Tuesday, January 09, 2007

It came from above


It seems the plumbing Gods didn't like me having a little joke at their expense the other day. They are currently exacting their revenge.

Last night, ready for bed, I went into the bathroom and saw a puddle of water on the floor. What could that be? I looked up and saw a drip come down from above. Uh oh.

I told Steve there was water coming from upstairs, and he said,"Are you serious??" We called the tenants to see if their bathtub had overflowed or any such disaster. They said no and invited Steve up to take a look around. Nothing seemed out of order.


So, since it was after 10pm and not much we could do, we made a "quiet" bucket (bucket with a towel in it)and went to bed. No surprise that we didn't sleep too well. After about 20 minutes Steve got up and shut off the valves in the basement for the toe kick heater upstairs, convinced that was the cause of the water leak and worried it might explode in the night.



In the morning, the dripping was still going and we pulled the pan away from the wall. We saw there was a good amount of water being suspended inside it. So, we drilled a few holes in the ceiling to see if we could get it to drain. This technique has worked for us before.

Historically, all but one water leakage issue in our building has been caused by our heating system or the ineptitude of those working with it (not us).


We removed the pan and released the water that was behind it. As you can see from the condition of the drywall, there was in fact some water pooling.





We set up trays to catch the water.

Today, Steve went upstairs to check that dastardly toe kick heater. It was bone dry. This means we do not know what is causing the leak, which is quite worrisome.

If it's work that our contractor did upstairs in the kitchen (sink drain, dishwaher) or the bathroom (shower, sink) then his warranty says he has to repair it. If it's the pipes in the wall for the toe kick, our heating guy is responsible.

I should probably be more upset about this than I am. I am really just annoyed. I know we'll get it sorted. This is where renovation experience helps. This is really minor compared with other things we've been through.

I will however, feel better when I know what it is and how we can get it repaired. But God help me if they have to cut another hole in my kitchen walls or ceiling.

1 comment:

bk8 said...

Plumbing leaks can be the oddest things, let me tell about ours & maybe it might help?? We have a 3rd floor condo, remodeled the bathrm, and about 1 yr later, the 2nd floor condo started having water leaks from the ceiling. We ck'ed everything, but no luck...a plumber came in, removed everything in our bathrm (toilet, sink, EVEN floor!!), we were very distraught!! However he found the leak: there is a clean-out thingy, (it was visible to us when we removed the old flooring, just in the tiny area between the sink vanity & the bathtub), but as it was JUST below the floor surface, we never had anything to do with it...however somehow the screw holding the 'cap' on it corroded, and this made the cap loose, and therefore the water overflowed this 'clean-out' thingy, and dripped down into the next floor. The plumber rodded out the drain, replaced the old cap with a new cap & a new screw, and voila! leak solved! Who knows, maybe this may help you??