# Tile Hell



## Qball415 (Nov 20, 2010)

Got a 8PM service call this evening for a leak behind back to back baths.

Problem is tile was on almost every square inch of both baths.

I could hear water spraying behind wall, but where do i start without destroying their bathroom?

I started by removing trim off diverters, cutting tile just enough to peek and able to be covered by escution found it to be completely dry.

When originally plumbed they came down once vertically and drilled through every stud picking up 2 showers, 2 w/c, and 2 lavs all with 1/2".

Needless to say i found leak with minimal damage. I almost threw my hands up on this one. That was a close one. Maybe it was luck that was on my side.


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## coast to coast (Feb 17, 2012)

What caused the leak ? Screw finally rusted !


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## Michaelcookplum (May 1, 2011)

That is a terrible remodel. Tub drain for a shower?? Tub spout on a shower? Someone had no idea what they were doing here. No wonder there was a leak. Wouldn't be surprised to find something else wrong here. It's sad that contractors take advantage of HO and do work to such a low standard. JUNK!


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## Titan Plumbing (Oct 8, 2009)

Michaelcookplum said:


> That is a terrible remodel. Tub drain for a shower?? *Tub spout on a shower?* Someone had no idea what they were doing here. No wonder there was a leak. Wouldn't be surprised to find something else wrong here. It's sad that contractors take advantage of HO and do work to such a low standard. JUNK!


That is used as a "Toe-Tester".


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## vinpadalino (Aug 27, 2010)

To bad you don't tile. Turn that into a nice tile job.


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## MarkToo (Dec 17, 2011)

How the heck do you plumb a tub drain into a tiled shower?


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## Widdershins (Feb 5, 2011)

MarkToo said:


> How the heck do you plumb a tub drain into a tiled shower?


I don't know if the one in Qballs pic is one, but I've done a couple of custom tub/showers that used mud set Roman Tub drains.


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## Qball415 (Nov 20, 2010)

coast to coast said:


> What caused the leak ? Screw finally rusted !


Pin hole on hot side pipe. Tiny pin hole=huge spraying leak. What caused it?

I couldn't answer that question.... If I had to guess I would say water heater had something to do with it. While turning valve off at heater I noticed a couple of rusted out galvy nipples connected to brass gate valve. Could this have been a case of electrolisis?

H/O said this has happened before under vanity on other side about 10 years ago same issue, pin hole on pipe. 

Why in the world they tiled every square inch of both bathrooms is beyond me. They even tiled behind vanities.
The side I cut used to be a tub/shower, before they converted it to a "shower". 

Some things are just unexplainable, but when you do this long enough not to much surprises me anymore.


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## revenge (Jun 30, 2011)

I have a ridgid inspection camera I use on jobs like that works great yuo might consider buying one


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

Was there a pan? I can't see it in the pic.


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## Qball415 (Nov 20, 2010)

plbgbiz said:


> Was there a pan? I can't see it in the pic.


No pan. I think they just "hot mopped" conversion. I doubt any changes were made to plumbing. I'm going t guess it was a DIY project.

Revenge that's a brilliant tool to possess, but I'm Ol' Skool and mostly don't rely on modern technology to much. I just used the old ear and plain luck.


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## ToUtahNow (Jul 19, 2008)

Qball415 said:


> Pin hole on hot side pipe. Tiny pin hole=huge spraying leak. What caused it?
> 
> I couldn't answer that question.... If I had to guess I would say water heater had something to do with it. While turning valve off at heater I noticed a couple of rusted out galvy nipples connected to brass gate valve. Could this have been a case of electrolisis?
> 
> ...


No, galvanize is sacrificial to copper not the other way around.

Mark


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

plbgbiz said:


> Was there a pan? I can't see it in the pic.


 






DIY'er: "Shower pan? What is that?"..........:blink:


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## beachplumber (Feb 7, 2010)

what did u use to remove the tile


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## Qball415 (Nov 20, 2010)

beachplumber said:


> what did u use to remove the tile


Makita grinder with diamond blade attached followed with a few swift swings of my hammer and chisel.


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## beachplumber (Feb 7, 2010)

ouch!! no puttin that back!!!

of course in that particular area it should be redone.

for future use check out the dremel multi max tool or equivalent there are many brands now.

They work great for taking tile out and putting back with sand in grout.


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## Widdershins (Feb 5, 2011)

beachplumber said:


> ouch!! no puttin that back!!!
> 
> of course in that particular area it should be redone.
> 
> ...


They work great for that, no doubt about it.

OTOH, they're pretty much worthless when it comes to waterproofing when you go to reinstall what you took out.


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