It all started with a mark on the ceiling !

[roblane65]

Well can we guess where this is going , quite a few weeks back the missus spots what looks like a water mark on the ceiling so I pencil mark it as tracking along a board joint and it's a lowered ceiling . then about 3-4 weeks ago the the shower hose came off the 3 way valve under the bath and the now enlarged stains I thought were just that drying out , but on tuesday more fresh water stains !


So two ceilings or one floor well the floor lost so I take the day off wednesday and start ripping stuff out , I built most the extension about 18 years ago so a pretty good idea where everything is , me nice kardeen flooring and ply wood up and low and behold

those lovely wet /rotten floor boards at the corner are basically the back of the ensuite shower and around the corner

Now that's been leaking some time I'm surprised the shower leg hasn't gone through the floor , well the good news is there ain't none
I'm going to have to rip out the ensuite and start again . I hated those fecking textured tiles anyhow . Because I'd ripped stuff about I did take the time to do a bit of an upgrade to the central heating , the flow and return downstairs is all 22mm but had 15mm risers to upstairs and was some what restricting the rads so two new risers and along the landing in 22mm

Two full bore iso valves and a drain I can now drain just the upstairs if needs be , the ensuite isn't going to be a killer as sanitry shower tray and glass can all be saved so boarding plastering tiling , I'm gonna be a busy man , We became mortgage free on the 28th of last month and i thought what am I going to spend the spare money on

 

[Barking Mat]

The joys of life.

Didn't fully understand, what's leaking ? The shower ?

 

[roblane65]

Yep it's been leaking in the stud wall for quite some time by the look of it , the PB behind the tiles on the shower is all fecked below the mixer its just finally found it's way down on to the dropped ceiling .

 

[gaz1]

how long has your shower tray been in place for ?

what it will be is the silicone has given up and started to leak with more and more movement the floors become wetter until its rotted away enough

silicone has its uses but it becomes poor after a while

i prefer a full walk in wet floor with wet heating under it

 

[roblane65]

how long has your shower tray been in place for ?

what it will be is the silicone has given up and started to leak with more and more movement the floors become wetter until its rotted away enough

silicone has its uses but it becomes poor after a while

i prefer a full walk in wet floor with wet heating under it

Nope the back of the board is wet from the mixer down , basically the ensuite was built to suit the tray and was a really nice fit . All around the shower the boards were tanked 300 mm up from the floor with wet room sealer , tray fitted and siliconed in then tiled and siliconed again . The seal between tray and tiles is intact and appears to be in perfect condition also there''s no movement in the tray , which was why I iniatally ruled out it being the shower . The trays probably been in ten years plus. The failures either the fittings on the back of the mixer or the mixer itself . I wont know till I rip the en suite out as not cutting out anymore of the bathroom walls

 

[gaz1]

check your push fits there not as good as soldered plumbing joints

they do jar when you turn on and off your taps and the rubber seal can fail on them

 

[roblane65]

I always use solder elbows and copper into the back of the mixer but I'll sharp find out whats gone on when I rip it gaz

 

[DAPPH]

I stripped my old place back to the timber frame in the bathroom cum toilet , put the heated floor cabling in conduit put the temp gauge in soldered 15 mm copper so it could be replaced easily laid aqua panel for the floor over DITRA membrane a floor on self levelling rubberized compound . Laid a series of long thin wedges to get the slope to the floor drain perfect , screeded with water resisting mortar to the wedges and removed them three days later , filling in the gaps carefully . Once the seam of th panels were taped & a wall DITRA sheet troweled on it , was plastered smooth in a water proof skim and then tiled throughout . floor done in cut as needed Pilkington slip resist ceramic tiles with proper upstands and a threshold drain strip across the doorway Talking to the new owners a few years ago ( They purchased the place from us 18 yrs ago ) they said it's been brilliant not a problem in any of my work , inside or outside the bungalow


In this new place we have had two electric underfloor floor cable heating systems put in, usual warrantee is for 30 years for the trace heat cable side of things , first one got killed in a lightening strike . second one I haven't a clue but did a signal & detect test to find at least two breaks several feet apart .. maybe another lightening strike ? Control unit and temp sensor working OK .

