I noticed a damp patch just besides the guest bathroom wall and felt very disappointed in myself for not noticing that probably one of my dogs had tried to tell me and I had not taken notice. The next morning, I noticed it again and got suspicious as my dogs were now definitely not to blame, and I went down for closer inspection. The leak came from just next to the door frame but also from a damp spot higher up. I realized that we were in for a spot of trouble but certainly not as much as it turned out to be.
On the third day the leak was now bad enough to puddle further from the door and in fact was getting much stronger. We called a plumber who came and had a look, returning later with a friend (in the know) plus a drill. Strangely enough, they began drilling on the opposite side of the wall, in my en-suit bathroom wall. The hole got bigger and bigger, so they returned to the original side of the wall and drilled out a cavern there.
Still not happy they went back into my toilet area in my bedroom and drilled out a much bigger hole, this time announcing that the copper pipe had not been welded properly as it had several leaks in it. However, an elderly lady I may be, but my eyesight told me a different story. Clearly, they had punctured the copper pipe in several places with their drill prior to discovering that the fault the lay with the white PVC water pipe which had come apart. They went away for the weekend, leaving me to mop and mop.
On the Monday they had to purchase several brass attachment fittings to mend the copper pipes. That cost us more than might have been necessary. At least we now had the cause of the leak. I was so happy to have discovered the problem that I did not complain about having lost a huge amount of wall.
The piece of the pipe which was leaking was in the guest bathroom, where I had originally pointed out to them, when they arrived, might be the point of fault. They removed the bassinette and opened a huge part of the wall where indeed they found the leak. Lovely, with that piece of wall went some decorative painting. Surely, I am now thinking they should have started there saving both walls on the side of my bedroom.
A little too late to be thinking that.
The spot where I first noticed the leak and the third place to drill![]
The first drill in my bedroom
The second drill in my en-suite puncture of copper pipe![]
measurement for damp
Final discovery and slaughter of the guest bathroom
What an ordeal. So much to fix now!!
an ordeal would be a huge understatement as I now have to retile the two bathrooms