Bath or Shower Leaking Through the Ceiling?
Baths, shower trays, toilets and basins leak at the seals, wastes and overflows far more often than at the pipes. The water goes straight into the floor without a drip you can see. We test each fitting in turn so the right one is fixed and the tiles stay on.
Bathroom and shower: what is usually going on
A bathroom has more joints that can fail than any other room. The silicone seal where a bath or shower tray meets the tiles. The waste fitting in the base of the bath or tray. The overflow. The trap below. The pan connector behind the toilet. The flexible tails to a basin. Each one lets water into the floor only while the fitting is in use, and then stops. By the time the ceiling below shows a stain or the hallway floor feels damp, the leak has often been running for months, a few cupfuls at a time.
This is why looking under the bath panel with a torch so often finds nothing. The floor is dry because the water went in two hours earlier and has soaked away. The fitting that leaks is also not always the one people suspect. A shower tray that seems sound can leak at the waste when someone stands on it. A bath that holds water can leak only when the overflow is reached. A toilet can weep at the pan connector only on the flush. The source is found by testing each fitting, not by looking at it.
We test fitting by fitting. A dye of a different colour goes into the bath, the shower tray, the basin and the toilet in turn. Each one is filled, run or flushed as it would be in use. A moisture meter below, in the ceiling or in the hallway, shows which colour and which fitting produces the rise. Seals are flooded on purpose with the waste closed to separate a seal failure from a waste failure. If every fitting tests dry, the pipework is the suspect. The thermal camera, acoustic microphone and tracer gas then take over to find a leaking feed or heating pipe under the floor.
None of this needs the tiles off. The bath panel comes away and the trap and waste are looked at from below. Where there is no access, a borescope through a small hole into the floor void shows what is happening as the fitting is used. Once the leaking fitting or pipe is identified we photograph it and record the test results in the report. Resealing, a new waste or a new pan connector can often be done on the same visit. Where the leak has damaged the ceiling or floor below, the report supports an escape of water and trace and access claim on your buildings insurance.
Call today if
- The ceiling below the bathroom is bulging or dripping.
- The floor around the toilet or the shower feels soft or has sunk.
- A light below the bathroom has stopped working or is tripping the electrics.
- Water appears below every time the bathroom is used, which means the leak is live and growing.
What this looks like on the day
How we would find this leak
Water leak detection
Hidden leaks behind walls, under floors and in ceilings, pinpointed with thermal, acoustic and tracer gas kit before anything is opened up.
Water leaks
Thermal imaging leak surveys
A thermal imaging camera shows warm pipe runs and cool wet patches through floors and walls, so the leak is seen before anything is opened.
Thermal imaging
Trace and access insurance reports
Leak detection carried out and documented the way insurers expect, with a report your claims handler can act on straight away.
Insurance reportsFrom your first call to a leak you can see in the report
Call or WhatsApp with a few photos and a line about the symptoms. We ask a handful of questions, agree a fixed price and book the survey, usually for the same or the next day.
On arrival we pressure test the mains, hot water and heating, check the meter and test the escaping water, so we know what we are looking for before the detection starts.
Thermal imaging, the acoustic ground microphone and tracer gas are used as the pipework dictates until the leak is marked on the floor or wall.
You get a written report with readings, thermal images and photographs, ready for a trace and access claim. If you want the leak fixed, we open that one spot and repair it.
Bathroom and shower: questions answered
My shower is leaking through the ceiling. What is the most likely cause?
The seal between the tray and the tiles, or the waste under the tray. Both leak only when the shower is in use and show nothing from inside the cubicle. A dye test with someone standing in the tray tells which.
Do you have to take the tiles off to find a bathroom leak?
No. Dye tests, moisture readings and a borescope do the locating with the tiles in place. The only thing that normally comes off is the bath panel.
Can the leak under my toilet be fixed on the same visit?
Usually, if the cause is the pan connector, the flush pipe seal or the cistern fixing. A cracked pan needs a new toilet, and we will tell you if that is the case.
The floor under the bath is dry. How can it be leaking?
Because the water only escapes while the fitting is in use and soaks into the floor before anyone looks. That is why we run each fitting with dye and take readings below while it drains.
Does insurance cover a bathroom leak?
Damage to the ceiling and floor below is usually dealt with under escape of water cover. Finding the leak and making good any opening falls under trace and access cover on most policies. A failed seal or waste itself is normally treated as maintenance, and the report makes that distinction clear.
Leak somewhere else?
Noticed this at home? Do not wait for it to get worse.
Call now and we will tell you straight away whether it needs a same-day visit. Or send a photo of the stain, the meter or the boiler gauge on WhatsApp.
07516 755 680