shower leaking diagnosis


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Old 06-20-14, 07:20 AM
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shower leaking diagnosis

I moved into this house last year and saw that the shower drain had a repair because there was an access hole already present. About two months ago this spot started slowly leaking. We cleaned the drain area and reapplied plumber's putty thinking it might be a small leak around the flange area but it is still leaking slowly.
How would I figure out if it is the shower floor (small tiles) or the plumbing drains that is leaking?
 
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Old 06-20-14, 08:00 PM
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Is the ceiling still open? If not you may have to open up again to look at the drain pipes. Does it leak if you just run water without showering? If you can pour a 5 gallon bucket into the shower drain and it does not leak, then it is not the plumbing. I would look closely at the corners of the shower walls. Is the material in the corners hard or flexible when poked with a knife? If it is hard, I would assume that there is grout instead of caulk in the corners. Also look at the curb area and check in the corners for caulk vs grout. Also check the seal on the door that it is caulked well.

Pictures help the community diagnose your issue - http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...-pictures.html
 
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Old 06-21-14, 01:13 PM
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I have tried numerous times to upload photos to this reply but the uploads keep failing. I have not had this problem in the past. Do you know if the website is having some issues?
 
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Old 06-21-14, 01:19 PM
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Old 06-21-14, 01:22 PM
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I resized the photos and they are attached.
The shiny spot is water after the shower got a little wet after I poured 5 gallons in the drain. A little splattered on the floor but I dried it quickly. It continues to drip a little bit.
 
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Old 06-21-14, 02:20 PM
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Lets get a quick look at the top side of the drain with tile. Orient us so that you can point out the side where the drip is in.

It is not just this web site, most any site would have you scale down the size of your pic to save bandwidth and storage.
 
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Old 06-22-14, 01:13 PM
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One interesting fact about the leak is that it continues to drip from the area for hours after a shower is taken--12 hours or more.
This makes me think it is a leaky shower pan?
 
 

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