Seeing as the first dead floor was tiled over , do I risk doing the same on the third floor and shave off the bottom of the wet room door so it can open and also allow clean dry air to be sucked in from the rest of the home and taken out the two wetroom extractor fans ?
Happily in this place both the heat matting cable and the temp sensor run in the floor in 15 m soldered copper pipes so popping the tiles close to where the cables enter the wet room won't be much of a problem when putting in the third new heated floor .

 

[DAPPH]

check your push fits there not as good as soldered plumbing joints

they do jar when you turn on and off your taps and the rubber seal can fail on them

Had one blow earlier this year in April , luckily it was out in the greenhouse and happened whilst Olha ( our Refugee Ukrainian house guest ) was in there sowing some seeds. My gosh what a loud screech that gal has, looks good in a wet white tee shirt though .

 

[roblane65]

Thanks for the info DAPPH but I won't be going down the route of a full on heated wet room floor , and yes over the years I've had a couple of push fits blow one where some T**t had been fiddling with the old grey Hep type and put the grab ring back in the wrong way round !

 

[addjunkie]

The joys of property ownership……any real man would have put that off for at least another 9 months!

 

[mtt.tr]

The joys of property ownership……any real man would have put that off for at least another 9 months!

Amen

 

[tom2207]

The joys of property ownership……any real man would have put that off for at least another 9 months!

any single man you mean ,,,, different story if your boss is of the other persuasion ...

 

[dobbslc]

You need a better nag filter then

 

[DanZac]

If you leave it long enough the stain will spread across the whole ceiling, then it'll all be the same colour and you won't notice it.
Problem solved.

 

[Morris]

If you leave it long enough the stain will spread across the whole ceiling, then it'll all be the same colour and you won't notice it.
Problem solved.

Until the ceiling is in your lap.

 

[Smallfry]

Had some of this myself, but luckily in the loft, so no floors to come up. Just lots of very smelly insulation to get rid of. TBH I would have preferred the floor.
Get rid of those pushfits, they are nothing but trouble in the long term. I can see the attraction of using them, especially for professionals, but they do not last well despite the claims they will last 50 years or whatever.
Plastic pipe concerns be too. Again, easy to use, and has an insulation value, BUT can be got at by mice, rats, and squirrels. Also, I think it will ultimately fail because of bending fatigue. In our utility/cellar, there is a length of 15mm clipped to the ceiling that runs the length of the room. It is 11 metres long. When the pipe is cold, it is straight, but when hot water flows through it, it bends and bows a LOT, and I think in the long term will fail, so I will not use it again, especially anywhere where it is hidden out of sight.

 

[roblane65]

You need a better nag filter then

My nag filter has been very short of patience lately and I tried really hard to walk through the kitchen and not look up ,it worked well for a few weeks ! . In all honesty my list of roundtoit jobs on the homestead has growing of late , but to be fair when we started the extension she did wait 7 years for a completed kitchen but I pulled me finger out on the main bathroom which only 5 yrs so I'm doin well on the time scale for the leak and I've big goal of ripping out and completing the en suite in under 12 months

 

[Smallfry]

You can't rush these things !

 

[DanZac]

but to be fair when we started the extension she did wait 7 years for a completed kitchen but I pulled me finger out on the main bathroom which only 5 yrs so I'm doin well on the time scale for the leak and I've big goal of ripping out and completing the en suite in under 12 months

Your going to burn yourself out, grafting like that, and you can't rush these things.
I'd suggest putting the kettle on, having a brew and some biscuits, then maybe a couple of beers. Grafting all hours of the day and nights no good for anyone.