining on the green side and also a wet path under the handle. Photo 7
The water from the other handle is the water under the 2 copper pipes. Photo 8
What is interesting is that the water from outer handle (closest to me taking photos) is coming down the bath and almost directly under the handle whereas the water from the other side seems to be coming down to the middle of the bath - I put this down to the possibility of there being more water from the other side.
Now whilst showering there will be spray and small amounts of water will go through the handles. I tested it out to quite extremes and we are talking very slow drips.
As far as solutions go - I can take the one on the outer edge and silicone it . But the problem is the other side. Possible solutions
1) rip bath out and fix - not going to happen
2) try and get around there with some tool to seal with silicone or some other product - - will be very hard to do if not impossible.
3) put some form of waterproof material down - like my old vinyl floor and leave it - so when water does come down it cannot go into the floor - I am not sure if it will evaporate though or just store there forever until it builds up and eventually finds a way down.
Views?
Now the other annoyance - and why I gave the whole story. Even if the bath handles have been leaking from day 1 - there is no way they were responsible for the leak I originally had last year as the amount of water was way more than what the bath handles could let through - in addition we were not using the bath then.
The central heating guy offered 2 suggestions
1 - someone had dropped water and it went under the bath - a possibility - but at the time we had no one in and no one has admitted to it.
2- water may have come in as rain via some openings I have for pipes in my walls - but this is unlikely and also it hasn't happened since.
So as to what caused the original leak - remains a mystery.
The only other possibility - which I will find out when I screw the floor back down (currently just loose under the vinyl) - is that the screws/floors may be putting pressure on something further down which may cause the leak again when I put floor back - but this seems long winded also!
2 jobs I had to finish on my own was installing the bath panel and putting a doorstop into the bathroom floor. This was right at the end just as I was about to move in. There was no one living there at the time and the bathroom was not in use (no one has showered in it)
After I had just installed those 2 items (including putting screws into the floor) I got a water leak from the bathroom into the kitchen below.
I assumed it MUST be related to what I had just done as I had screwed into the floor. I got a good flow of water going into the room downstairs (kitchen). I drained the boiler and called a central heating guy in the next day. The water stopped coming through when i drained the boiler so logically I thought it was related to that.
The central heating guy spent a good 3 hours at my house doing all sorts of tests. You can see in the photo he drilled a hole into the floor - we also then took up a big section of flooring to look for pipes.
I was 100% sure there were no pipes when I had drilled because I had photos of where all the pipes were and when we lifted the floor we found no pipes. The boiler was put back on and I have not had the same leak in the same way again (i.e that much amount of water). So I am happy that it is not a boiler issue. The central heating guy did not find any leaking central heating pipes.
Fast forward about 11 months and I hadn't got round to putting the panel on (as the vinyl floor needs replacing). I am just about to do that job now.
I consulted a family member about whether there had been any leaks in the past year as I had not seen any and the only time was when we had my sister and her children staying and they were showering - but the water coming down was not as major as the original leak. This gave me a clue that the leak or A leak it likely down to when the bath is put to extreme use as we don't normally have children here and they will have filled the bath up/splashed water all over etc.
I came to the conclusion therefore that the water is somehow getting out of the bath and going through the floorboards. I have rock wool insulation in my floors which is quite solid and this means if water goes through it will not necessarily go directly through the ceiling below as it can travel - that said the bath is almost directly over where the water was coming in downstairs.
So anyway, I checked the bath properly and it is all silicone sealed in and I then tested the bath taps, waste and the handles to see if water was going through by putting the shower on them for extended periods. I noted that the handles are allowing water through.
This is what I need help on.
Here are some photos.
Shared photos 5-1-2017
Water is leaking through one handle hole on the outer side and possibly both on the other side.
You can see the bath has water staining on the green side and also a wet path under the handle. Photo 7
The water from the other handle is the water under the 2 copper pipes. Photo 8
What is interesting is that the water from outer handle (closest to me taking photos) is coming down the bath and almost directly under the handle whereas the water from the other side seems to be coming down to the middle of the bath - I put this down to the possibility of there being more water from the other side.
Now whilst showering there will be spray and small amounts of water will go through the handles. I tested it out to quite extremes and we are talking very slow drips.
As far as solutions go - I can take the one on the outer edge and silicone it . But the problem is the other side. Possible solutions
1) rip bath out and fix - not going to happen
2) try and get around there with some tool to seal with silicone or some other product - - will be very hard to do if not impossible.
3) put some form of waterproof material down - like my old vinyl floor and leave it - so when water does come down it cannot go into the floor - I am not sure if it will evaporate though or just store there forever until it builds up and eventually finds a way down.
Views?
Now the other annoyance - and why I gave the whole story. Even if the bath handles have been leaking from day 1 - there is no way they were responsible for the leak I originally had last year as the amount of water was way more than what the bath handles could let through - in addition we were not using the bath then.
The central heating guy offered 2 suggestions
1 - someone had dropped water and it went under the bath - a possibility - but at the time we had no one in and no one has admitted to it.
2- water may have come in as rain via some openings I have for pipes in my walls - but this is unlikely and also it hasn't happened since.
So as to what caused the original leak - remains a mystery.
The only other possibility - which I will find out when I screw the floor back down (currently just loose under the vinyl) - is that the screws/floors may be putting pressure on something further down which may cause the leak again when I put floor back - but this seems long winded also!
