Leaking tile shower

[Ken1549]

My stall shower with a tile floor and tile sides is leaking through to my kitchen ceiling below. One suggestion is to remove the lower row of wall tiles and in stall a new rubber pan over the existing floor tiles and up the walls, then reset the wall tiles and reconnect the drain. This seems to be much less expensive than ripping up the existing concrete floor and pan. any thoughts?

 

[Kaido]

If you're gonna do it, go big:

http://www.kerdishowerbook.com/

 

[Greenman]

My stall shower with a tile floor and tile sides is leaking through to my kitchen ceiling below. One suggestion is to remove the lower row of wall tiles and in stall a new rubber pan over the existing floor tiles and up the walls, then reset the wall tiles and reconnect the drain. This seems to be much less expensive than ripping up the existing concrete floor and pan. any thoughts?

That's the hack method, I've seen it work, but I would never do it or allow it to be done on one of my projects.
Bite the bullet and do the job right. If budget is a major concern, use a precast shower pan and basic white tile on the walls. You could even go to a two piece fiberglass unit, that's about as rock bottom cheap as you can get.

 

[bfun_x1]

How do you know for certain that the shower is leaking at the bottom? It might be worth getting a scope in the wall to look for the leak before you start tearing up tile.

 

[Sukhoi]

How do you know for certain that the shower is leaking at the bottom? It might be worth getting a scope in the wall to look for the leak before you start tearing up tile.

Yeah the supply could be leaking between the valve and the shower head. Try spraying it into a bucket for a while and see if you still get water on the kitchen ceiling.

Or the drain line itself could be leaking and could be fixed via the kitchen ceiling rather than demoing the entire shower.

 

[bbhaag]

Yeah the supply could be leaking between the valve and the shower head. Try spraying it into a bucket for a while and see if you still get water on the kitchen ceiling.

Or the drain line itself could be leaking and could be fixed via the kitchen ceiling rather than demoing the entire shower.

I was thinking the same thing. We have an upstairs bathroom and every couple of years the trap either freezes or corrodes and then splits leaking water down to the first story. Even if it's a second story bath there should be some type of access panel to get to the plumbing. Unless it was a home owner special and they just dry walled over it. That would really suck. haha

 

[olds]

Yes, go through the ceiling to see what the problem is. Sheetrock is simple to fix.