Bathroom Floor

[jwh]

Hi guys I know this is primarily for garage floors, but:

I have a 1920 ish house with an upstairs bathroom that is leaking into the kitchen below. My brother and law and I have pulled down the ruined ceiling and fixed all the pipe leaks. We have sealed up the tub/surround joint and the tub/ floor joint.

It's still leaking.

The original floor is still in place, it's those little "oyster cracker" tiles. In the 20 or so years we've owned the place, we've never sealed this floor. Do these need sealing, and if so with what?

Thanks all.

John

 

[The Cobbler]

Shouldn't be that much water comming thru the floor unless you're spilling a ton on it. there sounds like a leak somewhere that you've missed

 

[03protege]

Shouldn't be that much water comming thru the floor unless you're spilling a ton on it. there sounds like a leak somewhere that you've missed

I echo this.


Any floor can benefit from a sealing, but the primary purpose of that is not to hold water.

 

[75gmck25]

I doubt its coming through the floor. Even though that floor has cracked tiles, it is probably installed on top of at least 2-3" of cement.

I had similar problems with a 1940 vintage bath and it was due to cracks in the housing of the tub controls. When the water was on it leaked out of the control and then followed the underside of the tub down to the floor and into the ceiling below. I could never see the actual leak in the controls when they were still installed, but replacing them fixed the problem.

The one complication with replacing the older controls is that most newer models did not extend enough to come through the cement backer and tile layers. The plumber had to go to the supplier and find an older control model that had the right spacing, so I did not get the benefit of upgrading to newer controls that use modern cartridges.

Bruce