Please help, advice needed - bad leak and bad smell

[Linzal]

Hi everyone, this is my first post so I hope it's ok to dive right in. I have recently bought my first house. It was built in 2006, it's a mid terraced town house new build.

We have a kitchen/diner and living room on the ground floor. The master bedroom (with ensuite), family bathroom and second bedroom on the first floor and a large third bedroom on the second floor.

About two months ago we noticed some water dripping through one of the downlights in out kitchen (our kitchen is underneath both the second bedroom and family bathroom). The particular downlight where the leak was is about a foot in front and underneath the toilet in the family bathroom. We didn't want to rip the plasterboard ceiling up, so investigated in the bathroom and sort of thought it was water escaping down the side of the bath panel so we bought a new bath panel and resealed it. I must mention that the family bathroom doesn't get used a lot only when we have family stay.

This seemed to do the trick... until the last three weeks and now I am pullinh my hair out. I noticed a water stain appearing on the kitchen wall above the cabinets (near the downlighters mentioned before). This spread over some of the ceiling and has gone green with mould. Just as we were about to get it looked at the leak appeared again through the same down light as before. So I got my brother in law round (not a plumber) who took some of our ceiling down so a plumber could inspect. Well as you would expect the ceiling was soaked and basically melted away when pulled. We can now see some pipes. Next, I went up to the guest room and noticed that the carpet along the wall adjoining the family bathroom was soaking. A huge patch and the underlay ruined.

We have called a plumber out, who has checked the boiler and confirmed it's not that (I thought the water patch on the carpet may have had something to do with me putting the heating on for the first time in a while and there is a radiator on the other side of that wall in the family bathroom). What doesn't help is the family bathroom is all tiled and the pipework hidden, including access to the toilet. We removed the wooden shelf above the built in toilet unit and shone a torch down and the floor is soaking. So we definitely have a leak SOMEWHERE.

In the last week or so I have noticed a putrid vomit smell in our ensuite bathroom when I go near the toilet. Can all of this be connected and what on earth should I do? We have home insurance and they have been really good but I just don't know where to start!! Help!!

 

[Ch4 plumbing]

Hi and good morning,

Normally an intermittent leak in a bathroom is linked to a waste or waste pipe, or poor silicon sealant application?

You need to confirm what causes the leak,

Flush the toilet a couple of times and visually inspect the pan connector (usually white) and other associated soil pipework behind pan, the smell could be a leak or it could be someone missing the toilet!

Run a full bath and check the sealant around the edges (spray with shower hose if you have an over bath shower)

Check the shower tray sealant the shower doors and rest of the unit, again run the shower to see if you can replicate a leak, also check the grout as this can cause leaks.

Do the same with the basin, fill it and let a couple of full bowls go, check the trap and any pipe work you can see.

If after this you still can't identify the leak it's either time to take up the bathroom floor or it may be easier to cut an access in your kitchen ceiling ( bare in mind water will travel along joists/cables and pipes so you may need to cut more then one hole)

If your unsure then you might find getting a plumber in easier and less stressful.

 

[gassafe]

Your first mistake was not finding the leak 2 months ago... Resealing a new bath panel???

The horrible smell suggests either a waste pipe has pulled apart or a trap is leaking & letting sewer smell into the room... Get a plumber out & get testing it all...

 

[Linzal]

Hi, we did have a plumber out two months ago when the leak started through the downlight. He looked at the bath panel, said water had been going down the sides and onto the floor when the shower was used, therefore causing a leak through the ceiling below. When we replaced the bath panel and sealed down the sides of it the leak stopped for a good 4/5 weeks.

The next thing to appear was the water stain and mould in the kitchen downstairs. Then the leak through the downlighter again (this started last Friday).

 

[stevetheplumber]

if you cant see where the leak is coming from you are going to have to start removing stuff to find it your household insurance might cover this to some extent