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Leaking shower stall... or shall I say shower sink?

In addition to doing full Home Inspections and Certified EIFS inspections, I also find myself doing quite a bit of trouble shooting for folks that are having problems in their homes and can't seem to pinpoint the cause.

Today's mission was an intrusive inspection of a leaking shower base. The unit is located on the 16th floor of a high rise building on the upper Eastside of Manhattan.

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As you can see, there are no curb walls and there is minimal pitch.
Let's look a bit deeper.

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So here we have the heart of the problem.
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It's hard to tell from the picture, but besides the fact that the drain is about 2" higher than the sides, the wrong type of drain was used. There are no weep holes to allow the pan to drain and the cone in the middle to compensate for the extreme height simply created a "sink". The pan is always filled with water and is overflowing the sides, running beneath it and into the apartments below.

Posted by Steven Turetsky, UID#16000002314 on 01/29/2008 07:15 PM

Comments (10)

staten island, brooklyn, manhattan, queens, bronx, home inspector, eifs inspector, leaking shower

Post is included in group: Hill Country Inspector

10 Comments on Leaking shower stall... or shall I say shower sink?

Steven - You did get some very good pictures. This type thing happens more frequently then we care to talk about. Boy what a mess; I wonder what the rest of them look like in the high rise?

01/29/2008 07:22 PM

by Carl & Ceil Winters (Complete Inspection Service, New Braunfels, Texas 78133)

Improperly installed shower bases are a common problem. The last one I looked at was leaking for 18 months... It's fixed now!!!

Hey Carl, How have you been?

01/29/2008 07:25 PM

by Steven Turetsky, UID#16000002314 (Comprehensive Building Inspections & Consultants)

Hey - I'm doing good - just another year older and slower I get - ha, ha.

Had to replace a leaking shower pan in our downstairs shower a few years back. Had to retile the whole stall and of course with a 50 year old house could not match up the tile so just used white.

01/29/2008 08:06 PM

by Carl & Ceil Winters (Complete Inspection Service, New Braunfels, Texas 78133)

Steven, that thing is totally messed up. There is just no way that anyone that even had a rudimentary knowledge of gravity would build something like that:) Looks like "terrorism" by contractor!

01/29/2008 10:52 PM

by Charles Buell, Seattle, WA, Home Inspector (Charles Buell Inspections.com)

That's a great example of how dangerous a little knowledge can be. The installer had the knowledge to lay the tile and make it look nice, but no knowledge about gravity and plumbing. Great job Steven, thanks for sharing.

01/29/2008 11:29 PM

by Joseph Lang - Southern California Home Inspector (Pillar To Post Professional Home Inspection)

The funny thing is, my client informed me that they bought this condo from an architect.

Go figure.

01/29/2008 11:34 PM

by Steven Turetsky, UID#16000002314 (Comprehensive Building Inspections & Consultants)

Aren't you glad you didn't do the inspection a year or two ago! You never know what lurks around the corner, it's things like that which help keep you sharp.

01/30/2008 05:43 AM

by Jim Ellis (Ellis Home Inspection Services)

Taking things apart improves my x-ray vision.

01/30/2008 08:57 AM

by Steven Turetsky, UID#16000002314 (Comprehensive Building Inspections & Consultants)

Howdy Steven

How are you doing ?

I don't get to do inspections on high rise's realy anymore. Theres only one you could call a high rise in my area. They have their own people to look at and take care of things in it. How in the world could they put in the wrong type of drain in there to start with.

Have a good one

Dale

01/30/2008 06:11 PM

by Dale Baker, Home Inspector- in NH & VT (Baker Home Inspections and Consulting Service)

Beats me how they put in the wrong drain, but they did.

When I removed the lead pan to see why they built the "cone", and to make way for a new pan... the drain just fell off the waste line.

The "PLUMBER" just placed this drain on top of a copper "j" bend (like you see on a "p" trap for a bathroom sink. About 1/8" was inside the botton on the drain.

Sorry, no pictures.

01/30/2008 06:37 PM

by Steven Turetsky, UID#16000002314 (Comprehensive Building Inspections & Consultants)

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