For questions generally relating to the unwanted permeation of water or other liquid, indoor/outdoor air, or fuel gas through a barrier designed to contain it, including identification, repair, and prevention techniques, tools and materials.
15
votes
2answers
8k views
How do I fix a leaky toilet that only leaks from underneath?
I am noticing some water spots on my concrete in my (unfinished) basement. When I look up for the cause of the water I can see water dripping around the hole that is used for the sewer pipe for the ...
15
votes
2answers
401 views
1lb of cure is worth 10 tons of mold: DIY repair of a poorly sealed window? lots of photos herein
Preface
I live in China. Construction is largely handled by unskilled migrants, and one cannot just call up a specialist contractor to fix a major issue.
Problem
I've got a window that was not ...
11
votes
3answers
5k views
How bad is it to have wet insulation?
With this recent blizzard we recently saw our ceiling lighting fixture leaking water (slow, about 1 drop every 5 minutes)
I got up in the attic and saw that some snow had been apparently blown into ...
9
votes
4answers
998 views
How can I prevent spillage from my bathtub?
Let's set the scene:
The horizontal surfaces of the bathtub in my apartment are flat. We have a double shower curtain (with the waterproof bit that hangs on the inside of the tub and the fabric bit ...
9
votes
5answers
2k views
How can I paint over a ceiling after there's been a leak?
We had a leak in our upstairs bathroom, about 2 weeks after we had a new ceiling put up and painted in the room below. It wasn't a major leak, but it caused quite a wide line to show up on the ...
8
votes
2answers
425 views
Fix a Leaky Faucet?
I have a Moen single handle kitchen faucet. When you lift the handle to start the water flow, water also flows out almost as fast from underneath the handle and floods my counter.
I cannot figure ...
7
votes
3answers
1k views
Can teflon tape be used on a threaded joint behind a wall?
I'm remodeling my bathroom. Last night I took the cement board off the wall where the pipes run for the shower. One of the pipes that carries water to the shower was corroded. Upon further inspection, ...
7
votes
4answers
4k views
Is my shower drain leaking under the slab?
My wife & I renovated our master shower a couple years ago. About three months ago, we noticed the baseboards in the guest bathroom (on the other side of the wall from the master bath) were ...
6
votes
3answers
1k views
What do I do with a leaky roof in the middle of January?
I removed the ceiling Sheetrock and insulation during a bathroom remodel in my master bathroom on the 2nd floor of my house. I have snow on the roof that is melting and I found two small drips coming ...
6
votes
2answers
5k views
How can I repair a leaking water tank?
I have a leaking water tank here in Bombay, India. I'm looking for suggestions on how to repair it.The tank is a plastic Sintex water tank. There are cracks around a water pipe running into the side ...
6
votes
3answers
6k views
How can I fix a Moen faucet that is still leaking after replacing cartridge?
I had a leaky Moen faucet (Moen 4600) so I removed the old cartridge and replaced it with a new brass replacement cartridge (model 1200.) Since replacing the cartridge I now have a leak from the valve ...
6
votes
2answers
920 views
What can I do about high water pressure that is causing a leak?
One of our showers has an intermittent leak, and I've figured out that it happens when the hot water heater is on. There's no expansion tank on the cold supply side for our hot water tank, so I'm ...
5
votes
2answers
2k views
How can I get low water pressure in sprinkler system fixed?
I have a new house that is still under warranty. Compared to at least two of my neighbors whose houses were built by the same builder and have very similar sprinkler systems, my sprinklers put out ...
5
votes
2answers
2k views
Does water dripping through my soffit indicate a problem?
When it rains, water drips through the soffit and along the inside face of the fascia. This picture shows the water dripping through, but when it rains harder sometimes there's more:
My landlord ...
5
votes
2answers
442 views
What are some ways to find a leak in a pipe?
I have a leak somewhere under my sink in the kitchen. I have a number of junctions/pipe/hoses there (6 lines), and one of them has a leak. It doesn't happen all the time, only when there is back ...
5
votes
4answers
2k views
Water coming in through the walls of an old concrete garage
I recent bought a house with a detached garage, made of old concrete (high aggregate content) reinforced with steel rods and set into a hill. Built in 1938 or so; no waterproofing.
