I'm a new home owner (in both senses of the word new). A few weeks ago I noticed a small spot on the ceiling above the master bathtub. My five year old had just taken a bath, and at the time I dismissed it as water splashed up there by him; it seemed to have gone away.
Then a couple of weeks ago it came back, with no relation to weather (no rain), time of day, shower/toilet usage. This time it had small bugs. My first thought was a dead animal, and I prepared myself for that grisly task. But when I dug out the insulation in that area I discovered that my vent pipe wasn't in the sleeve; most likely it got knocked loose when they put in the insulation, though that's been a few months.
My question is this: shouldn't those pipes have been glued? There was no glue on the joint, and the other end of the sleeve freely turned as well. I've put in vent pipes many times before and I've always glued them. But I'm unfamiliar with what the actual building code is (I'm in Nashville). I stuck the pipe back together and the spot is still there, but not wet; most likely the sheetrock is ruined in that area. Honestly I didn't think much moisture would build up in a vent pipe, but obviously it did. I searched for a roof leak and didn't see anything, and the joint was a sleeve and not an elbow.
While I'm at it I have another question that I asked awhile back on misc.consumer.house. The master bath (jacuzzi tub) has a crack on the faucet end between the tub and the tile. Builder has caulked twice and predictably the caulk separated from the tub; they did the caulking with the tub full, and I left it full while the caulk dried. Seems to me this is just a patch, since the tub shouldn't be lowering enough to cause a crack to appear. It only happens on the faucet end. The builder said they don't do support under the belly of the tub, and they don't put in any ledger other than what is built into the tub.
They're coming out on Monday to look at these (and other) problems. I'd like to have some feedback for them.
Thanks in advance!
John W.