Leak in bathroom floor drain?

[johnfromme]

We live in a unit on the ground floor of a block approx 30 years old. The bathroom has a bath, shower, sink and toilet, as well as a drain in the center of the floor. The drain from the bath flows into the floor drain. Floors are concrete and directly on top of the ground.

When water is poured into the floor drain (generally when the bath water is released, it only takes a 5-10 minutes to disappear completely from the bottom of the drain. My understanding was that these drains have a trap in them to prevent odours and bacteria from entering via the drain. If this is the case, should I still be able to see the water from the floor drain? Does this mean there might be a crack in the drain pipe?

We are also having problems with damp in some of our walls, most of which adjoin the bathroom. We have had plumbers (3 now) come and all have said there is no leak in the water pipes (shower was pressure tested), nor in the shower pan. The only reason given was a possible seepage behind the shower taps because there is no silicone sealing the tap flanges stopping water running down the wall tiles and behind the flange. This is in the process of being remedied, but I am not convinced this covers it, because water has travelled to a wall some distance away from the shower. I want to be sure that the floor drain is not contributing to our problems.

If anyone has any thoughts on this I would greatly appreciate it.
Cheers

[Robert Stephen MortonParticipant]

Bruce or Helen.
The floor waste trap is under the floor & the apparent dampness is above the floor.
Unless you have a blockage the drainage water could not possibly be associated with the dampness.
If the Shower pan is not leaking then it may be the joint between the shower pan & the wall. Or maybe the waste pipe between the bath & the floor.
Remedy the shower tap & then see if the problem persists.
Perhaps it may be a Insurance claim if there is a burst pipe (pinhole corrosion) (blue or green water corrosion).
The fact that the floor waste drains completely is another problem.
Have you thaught of having the drain jetted & then putting a camera up it from outside, it may be that someone has used a crow bar to remove an obstruction such as cement washings from the gully & gone through the bottom of the trap. I may also be that there is no “P” trap in the floor & the external gully is the disconnection point.
Best of luck – Bob

[Author]

Posts