"DerbyDad03" wrote in message
ups.com...
One of the last thing Jim wrote was:
- I've never seen the leak when it was actually wet; I only noticed it
recently when it
- hadn't rained in months and no one had showered there in months.

Do I understand this to mean the ceiling is showing wet spot even
though no one has used the shower for months *and* it hasn't rained in
months either?

Doesn't that just about eliminate the roof joint, the shower walls and
the drain?

Doesn't it have to be the incoming plumbing?

I can see how you got here from what I wrote, but what I meant was that
there are DRY signs of leakage on the ceiling. Clearly something leaked
there sometime, but it's been long enough that the leak (clearly a small
one, from the bubble in the ceiling drywall) has completely dried up. Which
actually suggests to me that it's NOT the incoming plumbing, or the spot
would still be wet.

I'll probably eventually cut a hole in the wall by the plumbing end of the
tub and look, but I guess what I'll do first is try to control the water and
do some tests. Perhaps first filling the tub from another water source and
seeing if a leak shows up when that water drains. Then pouring water down
the overflow valve. Then, once I've eliminated those, I can try pouring
water on the tile-wall to tub-top joint. Then I could run a hose up and
water down the roof/wall joint above the dining room. If none of that turns
up a leak, then it's pretty clear it's the incoming plumbing, I suppose.
Lots of tedium ahead, it looks like.

Hey. Is there maybe a practical way of adapting that toilet-leak test (the
one where you use food coloring) for this? Probably only if I'm willing to
pour ten or twenty gallons of food coloring all over my tub and walls.
Maybe not such a good idea.

Jim Beaver