Leak In Ceiling From Upstairs Shower

April 19, 2020October 28, 2020 Editor

An upstairs shower is a great commodity until it starts to leak into the ceiling. This happens more than you might think, so don’t instantly think that your house is poorly built. Over time, a number of leaks can occur from your shower.

You may be wondering what to do, as is normal in these types of situations. Most homeowners panic right away, with a reason of course. It’s not just your shower that’s damaged, the ceiling and room below will struggle too. This can lead to repairs that cost a huge amount of money. Luckily, I’m here to help you with your problems.

The first thing to do is to stop the leak by closing the valve for income water. This will tell you if the problem lies with the outgoing or incoming water. Then, protecting the room from water damage is a priority. Locating the damaged part of the shower and fixing the leak is the next step. After you have covered all that, you need to do something about the ceiling. Either repair it yourself, or minimize moisture while waiting for the professional.

I know this is easier said than done but with patience and some effort, you can do it yourself. Keep reading for the complete guide and everything will be clear.

Ceiling leak from shower upstairs — When it’s this bad, shut off the main water supply line immediately.

Preventive measures for the ceiling

Most likely, you’ve noticed that there is something wrong with your shower when your ceiling started leaking. In some cases there will only be a discoloration on the wall and no dripping water. You have to be very lucky to notice that water is coming out from the shower before showing up on the ceiling. Even then, water has already formed a pool above your ceiling.

You already know what can happen if water is dropping from your ceiling. Your floor and furniture around the dripping point can be easily damaged. That’s why it’s best to deal with this issue before moving to the actual problem. Nothing hard to do, don’t worry.

Just place a bucket below the dripping point and cover the floor with a plastic sheet. You can move your furniture away or cover it with plastic sheets.

If you don’t have plastic sheets readily availible, run to your local store to get them, since this will be the quickest. If that’s not an option, your second quickest option is probably to get plastic sheets on Amazon (affiliate link).

Seeing as how your walls will be moist, you would want to prevent mold growth. Use a dehumidifier in the room if you have one on hand.

Once you’ve done this, you can move on to the shower without worrying about the ceiling.

How to find where my shower is leaking from?

Locating the leak is a process of elimination. You go over the usual suspects until you hit the right spot. Don’t lose patience with this step, in due time you will find what’s wrong with the shower. If you are hopeless, just call a professional.

Knowing why showers usually cause leaks will help you with your search. The usual suspects are:

the toilet
damaged pipes
damaged joint connectors
cracked floor tiles
the tub
the sink

So, when I say “the usual suspects” I mean everything that uses water in your shower.

The toilet

Most homeowners consider the toilet a complicated unit to fix. Don’t worry though checking it for leaks is actually quite easy. If the leak is caused by the toilet, it’s the seal ring that’s the problem. Every toilet has a wax ring or seal ring at the bottom, it’s purpose is to keep it in place and aligned with the floor.

When the ring is damaged or slightly unattached, the water will naturally flow into your ceiling. Checking if this is the problem is as easy as flushing the toilet. If water comes out from the ring when you’re flashing, the seal ring needs to be replaced.

You can use another method just to be sure. Pour food paint (affiliate link) into the toilet and then flush it. This way you’ll know if water comes out from the food paint. The water coming out from the ring will be the same color as the food paint.

The bathtub

Same as the toilet, the bathtub will cause a leak because of a seal gap. Look around the bathtub for any holes in the seal that may let water in. If you see a gap, don’t jump to any conclusions, you still need to eliminate the other suspects.

Cracked tiles in the floor

Although highly unusual, cracked tiles are another cause of leaks. Most cracked tiles can be immediately noticed. Since it’s hard for an amount of water that can cause a leak to get through the tile, cracked tiles hardly cause any damage. In addition, the bathroom floor doesn’t have a constant flow of water.

So, a cracked tile can cause a leak only if your shower was flooded recently or it’s near a sink or a tub. Check around the tub and sink area in the floor. As I said, if a cracked tile caused a leak, the hole is probably big enough to see it instantly.

Faulty lines

Now, faulty lines are really tricky. Mainly because there are a number of things that can go wrong with a pipe. Also, most lines aren’t really accessible, so that just makes the job harder. What’s worse is that some lines have water in them almost always.

