Over 10 years ago I finally got the super up to the apartment at the right moment for him to see the dripping from the wall above the shower. Previously he thought the crumbling plaster was due to condensation and he said all I need is primer over the repaired wall. This time he called the plumber, they broke into the wall of my bathroom and the wall in the hallway of the family above me. The only leak they found was when they splashed water on the handles of the shower above me. Apparently, the plumbers didn't think it was their job to fix that and they told me to tell the super. I did and he apparently did nothing. Recently I saw a post on the internet from another super who said shower fixtures don't need to be caulked. As far as I could tell, that's wrong. Shortly after the above incident, I bought some waterproof elastomeric spackle type stuff so at least the wall would tolerate the leak better, but I ran out before finishing and the building plasterer finished the job (I bet he even tore out my work but I wasn't watching) with regular plaster. I primed it, but the leak redamaged it. Yesterday (two or three supers later), I explained the problem. I said he should take off the plates around the handles of the shower above mine and caulk between the pipe and the tile, and he should fix the wall that has the water damage with cement board instead of sheetrock or plaster. He didn't want to do either, but he will at least look for the leak by removing the medicine cabinet. Hopefully he'll eventually find the true source, which is probably through the tile. Unfortunately, I may end up buying cement board and repairing the wall myself because I don't want my wall to be at the mercy of the caulking or grouting job in the apartment above me, assuming that job gets done at all. Is there a building code or book or anything authoritative that I could show to the super to convince him to caulk the shower body? I remember seeing a post on an internet forum several years ago that recommended it, but that's not good enough. And how about the plaster on mesh the the plasterer used above the tile in the shower? Is that a violation or just a bad idea?

Let me say I am a young home owner, and don't have too much experience with plumbing. I am an electrical guy. My tub recently has developed a hole. I was taking a bath and all of the sudden I swore I heard water falling into my crawl space, and then noticed the water was draining wayyyyy to fast. noitced a hole by the drain. I am not sure if this tub is porcelain, but I think that is the material. Seems to be metal under the finish. Is there a way to fix this or do I need to buy a new bath tub. [IMG]http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa35/coreo4400/WP_20130129_006_zpsda040459.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa35/coreo4400/WP_20130129_005_zps398acdac.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa35/coreo4400/WP_20130129_004_zps08dc3901.jpg[/IMG]