Ceiling Leak from bathtub

[LifeFlicks]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to throw out a problem I'm having with a ceiling leak.

I live in a two-story house and have a ceiling leak in a downstairs office, which you can see in photo 1. The sheetrock is puckered and about to fall to the floor.

I figured out the second-floor bathroom is directly above the ceiling leak on the second floor and I suspected some of the plumbing is leaking when I'm running water for filling the tub or using the shower.

Luckily, there is an access panel in a small linen closet directly behind the faucets. After removing the panel and looking around, everything looks dry. No drips or anything that I can see. I can clearly see the hot and cold pipes, the bathtub drain and overflow pipes, as well as the pipe leading up the shower. No drips.

My fear is that there might be a leak underneath the main drain pipe running just under the bathtub between the floors or something else that I can't see.

My next step is to cut out the leak area in the ceiling for a better look at what's above. Then the sheetrock will need to be repaired. Oh well.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Earnest

 

[Jeff Handy]

Yes, the brass tub drain trap might be rusting out.
Or caulking is failing somewhere.

But also could be a failed toilet wax seal, leaking flush water can run along the framing and drip quite aways from the toilet.

Cut your hole, way bigger than you think you need to. Drywall holds water forever, cut out everything damp.

 

[Diehard]

My first thought was to poke a hole through that ceiling before you do anything else.
So as to prevent the water from collecting further and possibly collapsing ceiling.