Your bathtub or shower leaking through the floor can lead to structural damage to your home, meaning this is an issue you need to address as soon as it’s discovered. Unfortunately, in some cases, a leak isn’t discovered until it has already progressed and caused wood to rot and damage to drywall.
Thankfully, by looking for signs of a leak and getting the professionals involved when necessary, you can get in front of this potentially costly problem and fix it before it gets out of hand. Read on to learn more about how a bathtub or shower leaking through the floor can affect your home and when you should call in the professionals:
How Bathtub and Shower Leaks Can Negatively Affect Your Home
Although water may seem innocuous, given its ability to run rampant, such as during an undiscovered leak, it can become immensely damaging. The following are some common ways that a leak, such as from a bathtub, might affect your home’s structure and other aspects of home ownership:
- Visual Damage: Often, the first signs will be damage to sheetrock and paint, particularly right below the tub or shower.
- Structural Damage: As mentioned briefly above, your home’s structure can be damaged when leaking water seeps into support beams and floor joists, causing them to sag and eventually give way.
- Plumbing Issues: Leaking water can also corrode fittings and pipes, leading to additional plumbing issues, which can then cause clogs and other problems.
- Electrical Problems: We all know that electricity and water don’t mix well, so when a leak occurs, and the water comes into contact with electrical wires, this can lead to short circuits and other dangerous issues.
- Insurance Issues: If your home becomes damaged structurally by water, insurance companies might be hesitant to cover your home with homeowner’s insurance. The company covering your house might not cover the repairs or could even cancel your policy.
Signs of Bathtub or Shower Leak Damage
Whether you have been in your home for years or just moved in, it’s essential to know the signs to look for indicating a potential leak. Recognizing these signs early allows you to fix the issue before it does substantial damage. This is true whether your fixture is leaking constantly or intermittently.
Look for these signs to indicate you might have a fixture leak on your hands:
- Wet Drywall: Feel the drywall underneath your tub and consider whether it’s fully dry, feels damp, or even downright wet. If you notice the presence of moisture or evidence of mold or mildew growth, this could indicate your bathtub is leaking. Even hidden water damage from bathtub leaking can result in subtle clues you can find on drywall.
- Mold or Mildew: Another indication that you might have a bathtub leak is seeing mold or mildew around the perimeter of the shower or in the room itself. Mildew is a white or gray fungus that shows up in moist areas.
Mold can appear in various colors, ranging from green to black. This fungus can also appear fuzzy or feel slimy and grow to a much larger infestation. Toxic mold growth can also result in allergic reactions, such as headaches, wheezing, allergies, and even lung issues.
- Pooling Water: Water always takes the path of least resistance. This means pooling water from a leaking bathtub might appear in other rooms, such as adjacent bedrooms. Therefore, when looking for signs of pooling water, don’t just check right around the tub or under it in rooms below; look for areas in surrounding rooms as well.
Typical Causes of Bathtub or Shower Leaks
To prevent structural damage from a leaking bathtub or shower, understanding the type of plumbing and related issues that might cause these leaks is essential. The following are the most common bathroom floor leak risks and some of the most common causes of these types of leaks:
Grouting Issues
The grout around your tub or shower is essential to keeping water from getting onto the floor and surrounding areas in your bathroom. Unfortunately, when the grout wears out, water can easily get behind it and run down the wall, causing stains on the ceiling below.
Leaking Faucets
Leaking faucets are the most common culprit of virtually all bathroom issues, including a leaking bathtub. Not only can leaking faucets be annoying, but they can also cause larger water bills and eventually result in structural damage due to water leaks if left unchecked. In many cases, a leaking faucet can be fixed by replacing the washer or other parts or changing the entire faucet. In any case, a slow drip, drip, drip, should never be ignored.
Defective Overflow Pipe or Shower Arm Connections
These are the most common reasons for leaking. The overflow pipe is connected to the overflow drain. This is created to drain excess water from the bathtub. In some cases, the overflow pipe can become defective due to either a worn-out washer or a crack due to age. Most often the shower arm connection has loosened and will start a small leak, which will show up over time. P-trap and drain assemblies can work loose or rust out.
This isn’t as simple a fix as replacing a faucet, as this type of repair usually benefits from the expertise of a professional. Overflow pipe problems can cause bathtub overflow, leading to water leaking under the tub, through the floor, and onto the ceiling below. Often the professional will have to open the wall to resolve this type of issue.
Bathtub Cracks
The other most common reason your bathtub might leak is the presence of cracks. Sometimes, cracks are obvious to the naked eye. Other times, bathtub cracks can be much more subtle, as small as a hairline crack, and might not be nearly as noticeable.
To check for this type of damage, fill the tub with a small amount of water and then turn off the water and close the drain. Look for any areas where the water is sucked down or is collecting around your tub.
Preventing Bathtub and Shower Leaks
While not all leaks can be prevented, there are some ways you can avoid these problems from occurring in the first place. The following are some tips for preventing leaks and eventual structural damage from a leaking bathtub or shower:
- Clean and examine your bathtub or shower regularly for signs of grout damage or cracks. Cleaning your tub and the drain can also prevent clogs and other buildup issues.
- Replace grout and caulk every few years around your bathtub and shower. This will help you maintain a watertight seal.
- Don’t put off repairs if you notice evidence of a leak. If you see pooling water, damp drywall, peeling paint, or mildew, address whatever is leaking sooner rather than later.
- Use a drain cover to help prevent debris and hair from clogging the drain and leaking to leaks due to drainage problems.
When to Call in The Professionals
Some bathtub and shower leak repair will require professional attention to repair. Therefore, when wondering when to call a plumber for a bathtub leak, it’s essential to understand that there are jobs that the experts are better off handling. Suppose you are worried about structural damage and substantial repair costs.
In that case, it’s time to turn the problem over to those who can handle it and restore your bathtub, preventing future leaks and additional damage. Contact us today at Aldrich Contracting Co., an expert in bathroom remodeling and plumbing issues. It has been family-owned and operated since 2002.
