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Crimpergirl
Social climber
St. Looney
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 30, 2007 - 02:12pm PT
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bwahahahahaaaa!
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Ouch!
climber
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Jan 30, 2007 - 03:08pm PT
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Crimpo, this is a happier post in your time of damp. Sorry for the scary one. :-))
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Ouch!
climber
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Jan 30, 2007 - 03:16pm PT
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Fat, the only thing waiting for you is Matt. He's gonna sic his dog on you.
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
St. Looney
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 30, 2007 - 03:35pm PT
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OUCH! I love the cobra animation as well. I forgot to mention that! Pretty funny stuff. I opened the door. It was pretty disappointing really - no bones, bodies or evil spirits. Still, I have no idea what used to be connected to this thing. There is a chimney above it (on the right side of the house). But the chimney that serves the fireplaces is on the left side of the house. I wish old houses had books that came with them telling of the history of the dwelling that the people who lived in it. That'd be super cool!
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sling512
Trad climber
Chicago
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Jan 30, 2007 - 04:00pm PT
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Crimpie,
Pretty much like mine. Except my furnace pipe connects to this a bit higher up and the second furnace pipe you can see in the second picture comes in from behind the wall under the addition. I have more bugs than you!
When I first moved in I thought maybe the house had another fireplace that was covered up with a wall, but asking 'real' midwesterners I found out that most houses have a chimney just for venting furnances, plumbing, etc...
-sling
p.s. looks like the same person painted our basements, haha!
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
St. Looney
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 30, 2007 - 04:12pm PT
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Bwahahaha! I thought the same thing about the paint!
Edit:
I found an easy way to take care of the big hole in the closet.... I closed the closet door and it looks great now!
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TradIsGood
Happy and Healthy climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Jan 30, 2007 - 04:12pm PT
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My guess is coal bin.
What time of year did this leak before?
Does your dryer vent anywhere near this area? Did opening up the lath in the closet stop the "leak"?
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blackbird
Trad climber
over yonder en th' holler
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Jan 30, 2007 - 04:42pm PT
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I agree with Big... sorta. Sell the house, hit the road, DON'T eat the birds...
Good luck with it all. Owning a house is such a misnomer... It's not you who owns the house, rather, it's the house that own's you... BITES! (sorta...)
BB
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sling512
Trad climber
Chicago
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Jan 30, 2007 - 04:50pm PT
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A few months after I bought my house I was at the hardware store spending my life savings on some new project and the checkout lady looks at me when I gave her my credit card and she said (in a real bitchy voice):
"You're too young to have a credit card!"
I looked at her and said: "Lady, I own a house, I NEED a credit card."
I mean, I look young, but crikies!
-sling
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Big
climber
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Jan 30, 2007 - 05:11pm PT
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1. lightly flour
2. sprinkle with salt, pepper, rosemary
3. pan fry over medium high heat until done
4. pray to 7 lbs 6 oz baby jesus
5. enjoy
BB, how ya been? Route season is about to start. Will I be seeing you at T-wall?
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
St. Looney
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 30, 2007 - 05:15pm PT
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Pfft. Like you've been at T-wall Big. I have not seen you there.
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mcKbill
climber
Grundy Center
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Jan 30, 2007 - 05:22pm PT
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I think TIG suspects condensation. A dryer vent problem could introduce moisture that will condense, or even the difference in temperature between the water in the pipes and the air in the wall run could cause dripping.
Keep in mind the source of the leak or condensation may be some distance from where it appears elsewhere in the home.
When I did roofing work we would often see interior water damage that was quite a ways away from the source of the leak. A leak might start near a chimney flashing joint and then ride the bottom of a rafter before encountering something like a knot that would let the water drip down to the ceiling.
Perhaps the cold supply pipe is condensing water droplets that are riding the pipes to another location creating the illusion that the tile is leaking. Do the drain pipes run through the ceiling cavety? These pipes are set at a slight angle, and would do the same thing I've seen in making repairs to leaky roof flashing.
If there are no pipes running there then I would agree with others who believe the entire shower pan is toast. If you are going to sell the place then do your best patch repair and make everything pretty.
I would avoid tearing into that ceiling, and would recommend making a service panel for the plumbing access in the closet.
If you are going to go full-pull on replacing the pan then do a surgical demo to preserve as much wall tile but still allowing you to chop out the bad pan. I would not swing a big hammer on the cement, but would instead get a hammer drill or a cement saw to score some lines in the cement that will help you control the way it breaks up. Then go in with a hammer and chisel (with a hand protector) and grub it out a chunk at a time.
You and a friend could probably do the demo work, but I would get a pro to rebuild the pan. Even if the tile leaks, the pan should work to keep the water contained.
As the owner of a 90+ year old home I feel your pain. I am just finishing remodeling our bathroom, and really struggled with the copper pipe sweating. Just about every joint I made leaked and had to be redone. I marvel at how the pros can do this stuff.
Good luck.
