Annoying leak from bath

[Mrstrumpalot]

Dd was having one of her long showers the other day when I was in the garage. I just happened to notice that there was water leaking through the garage roof from the bathroom.
I'm useless at diy but did manage to put some sealant on a tiny hole in the old sealant. Gave it 24 hours and thought I'd cracked it but still doing the same thing. I'm loath to pay a handyman for something like that.
What else can it be?

We had something similar and the only way to fix a problem with the sealant is to remove all the original sealant and redo the whole thing. I weighted the shower tray as the silicone was curing because you have to fill a bath with water if you re-seal it and it seemed a good idea.

It might not be the sealant, we had a small hole in the waste pipe that was causing a leak occasionally. We discovered it by taking the side panel off and using kitchen roll to pinpoint where the leak was coming from.

Good point @MrsPnut - I wasn't thinking of shower over the bath; it's early.

Good idea mrs. Will do that this morning. I would really begrudge paying our local handyman who now charges about £50 an hour!

has the bath got a pop-up waste?

I agree with taking the panel off and laying kitchen roll to see where the leak is coming from. It might be the bath sealant, or round the taps if loose, or the overflow, or the waste under the plughole, or even the shower connections if they are plastered and tiled into the wall (not recommended)

For about £50 you can probably get an actual plumber.

Haven't got round to taking the bath panel off yet but it only leaks at the shower end. ( well that's what it would appear judging by where the water is running down in the garage)
The shower is an over the bath one. I could see 2 obvious tiny holes at that end and thought I had solved the problem when I put sealant on. I even held the shower head over the new sealant 24 hours later to see if anything came through into the garage and it seemed fine. . But something obviously can't cope with my dd's extended showers!
Will report back once I've done the kitchen roll trick!
Thanks for advice so far.

What we currently have is old tiles and grout and the plaster underneath probably blown. Have a look and see if there is any pieces of grout missing. We have fudged the repair in the meantime by using silicone.

Well have taken the bath panel off and carried out the kitchen roll experiment. Almost as soon as I put the shower on water flooded down , too much for it just to be a leak in the sealant.

It looked like it was coming down the middle and then gathering in the corner. I fear, as pigletjohn said, it may be a problem where the shower is fitted into the tiles. The bathroom is starting to have a damp smell now. Could really do without this.

What next pigletjohn if I may be so bold?

big hammer, bolster, dig it out.

Use surface mounted pipes next time (chrome plated) and surface-mounted mixer.

Major makes of mixer can be repaired with a service kit, it is often worn-out "O" ring seals causing leaks.

Some sunken mixers (I am thinking of Aqualisa) are intended to be mounted into a sleeved cavity that they can be taken out of, but I still think surface-mounted (exposed) is less troublesome.

If it is tiles on plasterboard, rip it out and use waterproof Aquapanel or similar instead of plasterboard (it is a cement board, very popular for walls that will be tiled). Plasterboard is not much use if it can see water.

hammer

bolster

stuff

Oh no, that is what I feared.
Think this is a job for the experts!
Thanks Piglet and everyone else for your advice.

or HardieBacker

Since we are having a similar problem PigletJohn, does one ever tile directly on plaster? Or should we line with aquapanel first?

"does one ever tile directly on plaster"

in a shower, yes, if you don't mind the wall getting damp and the tiles falling off.

Kitchen tiles, however, rarely have water squirted at the walls day after day.

Got to know thanks.

Well the plumber has been. Apparently where the fittings are on the wall they had worked loose slightly and as soon as shower was switched on water flooded down the back of them. In addition the hose leading onto the shower head was loose causing water to shoot everywhere when shower was on.
So plumber bought new hose and shower head and total bill was £60, which I don't think is too bad.

Unfortunately when my ds used shower for the first time he didn't account for the strength of the water coming out of the new shower head. Consequently shower head shot up and bathroom was covered in water!

Now moving onto my next job off the list I made for the summer holidays. Getting a quote for a new window which was cracked when a stone flew up when Dh was strimming grass. There's always something.

Good to know that it wasn't completely dire. I hear you on the always something. It seems in our house something breaks on a daily basis. I know with double glazed windows you can just replace the glazed unit rather than the whole window. Costs somewhere in the order of £100 depending on size

List so far these holidays:

Get shower mended. Check

Sort out cupboard at top of the stairs. Check

Tidy out garage ( it's like painting the Forth Bridge, as soon as I've finished I've got to start again). It's a double garage but there's no way even one car would fit in. Anyway, check.

Sort out new cord for blinds in 2 of the bedrooms. Check

Buy a new car. Have forked out recently for a new air conditioning pump and alternator. Apparently my cylinder head gasket is about to go. So picking up new car next week. ( my dh doesn't know. I wanted to prove that I could haggle with a car salesman myself. Which I did and salesman looked aghast that I had dared to ask for money off. Which I got!). Check

Tidy out all kitchen cupboards. Threw out herbs dating back to 2011. Check

Order new window. Still to do.

Sort out spare bedroom, dreading that. Still to do.

Dh never notices these jobs which build up. Or if he does they don't bother him.

Wow you have done really well! I am impressed. I have an hour before I need to ferry the kids around again. So will repot a yucca and sweep the garden. Ambitious!!