Now that Boston ...
5
votes
1answer
728 views
How do I stop a leaking tub faucet?
This tub faucet (that is probably 20+ years old) has a pretty steady drip going and I'm not sure where to start to figuring out how to stop it.
(apologies for the grainy photo...just had my the ...
5
votes
3answers
948 views
Mild water damage on drywall from leaky roof
We have a fairly new house (built in 1997). Cheap roof and we had a big windstorm a few years back that resulted in some lost shingles that I had patched -- no major problems. Recently we had a much ...
5
votes
3answers
442 views
How can I locate and repair a leak?
We recently bought a 100 year old house that stood uninhabited for 18 months prior to our move. Everything had been properly winterized for the cold winter months (Temperatures can reach -40 C) and ...
5
votes
1answer
449 views
Dishwasher air gap problem
Problem: When dishwasher drains it dumps water to the sink through the air gap. Problem started accuring 6 month after kitchen/sink/dishwasher was installed and used.
What I tried:
Opened the ...
5
votes
1answer
478 views
How do I prevent this bath faucet from leaking while the shower is running?
Here's a photo of my setup:
The hose and nozzle hanging down in the picture make up the shower head assembly (it is a hand shower that can hang up on the wall or be removed for directed use). ...
5
votes
2answers
422 views
What would cause my dishwasher to leak when it starts filling?
my Maytag DW-2 dishwasher started leaking water from a small hole under, near the back and to the left whenever it starts filling with water. It must leak +-1 cup then stops leaking for the duration ...
5
votes
1answer
177 views
How do I diagnose an occasionally leaking dishwasher?
We are remodeling our kitchen, part of which will be replacing the vinyl flooring. When pulling out the vinyl and 1/4" plywood I found many water stains which appear to have started under my ...
5
votes
1answer
364 views
Why is my refrigerator leaking?
The make of the unit is GE and below is a link to a picture of the label on the back. There aren't any other markings anywhere. I'm guessing this is an older model.
Here's a close-up of the ceiling ...
4
votes
3answers
3k views
Stuck, leaking water shutoff valve to toilet
The problem...
I recently replaced the fill valve and the flapper in one of the toilets in my house. When I turned the water back on using the shutoff valve below the toilet, a slow drip had ...
4
votes
4answers
1k views
What to do with leaky sink?
Our kitchen sink has been slowly leaking for several months, and as of yesterday, it is finally leaking so bad we can't use it until it's fixed. I'm generally handy, but when it comes to plumbing of ...
4
votes
3answers
334 views
How do I repair a leaking toilet tank?
I replaced the flapper in my ceramic toilet tank and the leak from the tank into the bowl slowed, but it still leaks. What is the next step I should take to get rid of this leak?
4
votes
4answers
193 views
How can I add a piece of timber to my metal shed wall without creating a leak?
I have a garden shed with steel (powder coated) walls. I'd like to attach a piece of timber to the inside of the wall. I'll use the timber to attach hooks for hanging tools.
I don't want the holes I ...
4
votes
3answers
516 views
How do I build a basement that does not leak when I have a high water level?
How do I insure a basement will not leak when the site has a high water level?
4
votes
2answers
492 views
Did I just ruin the flange on our toilet?
The point where the elbow joint from our flushometer meets the toilet bowl has begun leaking (dripping, really) whenever we flush (so, whenever water passes through it). I jiggled it a bit and the ...
4
votes
3answers
8k views
How do I find the source of the water leaking through the ceiling?
I live in Minnesota in a single story rambler with full basement. In an upstairs corner bedroom I started noticing some water leaking in the closet ceiling a week or two ago (picture is current, it ...
4
votes
1answer
117 views
How do I seal a leaky roof and repair the minor ceiling damage it caused?
We recently had some very heavy rains and during the worst of it we had some leaks. When I noticed the problem, I went into my attic and found out that the leak was coming from around a vent in the ...
4
votes
1answer
248 views
Is my septic tank leaking?
I have a 1000 gal plastic septic tank about 25 ys old that drains into a seepage pit. When I am away for 3 weeks the water level drops about 6 inches below the output drain pipe. I fill it back up and ...
