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I wasn't sure where to put this question so even though I don't think this is likely to be plumbing related, there seem to be "shower knowledgeable" people here.
We have an upstairs newer or renovated bathroom addition in our 1949 bungalow. All materials look kind of cheap to me, and I suspect the shower was not particularly well made. (The vintage pepto pink downstairs is very solid, though, lathe & plaster). When we moved in 5 yrs. ago, there was a lot of heavy, sloppy, clear silicone caulk at every corner and along the edge of the tiled bench seat, which got progressively more moldy. We also saw evidence of previous water damage and repair to the ceiling in the living room, underneath the shower area, so we assume the previous owners had a problem and caulked the heck out of it. My husband, rather than re-caulking, arranged for a handyman acquaintance who had some some gutter work and misc. small jobs for us to re-grout, as he said he said he knew how to do that kind of work, and that all of that caulking was unnecessary, a good grout job should seal everything up.
We should have hired a professional tile guy. A few months after that job was done, I was standing in the kitchen hearing A LOT of dripping in the ceiling when my husband was showering upstairs, and water started running down the wall underneath the kitchen cabinets, as well as coming through a small crack in the ceiling.
We had handyman back out (about 6 weeks ago), he found some areas where the grout had chipped out on the floor, and I pointed out 8 or 10 areas on the walls, in addition to the whole edge of the bench which looked like it had not been grouted at all. He did more grouting, the dripping sound stopped, but we have seen progressive damage to the ceiling in the living room, which has spread out to a few isolated spots, one a good 6 feet away from the original area of damage. The paint does not feel wet, but looks cracked and puffy, kind of a scallopped look, and there is air behind it.
We can't see any areas in the shower where grout is missing, but having had very tiny cracks in grout in the downstairs shower and seeing how much water went into the basement, I know it doesn't take much. I also know it could be something like the shower pan, though when he first came to repair after the obvious water leak, we tried pouring a bucket of water down the drain and I heard nothing. The dripping started when he ran the shower normally, as if if someone were using it. I don't think this is a pluming issue, but not sure how to tell.
My question is - how can we determine the source of the leak, and could this ceiling damage showing up more prominantly now be the result of the previous leak? I am wondering if everything is actually sealed now, but that there was a large amount of water draining between the floors before we realized the problem, and it's just now working it's way through to the ceiling paint??
I don't know what our next step should be, what type of contractor to call, and what the fix is likely to be. Very bad timing financially for anything major, and we may have to abandon his using that shower and share "my" shower (waaaah! - lol!), living with the damage for awhile.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
We have an upstairs newer or renovated bathroom addition in our 1949 bungalow. All materials look kind of cheap to me, and I suspect the shower was not particularly well made. (The vintage pepto pink downstairs is very solid, though, lathe & plaster). When we moved in 5 yrs. ago, there was a lot of heavy, sloppy, clear silicone caulk at every corner and along the edge of the tiled bench seat, which got progressively more moldy. We also saw evidence of previous water damage and repair to the ceiling in the living room, underneath the shower area, so we assume the previous owners had a problem and caulked the heck out of it. My husband, rather than re-caulking, arranged for a handyman acquaintance who had some some gutter work and misc. small jobs for us to re-grout, as he said he said he knew how to do that kind of work, and that all of that caulking was unnecessary, a good grout job should seal everything up.
We should have hired a professional tile guy. A few months after that job was done, I was standing in the kitchen hearing A LOT of dripping in the ceiling when my husband was showering upstairs, and water started running down the wall underneath the kitchen cabinets, as well as coming through a small crack in the ceiling.
We had handyman back out (about 6 weeks ago), he found some areas where the grout had chipped out on the floor, and I pointed out 8 or 10 areas on the walls, in addition to the whole edge of the bench which looked like it had not been grouted at all. He did more grouting, the dripping sound stopped, but we have seen progressive damage to the ceiling in the living room, which has spread out to a few isolated spots, one a good 6 feet away from the original area of damage. The paint does not feel wet, but looks cracked and puffy, kind of a scallopped look, and there is air behind it.
We can't see any areas in the shower where grout is missing, but having had very tiny cracks in grout in the downstairs shower and seeing how much water went into the basement, I know it doesn't take much. I also know it could be something like the shower pan, though when he first came to repair after the obvious water leak, we tried pouring a bucket of water down the drain and I heard nothing. The dripping started when he ran the shower normally, as if if someone were using it. I don't think this is a pluming issue, but not sure how to tell.
My question is - how can we determine the source of the leak, and could this ceiling damage showing up more prominantly now be the result of the previous leak? I am wondering if everything is actually sealed now, but that there was a large amount of water draining between the floors before we realized the problem, and it's just now working it's way through to the ceiling paint??
I don't know what our next step should be, what type of contractor to call, and what the fix is likely to be. Very bad timing financially for anything major, and we may have to abandon his using that shower and share "my" shower (waaaah! - lol!), living with the damage for awhile.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
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