The problem is with either the supply lines or discharge lines. It’s easy to notice which is the faulty one. Supply lines have a constant flow of water, so the leak will be continuous. In some cases, the leak isn’t dripping but flowing. On the other hand, discharge lines will only cause a leak when you flush the toilet or run water in the tub and sink.

What you want to do is cut off the water in the main supply line. That way you eliminate the possibility of a flooded home, you stop the leak too. Even if it isn’t the supply lines that’s causing the leak, it’s smart to do this just to be sure.

Locating which part of the line is causing the problem is the next step to take. Find out how your lines move around your home and which is which. It would be great if you’re able to gain direct access to the lines.

If you can reach the lines with your hands, check for moisture around the pipes. If you’re lucky you will notice the leak with your eyes. Make sure to go all the way, the pipes that cover your ceiling more precisely.

You can check for moisture even if you can’t reach the pipes. Just knowing how the lines move in your house is enough. Follow the lines along the walls and check for moisture or discoloration on the walls. A presence of each is a signal that the pipe is leaking near that place.

A faulty discharge line is easier to spot. As I said before, the leak occurs only when you discharge water from some unit in the shower. By a process of elimination, check the tub, toilet, and sink one by one. Let some time go by between each discharge of water. When you see the leak coming back, the last used unit is the culprit.

The sink

You probably know that your sink is causing the leak if there’s a problem with it. A faulty sink will not work properly. Seeing as how you use your sink at least 3 times a day, the problem is unavoidable.

Sink leaks usually will show up first at the base of the sink. Water will form around the leak. Check around the sink and check the joint connectors (in the cupboard) for the pipe.

Joint connectors

Pipes are connected with joint connectors. These are not that strong and durable as they should be, so they are often the cause of leaks. However, there’s a balance, they are the easier to fix.

Check the joint connectors of every available pipe. Check the most connectors of the most used units like the tub, sink and toilet. Water will be sipping away like it does from a pierced hose.

These were the most likely causes of your leak. Be patient and go over everything listed above. Also check everything in your shower for unusual sources of water.

Since we are done with locating the leak, we can move on to actually fixing it.

How to fix shower leaks?

A disclaimer of sorts before we begin. There are leaks that can be fixed by yourself and some that can’t. The toilet, tub, tiles, joint connectors and sink can easily be fixed. Faulty lines on the other hand require a professional or someone with an experience.

Replacing the toilet seal ring

This is probably the easiest thing to do on this list. All you need is a replacement wax ring (affiliate link to Amazon) and a pair of pliers.

1. Start with shutting off the water supply to the toilet and then flush it.

2. With the pliers unscrew the screws at the base of the toilet.

3. Carefully lift and remove the toilet.

4. Take out the old wax ring.

5. Scrap off the remaining wax.

6. Put new wax at the bottom of the toilet, in its place.

7. Put the toilet in its place and put pressure on it.

8. Use plier to screw it into place.

9. Slowly turn on the water supply for the toilet.

Fixing tile cracks around the sink and tub

There are two ways to fix a cracked tile. One is to remove it and change it with a new one; the other is just filling it with silicone.

Replacing a tile takes expertise, so I wouldn’t advice touching it. A bad replacement job can damage your remaining tiles too.

As for the silicone way, you can do that yourself for sure. The only problem is there will be a white spot on your tile. So, no aesthetics in this fix.

Just buy a can of silicone with a silicon gun (Affiliate link). Slowly apply silicone in the crack with the gun. Then, with a trowel put pressure on it and flatten it out. Clean out any spills on the rest of the tile.

Replacing joint connectors

This is also really easy to do. All you need is a replacement connector and a screwdriver. Most of you know how to do this because it’s so easy. Make sure you get the same connector that you’re currently using already.

Cut off the supply line for the unit with the loose connector. Then, remove the nasty metal thing. Unscrewing it may be kind of hard if the connector has corroded.

Lastly, install the new connector with the pipe and you’re done. Test it out to see if it works properly.

That’s all about fixing shower leaks. Let’s see what you can do about that damaged ceiling.

How to fix water damage in ceiling?

water damaged ceiling from leak upstairs — Water stain on ceiling below the bathroom

If your ceiling is badly damaged, you need an immediate solution. Not only because of the bad look but because of mold growth too.

A temporary fix will make your ceiling look nicer and stop the moisture from spreading. It consists of cutting of the damaged part and putting a replacement drywall supported by 2 pieces of plywood. We have a nice guide on it, check it out.

This is the end folks, hope you fixed the leak.