4
votes
1answer
1k views
Why won't my water heater stop filling?
I noticed tonight that my water heater appears to be trying to fill with cold water, but it won't stop. I can hear water flowing through the pipe, and the overflow drain pipe (white one just above the ...
4
votes
2answers
323 views
How do I take apart an older model bathroom faucet?
I'm trying to take apart a leaky bathroom faucet. I've isolated the leak to the cold valve, but I cannot figure out how to disassemble the faucet. I've watched several helpful videos and read ...
4
votes
2answers
7k views
Why does my washing machine leak only during the spin cycle?
For the second time in a month, I found that my washing machine had flooded the kitchen floor (and part of the basement via the hole for the water line to the fridge).
The first time, I only ...
4
votes
3answers
591 views
Plywood floor gets inexplicably wet, what could possibly be the cause?
House is on piers with insulation underneath. We had a plumber come look at it and he says he sees no pipes there, has no idea, cannot help. Every day there is about a 4 ftx4ft area of light water, ...
4
votes
1answer
292 views
What is the cause of dishwasher vent leak?
My dishwasher has a vent in the top of the door which I suppose is opened during the dry cycle to allow steam/moisture to escape. Recently, after running a load of dishes, when I open the door, about ...
4
votes
1answer
367 views
How can I disassemble this old bathroom faucet to fix a leak, without damaging the decorative chrome piece?
Update 4: Once I followed Michael's suggestion I was able to remove the cartridge. Closest match was a Moen 1224, 131222. Inlet and outlet were very different, and rotation of valve was much greater ...
3
votes
3answers
3k views
Leaking outdoor faucet - stop gap solution?
My outdoor faucet is leaking in a constant dribble, regardless of how tight I turn the handle. The faucet looks very similar to this one. I'm going to replace the whole faucet in the next month or ...
3
votes
3answers
319 views
How can I repair/replace tires on a hand cart?
I have a few small hand-carts. One of them is the two wheel hand-truck/dolly, and one is a larger one on four wheels with an upright handle.
Both have leaky tires. Some of the tires have a slow ...
3
votes
2answers
301 views
Should the plastic walls of a shower kit have air bubbles?
We had a corner shower installed awhile ago in our basement.
The kit came with thin acrylic walls that were glued to the waterproof gyprock behind. However, there are air spaces between the lines of ...
3
votes
2answers
755 views
How do I fix a leaky spigot on a rain barrel?
I created a rain barrel using an old plastic 55 gallon barrel and a brass spigot. I drilled a half-inch hole in the side of the barrel for the spigot, wrapped some plumbers tape around the threads, ...
3
votes
3answers
3k views
What's a good way to seal a flat concrete roof?
My guess is that a long time ago there was a fire in part of our house and what was the top storey was capped and the floor replaced with thick slabs of concrete. This was then sealed over with ...
3
votes
3answers
4k views
What is the best way to repair a cracked bathtub?
Close examination of the floor of my bathtub has revealed a long, thin crack in the bathtub itself. The bathtub is one of the common plastic-feeling variety (though I am not sure if it is actually a ...
3
votes
1answer
159 views
How can I fix this leak?
There's a water leak in the tube coming out of my heater. Yet the bolts look tightly put.
I'm not sure how to fix it. Any idea ?
3
votes
2answers
1k views
How can I temporarily fix a leaky faucet?
I have a house from the late '20's and my hot water leaks in my tub. I've had it fixed a few times by plumbers and the last one said that to permanently fix it, I'm going to need to replace the whole ...
3
votes
2answers
323 views
How can I identify the source of a leak at the hot water heater?
My water heater has a slow leak. From what I can tell so far it is coming from either the cold water inlet or the hot water connection. The cold water inlet seems to be the culprit to me because that ...
3
votes
2answers
910 views
How do I fix a leaking skylight?
I have a skylight on a shingles roof. I don't know much about the skylight as it was installed by a previous owner, but every year, at the beginning of the rainy season, the skylight leaks. And every ...
3
votes
1answer
387 views
Shower head washer woes
I was installing a new shower head (Brand: Niagara Earth), and apparently overtightened it, cracking the washer in the process. Unfortunately, it seems to be a specialty type of washer that has an ...
