# Damn 2nd floor drain leak



## Ponderling (Mar 1, 2013)

So last week noticed a few drip stains in the back hall under the upstairs main bath.
Pull the toilet, no, wax ring looks good, and no staining under the toilet, no wet floor around the flange. Reform the wax seal, reset.

Check the towels, one weighs a ton. Ask the 21yo son what is up? He got out of the shower to sit on the toilet and did not dry off first. I think that a bunch of water dripping off of him went down the air vent set flush to the floor tiles near the toilet and leaked out of the air duct at its joints to stain the roof. Would explain the first stains about 3 feet apart.

So plan to have him paint the stains and then that section of the roof in a few weeks once it drys.

Today over lunch wife leaves a voice mail that stains are dripping actively. 

So come home and yes, the roof is leaking. Turn off water to toilet in case that is the course. Get a utility knife and roofing square so drywall I cut out can be patched better in future. Cut out about 2' square, center is sagged heavily. 

Start to pull, and down it comes, hits floor splat. Find a healthy gob of sand and fine gravel on top of it, soaked as well. So that is residue of original tiling that was done on bath walls before floor went in. We have 1x4 slat sub floor laid diagonal to floor joists with 1/4" gap between boards, so everything on second floor, from drywall sanding to sweepings went though the cracks prior to hardwood going on about 55 years ago and landed atop floor one roof drywall. Once mess is cleaned up wait for area to dry a bit and then chase where drip starts. Flush toilet upstairs and hear drips speed up a whole lot. 

So plan to attack toilet again tomorrow. 

Then 18yo starts in the shower and the drips really start heavy. So I can better trace them. Finally find a pin hole in a 4" horizontal copper drain. About 1/4" from where a 90 degree bend was soldered on to go up to toilet flange. Looks like where acid flux paste resiude ran to and pooled to as it ran from the joint due to the slight pitch of the pipe. 

So where the plumber did not wipe the joint clean 54 years ago now that acid paste flux has corroded a pin hole in the pipe that grew a bit larger with time.

Interim DIY fix is a brass hinge screw coated with shoe goo rubber patch being screwed into the hole. For now the leak has stopped. 

Will see how that cheapy patch holds in the 6 weeks or so it will take for the adjacent areas to dry out to consider starting to thing about patching the dry wall. Have shop vacced the wet sand and gravel off of the sections not pulled yet. That should speed drying that wall board which is still on the roof. Whether it can be saved is yet to be seen.


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## Simon Says (Jan 5, 2013)

That sucks!

This might buy you some more time! J-B Weld 8277 Water Weld : Amazon.ca: Tools & Home Improvement

I've used it with success in similar applications.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Was installing cedar strips in our sauna roof and one of the nails hit a copper pipe dead centre. Used a brass self-tapping screw with some glue.


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## Ponderling (Mar 1, 2013)

Bought the drywall today. Cut a 4x8 sheet to about size I need and the rest in half at HD, since have a small car now, not a pickup to get it home. 

Cut the dodgy stuff away to 48" from the outside wall since I had the stuf I bought that long. 

Put the ceiling patch up in two pieces so I can get the edges above the drywall on the walls.

Added nylon tapes in middle gap and wetted gummed paper tape on the corners, and the first pass of mud is presently drying. 

God I was stiff after that. Went to soak and stretch in the hot tub and now can almost move normally.

That will be the routine for the next week, but hope to get is mostly together by next weekend, when my wife is hosting dinner social. It will have to just be primer paint for now.


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## birdman (Feb 12, 2013)

Simon Says said:


> That sucks!
> 
> This might buy you some more time! J-B Weld 8277 Water Weld : Amazon.ca: Tools & Home Improvement
> 
> I've used it with success in similar applications.


How timely this post on J-B Weld was. Found some water on the floor in the downstairs bathroom and thought it was the toilet seal. Took out the toilet and the water kept coming. Started to rip out the wet drywall (about 35 sq ft. and finally discovered the problem. There was a drain pipe from the upstairs bathrooms going in between the walls to the downstairs bathroom where the leak was. In order to make the drain fit though the basement floor someone cut away 6 inches of framing on the floor to make way for the drain. Then, when drywalling, some pierced the pipe with 2 nail holes of which one was leaking. I pulled out both nails and applied JB Weld over both and then did the drywall repairs and repainting of the room. Its been over a month and still no sign of water. Hope it last for another 20 years!


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