In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 29 Jun 2018 15:58:59 -0400, Tekkie®
wrote:

micky posted for all of us...



Yesterday, I found water dripping from my dining room chandelier. This
hasnt' happened for 25 years, and when it did, it was after someoen took
a shower in the bathtub. I take showers in the shower and baths in the
bathtub.

The leak will be hard to find. Above the dining room are two bathrooms
side by side, each with a sink and a toilet, one with a shower and one
with a bathtub. Those two things are back to back. No evidence of any
of the leaking, no wetness underneath the sinks, etc. which would put
the leak inside the walls.

I don't think it's a drain pipe because I hadn't used much water prior
to noticing the drip, and I hadn't sloshed any water out of the bathtub
afaicr, certainly not enough to reach the floor below.


How do I find a leak inside the walls? Is there some clever way, like
putting a radio transmitter in the water that will beep when it gets out
of the pipe?

The alternative seems to be to take out the toilet and rip open the wall
behind it and look around. "Exploratory surgery".

I don't want to rip out the dining room ceiling because so far there is
no damage to it. The water exits through the electric box and runs down
the chandelier chain. That's what used to happen 25 years ago when it
dripped then, and there was no damage that showed up later.

Didn't you ask this question before? I remember someone did, if not you.

I might have, but it would have been at least 20 years ago. Were you
reading then.

I also might have talked about this as a story some time since then, but
I haven't had a leak for at least 20 years, maybe 25.


I think the consensus was to rip out the drywall and trace it. Or use an
inspection camera. Check the caulk around the tub... My brain fizzled out...

The tub is not as deep as I would like, so in the past I've shloshed
some water onto the floor, but not this time. If anything, I saw water
at the base of the tub that had risen out when the tub was draining.

Or maybe it was the opposite, water that spread from the puddle on the
floor, but then I don't know how the puddle formed. The water to the
toilet is off, the toilet tank is empty, and no sign of leaking from the
sink.