Mystery Leak All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[paulr]

I have a leak that materialises into my middle floor bathroom, through a 'pull string' liht switch of all things. Directly above the light rose would be my upstairs en suite.

The water leak is quite bad now, but only happens after the shower in the en suite is used. Access to under the shower tray is poor, but the shower tray trap is always free flowing and I can see any obvious leaks under this or under the waste pipes which go away from the leak area anyway.

If its the water pipers themselves, why would they only leak when the shower us used. Because the water feed is under the floor boards and the downstairs light rose clearly has a hole in the ceiling for the elctrical wire to come through I can understand why this is the conduit for a leak, but do I need a plumber and an electrician?

Any advice will be gratefully recieved

[marrtin]

It seems you could have a leak from the shower trap or waste. Having said that, have you checked to see if there are any gaps in the tiles around the lip of the shower tray? Often the seal breaks between the tiles and tray allowing water to escape.

With any luck, when the leak is fixed and dries up, the electrics will be unaffected but be in the meantime be very careful. If the lightswitch or rose are wet they will transmit electricity easily and there is no RCD protection on the lighting circuit so be wary.

[paulr]

Hi

thanks for the reply. Upon further investigation, there is definitely no leak from the trap or the waste pipes.

I think I've identified that the sealant used from the tray to the tile wall is loose and coming away. I cannot get access to the back underneath to check how deep or wide the issue is , so I have to assume this is the problem

The sealant is about 1cm thick from tray edge to wall I guess therefore what is the best type of sealant to use? I have some bathroom sealant, but with that much gap is there a better type or even a specific type

With regards the electrics, I take your warning, thankyou. Is it still a big risk on a pull string? Do you think I should get a spark out to take a look for me?

Thanks again

[bobplum]

strip out all the sealant buy some tile grout fill it with that first smoothe off and then re seal with silicone sealant
bob

[paulr]

good idea, thanks Bob

The weekend it shall be

[rosebery]

Bob's right. You won't get sealant to stick to sealant - it just won't. The whole lot has to come out. For myself I find gripfill works very well to fill the gaps first before siliconing over the top.

Cheers

[GeorgeSW]

I used that poxy putty before and after 2 years it starts to disintegrate. The first I knew abouth it is when I saw the new water mark on the ceiling.