Water leak behind some tiles.

[up2you2]

I just wanted to check if there might be any other kind of solution, prior to employing the wrecking squad, tearing down my bathroom in this quest to find a water leak.
It's behind the stock cock valve to the toilet.
It's been there for some time, but recently it has worse.
The stop cock valve has already been replaced, along with its extension that goes into this cold water pipe - please see attached images.

Points to note, in the last image there is an outer ring of a blue pipe, then zooming in a second blue pipe.

If someone who is really familiar was such an installation, could you please give me a greater insight of how all of these connections go together?

[phetphet]

Looks like plastic pipe with a brass elbow fitting on the end. If the plastic pipe is leaking inside the wall, I can't think of any other way of repairing other than opening up to get to it.

[tonray]

BIte the bullet and break the tile before you get further water damage and mold behind your walls. The biggest problem is matching the tile afterwards but putting a one-off near match nobody will likely notice.

[Yellowtail]

I would try a second new valve and tape the ef out out of it before I started breaking tiles. This may sound silly, but it's not leaking from the tank, running down the hose and dripping from the valve is it? 

 

As others have said, if the pipe or glued connection itself is leaking you're likely going to have to do a little demo. 

 

Do you have extra tiles? You MAY be able to get the one tile out without breaking it.

 

Good luck!

 

[up2you2]

Thank you for these replies.

Right, so there is a brass fitting perhaps on the end of the blue pipe, that in itself is potentially leaking.

But yes for sure some excavation seems a necessity here, thankfully I am pretty sure I have some spare tiles.

[worgeordie]

I had a similar problem, replacing the bum gun, the

fitting into the pipe just basically crumbled away,

and I could not get the pieces out ,to be able to fit

new one.

 

Called a plumber, who quickly arrived,actually there

were 3 of them, they had to chisel the tiles off, dig into

the concrete to remove the old fittings and replace 

with new ones,made a bit of a mess,only wanted 300 Thb,

was happy to give him 500 Thb ,as he had bought the fittings. 

like me you may have difficulty finding tiles that match .

regards worgeordie

[GregTN]

If it is the actual pipe thread between the valve and water supply you might give this thread sealer a try.  I successfully repaired a similar leak where the brass colored ring inside the blue pipe was cracked and it has lasted about two years so far.  It was purchased at DoHome.

[rumak]

5 hours ago, up2you2 said:

Thank you for these replies.

Right, so there is a brass fitting perhaps on the end of the blue pipe, that in itself is potentially leaking.

But yes for sure some excavation seems a necessity here, thankfully I am pretty sure I have some spare tiles.

if the wall is an outside wall you can break into it from the back  .......

the pipe looking like brass is usually  pvc with brass threads inside .  supposed to be stronger ,  so the one screwing into it will not break it when one overtightens.

[rumak]

5 hours ago, up2you2 said:

Thank you for these replies.

Right, so there is a brass fitting perhaps on the end of the blue pipe, that in itself is potentially leaking.

But yes for sure some excavation seems a necessity here, thankfully I am pretty sure I have some spare tiles.

usually the pipe "leak"  is from the fitting getting a small crack........ once again,  from someone overtightening trying to make it not leak   ????

[KhaoYai]

Check the valve and its connection to the pipe again before removing any tiles.  If you dry it off you should be able to see or feel it get wet again - if that's the problem and it is the most likley culprit.

 

If the problem is deeper in the wall you could be lucky and only have to remove one tile, if the job was done properly in the first place.  When locating pipes behind tiles, there should not be any pipe joints or junctions behind them - other than the final connection to the shower/sink/tap etc.  Any joint can leak at any point in the future - hence the requirement for no joints behind tiles.

 

If the problem is not at the connection it must be in the pipe behind the tiles - Thai builders don't normally use any form of conduit to contain such a pipe, its just set in the concrete.  What's at the other side?  It may be easier/cheaper to break open the wall at the other side as you wouldn't need to remove tiles.

 

Edit: I've just noticed that Rumak has also suggested that you may be able to get break into the wall if its outside.  It does't have to be outside, its usually a hell of a lot cheaper to break in to the other side of the wall rather than remove tiles - inside or out.  On most Thai houses the wall finish is concrete render - very easy to re-finish when the problem's solved.

Edited May 13, 2021 by KhaoYai

[Yellowtail]

Going through the back-side of the wall is a great idea. As you're going to replace the elbow (or tee) anyway, you can drill right through the fitting into the opposite side of the wall locating it perfect....

[up2you2]

Resolved.

Back to the beginning, logic was pointing at the stop cock valve, but I should have have stepped back, and thought outside of the box.
By that I mean what else could have been causing this leak, especially as there were no stained water marks on the tile grouting.
In fact I should have also considered if there are any natural springs in the area.
The plumber honed in on the toilet, leaving the wall tiles untouched.
Every time the toilet was flushed, having ripped up three floor tiles behind the toilet, sure enough you could see the water gushing out, from underneath the toilet.
No smell of sewage water, so I am going to assume here that it was indeed the mains water leaking.
Don't ask me how he was able to fix it, outside of cementing the exact area, below the actual toilet.
Loathed to remove the toilet to investigate fully, as he feared he would break it.
This for sure actually happened on another previous toilet repair, whereby they did in fact duly break it.

Now I was left with three missing floor tiles, that were installed 15 years ago, what do you think the odds were in finding the exact replacements in a store today?
Blow me down but I found them, can't tell the difference from the original batch, finally the Gods were looking favourable upon me.
But more was to follow the following morning - see second post.