Gah! Water leak - suspect in wall/upstairs floor

[HiAsAKite]

OH contacted me at work yesterday.
We have water coming through our ceiling into the downstairs lounge :-(

A bit of investigation last night identified that the source is from the outflow of the bathroom sink (which is above the lounge).
So if the taps are off, no leak. Which is something I guess:-)

When taps are on - water comes through two parts of the living room ceiling, either side of what would probably be a ceiling plasterboard panel (c 1m part, and around the edges of the panel. So water is leaking somewhere above that, and then flowing onto the panel, and leaking round the edges, down into the living room.

Visual investigation of exposed pipes identified no sign of any visible leak- which means the leak is from either:
- where the pipe is after the sink outflow goes into the wall (ie going vertically within the wall), next to the sink,
- or when the pipe travels horizontally through the bathroom floor (which has the living room ceiling directly below.

Since the source of the leak is not exposed pipework, I'm guessing finding it and repairing will involve removal of either bits of bathroom wall and floor (tiled!), or going up through the living room ceiling.

First time we've had a leak that was not in exposed pipework/somewhere easily accessible.

Has anyone here had to deal with similar? - how did you handle it - did you go via your home insurance, just use your own plumber/builder etc?

Experience/advice appreciated

Edited by HiAsAKite on Wednesday 21st January 11:32

[Baldchap]

Your ceiling is already knackered so cut a bit out for a look.

[Liamjrhodes]

as said cutting a hole in the ceiling would be where I would start

[Countdown]

HiAsAKite said:

Since the source of the leak is not exposed pipework, I'm guessing finding it and repairing will involve removal of either bits of bathroom wall and floor (tiled!), or going up through the living room ceiling.

Edited by HiAsAKite on Wednesday 21st January 11:32

If your bathroom floor is tiled it's probably going to be easier going up through the ceiling. Although it sounds like a horrendous job it's not too bad to fix afterwards.

[netherfield]

Having a plasterer repair the ceiling can be cheaper than pulling tiles up.

But sometimes water travels and appears away from the leak site, we had a waste leak from the bath, it came out through a light fitting in the lounge 2 metres or more from where the pipe leaked, in this case someone had put a nail through which didn't leak until the nail rusted away.

[HiAsAKite]

Baldchap said:

Your ceiling is already knackered so cut a bit out for a look.

Once dry- you can't actually notice the damage to the ceiling - we caught the leak pretty quickly -
But there is a question as to who quickly/whether it can dry out without opening it up...

[HiAsAKite]

Countdown said:

If your bathroom floor is tiled it's probably going to be easier going up through the ceiling. Although it sounds like a horrendous job it's not too bad to fix afterwards.

I'd agree - if the leak is the horizontal part.

If it is the vertical part - then we would either have to go through the tiling ni the bathroom, or via the otherside (would involve removal of roof tiles for access, an then into a wooden stud wall - not brick (think 1st floor "dormer" style house)

[HiAsAKite]

netherfield said:

Having a plasterer repair the ceiling can be cheaper than pulling tiles up.

But sometimes water travels and appears away from the leak site, we had a waste leak from the bath, it came out through a light fitting in the lounge 2 metres or more from where the pipe leaked, in this case someone had put a nail through which didn't leak until the nail rusted away.

Noted - we "think" we have an idea where the pipe would run - which is already 1m-2m sideways from where the water comes through the ceiling, but I put that down to slight gradient on ceiling panels, and where the gaps between the panels is.

So I think the water is travelling sideways until it finds its egress route down into the living room

[M11rph]

Using an inspection camera makes finding the source much easier and less destructive.

I had a leak whose source was 4 metres from where it emerged downstairs. The inspection camera meant ionly had about a dozen 10mm holes to repair, and they are easy to do compared to doing a "panel repair".

I've got this one for £27 it is very good. A tool that doesn't get used often, but is invaluable when you do.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Endoscope-Inspection-AOPI...