Just moved into flat, bathroom leaking to flat below

Hi

We've just moved into a new flat that has been unoccupied for the past

4 months.

On day one we used the loo and the sink, and our downstairs neighbour has told us there's water coming through his ceiling. It did stop though, and there weren't any problems until day 4 when we used the shower for the first time - again the leaking.

The neighbour has been there for years, this hasn't happened before. What could have happened in the intervening 4 months? Could a pipe have dried out and cracked?

Is there any sensible way of sorting it out before we take up the floor?

Reply to
CM
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Rented or bought?

Reply to
SJP

I'm in no doubt others will be along to make other helpful suggestions but reading what you have said suggests to me that it is a waste that is causing the problem as it seems to be a problem only when the facilities are being used .

If it was a supply pipe then I would expect the problem to be there all the time.

What puzzles me is that both the shower/basin AND the loo are causing the problem as I would have thought they had separate waste outlets .

I cannot see any alternative to uplifting the floor but can you ,in conjunction with your neighbour below,operate each facilty on it's own in turn to try to isolate which one is causing the problem .

When you say"new flat" I take it that you have bought this place and not rented it.

Stuart .

Reply to
Stuart

One of two possibilities.

  1. All the wastes go into the main soil pipe, which is leaking.
  2. The toilet doesn't cause any problems. The basin and shower share a waste and the OP is a washer, not a walker.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

Possibly a blocked stack somewhere.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Only as far as the soil pipe. Which is a bit worrting if it's the toilet flush water that is leaking.

MBQ

Reply to
manatbandq

Could be that most people use the basin after flushing the toilet though..

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Yep, we've bought the place. :(

The strange thing is we continued using the loo between day one and day four without apparent further problems. So either that particular problem resolved itself or was never the issue.

Also, I've seen the water coming through the neighbour's ceiling - and it didn't look like it had come from the loo, if you see what I mean.

We also did lay off using the sink for the intervening days. So maybe that's it? Maybe there's a joint output pipe for the sink and shower?

Reply to
CM

That means nothing. Often there is a blockage that then backs up. You need to put quite a lot of water down before it backs up to the leak. Solid material (for want of a better word) usually drops down the blockage and only relatively fresh water comes out of the leak.

Definite possibility.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

You tend to need a durgo somewhere though if this is the case on a longish run.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

One other possibility is that it has been very wet weather recently. You may find the leak is penetrating rain water, rather than grey water from the bathroom.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

Have you had a look frm outside? Do the shower & basin wastes join the main soil stack or do they discharge into a separate gully?

Next time it rains heavily see if the gutters are overflowing.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Bit of feedback, turns out it was a leak from the sink just below the basin!

Unfortunately we'd got as far as making a few holes in the floor to spot the leak. The outlet on the sink had been pushed out of place and the water was just running down the outside of the pipe through the hole in the floorboards.

At least the hole in the floor has let us check there's no more leakage.

Any suggestions on how to patch up a small hole (about 3.5 inches across I'd say) made in the floorboards before putting the tile back down?

Reply to
CM

I don't think I'd be very impressed with you if I were your neighbour.

Reply to
adder1969

Did you not say earlier that it also happened when you used the shower .?

Reply to
Stuart

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