Spent 4 hours tracking down a leak that wasn't even a pipe issue

Last month I was working on a bathroom reno in an old house near Portland. The homeowner kept saying they had a slow leak coming from the shower wall. I spent a whole afternoon cutting drywall, checking the copper pipes, and running the water over and over. After 4 hours of nothing showing up, I finally noticed the caulk line around the shower pan was cracked in a spot I couldn't see from standing. Water was sneaking through that tiny gap during showers and running down the back of the tile. A simple bead of new silicone fixed the whole thing in 10 minutes. Has anyone else chased a phantom problem that turned out to be something way more obvious than you thought?

2 comments

2 Comments

wesley13922d ago

4 hours in and it was just bad caulk the whole time...

evan_dixon6722d ago

Oh man that is the WORST. I spent a whole Saturday ripping out caulk that looked fine until I actually tried to use it and it was all crumbly and useless. Felt like I wasted the whole day on something that should have taken 20 minutes.