Downstairs toilet causes upstairs to flood

[olliepearl]

Ok, I haven't seen anything like this online. I bought a 100 year old HUD house and remodeled the upstairs bathroom. This involved gutting the room and redoing everything from the subfloors on up. I think my contractor is decent and honest, but now that all the work is done, there's a new problem. It started a few days after I moved in. A leak under the bathroom floor through the ceiling into the kitchen below. There were a few minor stains in that area before, and when the floor was torn up, it was easy to see why -- and all that was replaced.

Was it this, was it that, well it turned out it was everything. For sure the shower and toilet, and possibly the separate tub. OK, that probably means that the junction spot for drainage from the room, or further down the line, is leaking.

I'll leave out the details and cut to the chase. I turned off the water to the whole house and let everything dry for a few days until there was no sign of leakage. I turned the water back on. Everything was fine -- until I used the downstairs toilet. Within a few hours, the kitchen flooded as badly as if I'd used the upstairs toilet or shower.

The downstairs toilet is an add-on to the house, and taps into the same sewer line as the upstairs toilet. Someone mentioned "clogged main line" but nothing is overflowing -- it's leaking through the floor.

I'm not quite sure, but I think using the water anywhere in the house does the same thing. It is hard to test for such leaks without risking further damage, though. Absolutely for sure, downstairs water usage causes the upstairs bathroom to leak through the floor into the downstairs.

I suppose it's possible that once I turned the water back on, the leak was starting back up on its own, and it was mere coincidence that the downstairs toilet flush came right before signs of the leak. However, it seemed like a pretty direct cause, and a great, big, huge leak -- not a tiny drip that slowly grew, but a dry spot that was raining in short order.

What say ye?

 

[frodo]

please post pictures of your dilemma,

sounds like your plumbing is leaking

without specific, info, cant figure it out

 

[phishfood]

This sounds like an interesting mystery.

Maybe a leak on a pressure line in the ceiling that leaks much worse when the pressure fluctuates from water usage downstairs? Maybe your downstairs toilet drains to a sump that is then pumped to the drain upstairs?

 

[olliepearl]

I think your first idea is correct. Today I turned on the water and scrupulously didn't use anything at all, for 4 hours, and sure enough . . . drip drip drip. There is a leak in the intake pressure line upstairs, which may be worsened by fluctuations in pressure anywhere in the house.

 

[olliepearl]

To Frodo, there isn't much to take a picture of. The plaster has fallen from the kitchen ceiling but hasn't exposed anything; the bathroom itself looks picture perfect and dry as a bone.

 

[frodo]

i am not understanding your terminology. intake pressure line has me stumped

could there be an open vent upstairs and a clogged sewer line at the new bath?

line fills up then overflows. then it slowly, drains, next time you use water it fills up and overr flows

do you know where the new vent was run to?

 

[olliepearl]

Thanks, Frodo. I'm working on my terminology. What I meant was, since the leak returned a few hours after I turned on the water but didn't use any, that means the water line going into the bathroom must have a leak. I believe that's called a pressure line. For me it means the intake.

I don't know about vents. Clogged sewer line, perhaps, but there's still a leak, as nothing is overflowing.

 

[frodo]

a possible leak on the water line at the tie in , from the new plumbing to the old

if i was at your house, i would be cutting sheet rock looking for a leak

call a plumber