How to find a hidden leak in your bathroom?
Hidden water leaks in your bathroom not only waste water and money but also leads to mold or mildew growing.While most bathroom fixtures are susceptible to leaking at some point of other due to various reasons, there are a number of ways one can find out the cause of leakage to control any long term damages.
Usually most hidden leaks occur either in water pipe joint fixtures or under the toilet commode wax rings. Here are a few ways to find the cause of the leak in your bathroom and find the hidden leakage.
Check the Access Spots: One of the most useful ways to find the exact location of a hidden leak in a bathroom is to run your hands along the access spots. Anything that has an inlet or outlet must be a part of the aces spots to rule out any leaks. Access spots include water supply lines reaching to the sink, the commode, the sink trap as well as the wax ring which is located under the toilet commode seat. Check out the various plumbing connection or joints in these access points. A majority of leaks are found at such junctions that require replacement of a washer in the fixture to correct. If you are not sure of the type of washer to be used, you can take the fixture to your nearest hardware.
Focus on Wax Ring Leaks: Wax rings are located underneath the toilet commode and are quite prone to leaks. Because of their location under the commode, such wax ring leaks are not easily visible unless the commode is removed. If you have ruled out all other cause of leaks, the wax ring leaks could be the culprit.
Rule out Other Leaks: Before embarking on a journey to locate the cause of a hidden leak in a bathroom, one must make sure that the leak is related to the bathroom. In a number of cases especially in overhead bathrooms, people have confused rain induced leaks to bathroom leaks. If the dampness or wet spot in the roof appears only after a rain, the leakage could be probably due to a rubber boot sealing the roof vent. Moisture in the rainy season can easily travel down the vent pipe and leak under the bathroom making it appear as a bathroom leakage.
Check out Trap Leaks: Checking the drain trap under the drips can be an important way to rule out any trap leaks. Drain leaks can also be checked by physically checking the traps by turning on the water in the bathroom sink. Drainage pipe leaks can be hard to see at times because of the capillary effect of the water droplets on the drain pipe. Physical verification by rubbing the hand along the pipe is the best way to rule out drain trap leaks.
Physical Verification: Physical verification of the leaks is one of the best ways to shortlist the type of leak in the bathroom. Pipe leaks and joint leaks have various distinct characteristics and show up on the bathroom walls of floor in different ways. In case of an overhead bathroom, if the leak looks like a damp spot that dries and reappears, the leak is generally from a drain line. On the other hand, if the leak does not dry at all and remains constant with dropping of small drops on the floor, it may be due to a problem in the pressure water supply line of the bathroom.
