Sometimes you just need to scream!!!

[Capt Worley PE]

Any HOA is government by the people - at it's finest.

It's for the people that it's by. They only join to get their issues dealt with. That's how I got on the board at a rental property we own. They sucked me in b/c I had a problem that needed correcting.

Yeah, a friend of mine had to get on the condo board to stop some BS of a high and aggravating nature to end. I can't recall if he got the issue solved, but he's looking for a house in our area so he doesn't have to deal with that kind of ridiculous BS anymore.

 

[Dark Knight]

The only ones that like HOA are the board members while they are in. Once they leave, they hate it as much or more than the mere mortals that have never been there. Why? Because they know how things are.

 

[Supe]

So, the girlfriend calls me frantic at work last night, "there's water all over the bathroom floor and your kitchen ceiling has water leaking out of it." About two gallons in all came out, through the potlights, light fixture over the ceiling, around the drywall seams and through the paint.

Greeeeeat.

No fricking clue where the leak is coming from. Had Servpro out there at 9:30 until about 1:00 AM. I slipped in the bathroom, stiffarmed the toilet tank, and broke the toilet. My upstairs bathroom now has no kick boards, no floor, mold around the shower stall area (believed to be unrelated at this time), and no toilet. My kitchen has an 8x8 patch of drywall missing. Both rooms have 4 industrial heated blowers trying to clear out any residual moisture. No running water in the house at this time, and the "emergency" plumber was a no-show.

All that's visible plumbing-wise from down below are two plastic/vinyl/whatever they are (not PEX) feed lines that go up to presumably the shower stall, and the PVC drain that ties into both the shower stall and the bathtub. No moisture around the bathroom faucets, johnny ring was fine under the toilet, no moisture coming from the wall where the toilet water line runs.

Only two things happened prior to the leak taking place. 1) Junior flushed the toilet, and 2) GF filled the bathtub and junior had just gotten inside of it.

Right now, I think these are the possibilities:

1) Tub is poorly braced based on what I can see below, and there is a gap around the caulking whenever its filled. Perhaps the drain line has cracked, the seal around the tub drain is toast, or there is a fine crack in the tub itself (fiberglass).

2) Feed line fitting to the tub fixture let go.

3) Something decided to let go in the shower, and it was an isolated ocurrence.

Any ideas? At this point I'm just hoping someone has to rip down the shower tile and bathtub tiles so I can have State Farm pay for a new bathroom sans the deductible. I'm worried about the plumber turning the water back on and watching for the leak, because I'll blow my brains out if I have to go another night of listening to these dryers going. They're about as quiet as an industrial boiler.

 

[cdcengineer]

What a nightmare. The toilet is a strong possibility. But it could also be the connection between plastic tubing and shower fixture. Did they transition to copper, or stub straight out with plastic. Plastic stubs are not the most reliable according to a plumber friend.

Good Luck

 

[MA_PE]

wow supe. that sux. I hope you can identify the problem soon.

 

[chaosiscash]

GF filled the bathtub and junior had just gotten inside of it.

I lived in a very cheap apartment in college, and the tub overflow was not tied into the drain, so if you overfilled the tub it would run out into the structure, and into the apartment below mine. I doubt this is the problem, but it might be something to check. A leak in the overflow would explain why there was only two gallons and you can't recreate the leak.

Good luck.

 

[Supe]

Definitely a long term leak around the shower pan. No signs of water running down the lines to the shower fixture, though, and closet on that side was dry. Between the shower stall and the tub (false wall there), it's soaked to the bone, which indicates to me a strong likelihood that a line to that tub fixture let go. When I briefly turned the water back on last night I heard dripping, so I'm less inclined to think it's the drain, especially when the drains were dry from underneath. I haven't pulled the tub fixture since the plumber is coming in a little bit. If it's not something he can get at from the the top of the tub though, then there's going to be a bunch of tile and hardiboard getting ripped out too. Tub was definitely not overfilled, as we usually only put 5-6 inches or so for Junior's baths.

The water damage guys just left though, and they're leaving the dryers on for another 24 hrs it looks like. Probably have to sleep in the theater tonight, as its the quietest room in the house.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

Water leaks are a real beeyotch to trace. Good luck.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

The only ones that like HOA are the board members while they are in. Once they leave, they hate it as much or more than the mere mortals that have never been there. Why? Because they know how things are.

BUWAHAHA...yeah, pretty much.

 

[Supe]

Well, plumber could find nothing. Drained the tub, filled the tub, shower on, everything turned off and watched the water meter outside, didn't budge. His best guess was a shower pan leak, but that doesn't explain the sudden bathroom mini-flood, or how that quantity of water didn't appear until bath time. Praying the insurance company will cover some exploratory surgery.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

In our last house we had a similar problem. We had water dripping out of the can lighting on the 1st floor while the kiddos were taking a bath (the problem only presented itself during kiddo bath time). We quickly discovered the kids had been splashing and the water made its way into the floor via the adjacent walls. The sheetrock had rotted away behind the floor trim and provided an easy access for the water to infiltrate the walls. The sheetrock was so soft, we could just push the trim piece back into place and the nails would just slide in without use of tools.

 

[engineergurl]

In our last house we had a similar problem. We had water dripping out of the can lighting on the 1st floor while the kiddos were taking a bath (the problem only presented itself during kiddo bath time). We quickly discovered the kids had been splashing and the water made its way into the floor via the adjacent walls. The sheetrock had rotted away behind the floor trim and provided an easy access for the water to infiltrate the walls. The sheetrock was so soft, we could just push the trim piece back into place and the nails would just slide in without use of tools.

The same thing happened at our house when we were little... Dad was kinda ticked off at us when the found out we were using the fisher price tub toy as a bucket to chuck water at each other.... (you guys remember the 1970's three men in the tub fisher price toy?)

 

[snickerd3]

I do know the toy you are talking about.

Minisnick will never be able to cause such damage in our current house as the upstairs bathroom only has a shower and the down stairsbathroom is on concrete.

 

[Supe]

Well, this is lovely. Claims rep says that they will not pay out for whatever the cause of the problem was, only the resulting damage. Basically, if they determine that the leak was caused by the floor pan, they will pay to replace the floor, but I'm stuck footing the bill for removal of the pan/shower stall, re-tiling the surrounds, etc.

 

[snickerd3]

any little bit will help.

 

[Supe]

Any ballpark ideas on what it would cost to redo a shower pain, tile surround, and associated drywall/cement board? Where's Wolvie when you need him!

What really sucks is that this is going to put Junior's vacation to Disney on hold, amongst a schmattering of other things that were in the works for the very near future.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Well, this is lovely. Claims rep says that they will not pay out for whatever the cause of the problem was, only the resulting damage. Basically, if they determine that the leak was caused by the floor pan, they will pay to replace the floor, but I'm stuck footing the bill for removal of the pan/shower stall, re-tiling the surrounds, etc.

If you claim that the cause of the flood is a manufacturer's defect in the shower pan, then SFIC will pay for a new shower and send it to my lab for investigation. If we can prove it's a defect, and they successfully subrogate against the manufacturer, they will refund your deductible.

 

[Supe]

I have a feeling if that's even the real cause of this, that it's not going to be the pan itself, but a shitty install job.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

They can also subrogate against plumbers. Do you know who installed it?

 

[Supe]

I have the information of the original home builder who did the work (and pretty much all the homes in this subdivison) about 11 years ago.