How To Tell If Pipes Are Behind A Bathroom Wall

One of the tell tale signs of a water leak coming from a shower valve behind the wall are water stains.

How to tell if pipes are behind a bathroom wall.

Since water that leaks into walls never has a chance to dry out the walls will begin to give off a humid musty odor. Make shallow cuts in the drywall. And if it s behind a wall it never has a chance to dry. The diy experts at stack exchange provide tips.

Drilling into a wall doesn t have to be a guessing game. One rule of thumb is to be especially careful when drilling into any walls that connect to your bathroom or kitchen basically any wall that s likely to have pipes. There are easy and effective ways to know what s hiding in your home. However you won t know the exact location of the water lines in your walls until you use a pipe detector.

Most times shower valve leaks behind the wall are very slow. When someone is showering you might see water dripping from the ceiling. Try to look for corrosion and leakage since these two are the best signs of a broken pipe. A buckled cracked or water stained floor or ceiling especially in your bathroom.

If you have an upstairs bathroom you may notice dried water stains on the ceiling below the shower. Musty smelling walls will often be accompanied by other signs of a leak e g discoloration. Therefore you will easily see if there s a leakage or anything wrong with them. How to fix a leaking pipe behind a wall.

The basement is the place where the pipes are usually exposed and not behind a wall. It is possible to follow the water lines from the basement or crawl space to help determine the most likely path to sinks tubs toilets radiators and washing machines. Old accumulated water from a leaky pipe tends to have an odor. If none exists you will have to make one plus.

Peeling paint or wallpaper on your walls. In cases where a leak behind a wall isn t visible you may be able to detect the leak using your sense of smell. A wall that is warped or stained for no apparent reason. If you do hit a pipe.