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Big
climber
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Jan 30, 2007 - 05:23pm PT
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Well that is about to change if your lucky enough to be there on the same day as Big. Got a date with a steep chunk of stone that is sure to log Big some airtime. Been getting ready all winter as a matter of fact. Polished off the last two routes in IL that have been on my list for years. You should spend plenty of time there anyway. If your not home, shower shouldn't leak.
Although, I'm begining to think the trouble is really you and/or your friends bad aim.
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
St. Looney
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 30, 2007 - 05:25pm PT
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Ha! :)
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TradIsGood
Happy and Healthy climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Jan 30, 2007 - 09:13pm PT
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mcKbill is reading my mind here. Pipes look pretty good, and the condition of the tile looks pretty good, and it seems "new", except that it has happened before. Still could be tile or plumbing, but anything that might put warm moist air against pipes that might even be colder than normal (near exterior walls?) could be condensation, which would explain the smallness of the "leak".
The other thought (seasonal) might be ice/snow/flashing followed by melting which is why I was wondering when it last happened, as mck mentions.
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
St. Looney
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 30, 2007 - 09:23pm PT
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The location of these pipes is dead center in the house. If anyplace in the house is protected from exterior temperatures, it is this location. If you look back at the photo of my house, you will see a large stained glass window upstairs on the right side. That is the bathroom. The shower wall in question is 13' back from the exterior wall. You can see what the roof above this looks like in terms of flashing, etc. There is no damage on any upstairs ceilings or walls. Only the downstairs ceiling.
And the leak spot on the ceiling in the entry way on the first floor is precisely beneath the only plumbing upstairs (I have only one bathroom upstairs). It seems unlikely that a leak in the roof would manage to wiggle it's way to where the leak spot on the ceiling shows and no where else.
After two days letting the silicone set, I touched it and learned it's way gooey. It may just be too cold for siliconing right now. It hasn't been above freezing for a couple of days. Oh well, luckily I have a bathtub or I'd have to abandon ship.
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mcKbill
climber
Grundy Center
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Jan 31, 2007 - 11:21am PT
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Crimpy,
I was unclear, and didn't mean to suugest your roof was leaking. I used the leaking roof as an example of how water can travel from the source of a leak to another location (sometimes surface tension will hold water on the underside of a rafter until it gets to a point where it can collect and drip). These are very tough for most average citizens to trace.
In a similar way, I was thinking that if you have a condensation issue it may start in one place, and ride the underside of a pipe to another location where it will drip off.
TIG, I'm glad I understood you correctly. You must also have some hard-won experience tracing these water damage mysteries.
 mcKbill
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Phil_B
Social climber
Hercules, CA
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Jan 31, 2007 - 11:33am PT
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Hey Crimpie,
If your silicone smells like vinegar out of the tube, then it needs a little water in the air to cure. If it's really cold there, no water in the air. Sure, a little heat helps the process, but it needs the water to complete the cure.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Jan 31, 2007 - 12:17pm PT
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Crimp, the odds of it being any form of condensation is pretty remote. I'm not liking much about that solder job and it makes me all the more suspicious about the drain pan / waste line connection. I'd say take out the rest of the sheetrock and lath down to the floor so you can try and see what's going on around the pan/drain area or see whatever can be seen.
As a last resort I'd then go in from the ceiling below and check it out. If that is a plaster crown molding then I'd try not to touch it at all and cut next to it. If it's a wood crown then I'd [carefully] razor the paint lines and remove the two pieces that intersect at the corner and then go in. You have to be careful not to cut any pipes in the process. If the ceiling is lath and plaster I'd use a circular saw set to a shallow depth cut to cut the basic outline of the opening. Keep us posted
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andy@climbingmoab
Big Wall climber
Park City, UT
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That is possibly the worst looking soldering job I have ever seen. I would imagine if the shower pan work is of similar quality, a drain leak is probably the cause. A drain leak can be a slow one, or on the other extreme it can be like what I was stuck with...
I bought a house a few years ago - everything looked fine, and it passed inspection. A month in to my first experience at home ownership, I had a waterfall coming out of the ruins of the ceiling of the basement bathroom. I tore out a bt more of the ceiling, and it was definitely a very recent patch job. Based on the conditions of the joists it had been leaking for years - i imagine a bucket had been stationed permanently in that downstairs bathroom. When I tore out the shower pan of the bathroom directly above the evil water feature, I discovered the drain pipe was 2.5" copper drain pipe that was just hammered on to a pvc drain in a prefab shower pan. The asshat previous owner literally inserted the pvc shower drain into the copper pipe and wailed on it with a hammer until it kinda sorta fit together. I think at least 1/10th of the volume of every shower done after that godawful DIY job leaked straight into the bathroom below it.
I spent almost a year putting it back together, but its great now. Your tile and grout shouldn't have anything to do with a leak unless whoever built the shower is a moron(though after seeing the soldering job there...). Tile is mostly decorative - everything should be waterproof before the tile goes on.
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