So your shower’s leaking and you want to fix it? Easy, right?
Not as easy as you’d think
There are a variety of reasons showers can leak and part of the repair process is identifying what’s gone wrong so that we don’t have to replace your whole shower if we don’t have to.
HOW TO TELL IF YOUR SHOWER IS LEAKING
Because your pipes are behind your walls, leaking showers can go undetected for days and often months. If you ignore it, or you don’t notice it in time, you’re in for a hefty repair bill.
You can run the water meter test to see if you have a leak but this is often just a test to prove a suspicion.
Look for the following around your shower:
- Evidence of mould growing in your bathroom, paying particular attention to the area around your shower like in the shower tiles both below the shower head and under your feet.
- If you’ve got an upstairs shower, check the ceiling of the room directly below your shower. If there are water stains on the ceiling, you’ve likely got a leak.
- Check your walls. If they’re painted and not tiled, a water leak in your shower can soften the paint to let it flake and peel away.
- Investigate the area around your shower screen. These glass walls are supposed to keep the water in but they don’t always — sometimes people leave them open. Leakage from the shower screen looks like curling vinyl on the floor or loose tiles next the shower cubicle.
- Dripping water from the shower head. This is the most obvious sign of a leak and can often be remedied temporarily by repositioning the shower head so it doesn’t drip constantly, but this doesn’t solve the underlying leak.
SHOULD I REPAIR IT MYSELF?
You can repair a shower screen leak yourself with some caulk and a steady hand. Anything beyond cosmetic damage should be handled by a qualified leak detection and repair specialist, like us.
This is because a poor repair job can create further damage and, if you repair half of the cause of the leak but don’t address the underlying concern you can still end up with water in the floorboards, the walls, or the foundations.
Needless to say — these kinds of repairs can ultimately be eye wateringly expensive because you’re not just replacing pipes and faucets and showerheads. Long term unrepaired shower leaks mean you’ll be footing the bill for replacing foundational elements of your house.
No one wants that.
CAN WE FIX YOUR LEAKING SHOWER?
If your shower’s leaking, we’ll perform leak detection tests with our specialised equipment so we can identify the cause of the leak. If it’s a plumbing related issue, like a leaking pipe, we can fix it.
However, if it’s a waterproofing issue we’ll recommend the repair to a reputable waterproofing repairer.
