digitallogik
Member
Hello everyone,
I discovered an interesting situation in my basement this weekend. Apparently my tub has been leaking over the course of the last few months and I discovered a nice mold growth along with the leak. It looks like the p-trap for the tub was never backfilled with concrete after they did the plumbing as you can see from the pictures. I'm wondering if this is a typical thing or if this could have contributed to the waste pipes cracking/leaking? I was thinking the moving motion of entering/exiting the tub may have caused the PVC to crack against the cement? I suppose I won't know until I cut it out of there.
Does anyone have any tips on determining where this leak could be coming from? I was thinking food coloring in the drain to see if it comes up from the p-trap or not. I can't see any visible cracks and after shopvacing it out and running the tub it very slowly fills back up(10 minutes?) to the level you see in the picture.
We do not use this tub (havn't for about a year now) so I was also wondering if the water from the sink/floor drain/laundry could also be flowing back into this p-trap.
Also I'm not sure what the black capped pipe is supposed to be for? It looks like it might be a vent pipe, but it doesn't lead all the way to the attic?
Thanks in advance for any advice you might have. This is the first time I've done any major plumbing repair other than installing faucets/toilets and I'm just hoping someone can give me some good pointers so I don't screw anything up.
I discovered an interesting situation in my basement this weekend. Apparently my tub has been leaking over the course of the last few months and I discovered a nice mold growth along with the leak. It looks like the p-trap for the tub was never backfilled with concrete after they did the plumbing as you can see from the pictures. I'm wondering if this is a typical thing or if this could have contributed to the waste pipes cracking/leaking? I was thinking the moving motion of entering/exiting the tub may have caused the PVC to crack against the cement? I suppose I won't know until I cut it out of there.
Does anyone have any tips on determining where this leak could be coming from? I was thinking food coloring in the drain to see if it comes up from the p-trap or not. I can't see any visible cracks and after shopvacing it out and running the tub it very slowly fills back up(10 minutes?) to the level you see in the picture.
We do not use this tub (havn't for about a year now) so I was also wondering if the water from the sink/floor drain/laundry could also be flowing back into this p-trap.
Also I'm not sure what the black capped pipe is supposed to be for? It looks like it might be a vent pipe, but it doesn't lead all the way to the attic?
Thanks in advance for any advice you might have. This is the first time I've done any major plumbing repair other than installing faucets/toilets and I'm just hoping someone can give me some good pointers so I don't screw anything up.