Leak from behind tiled kickboards under bathroom vanity

We've been noticing water appearing on the floor of our bathroom near to the vanity kickboard tiles, but it wasn't there everyday, and it wasn't a lot, and sometimes it would appear nearer to the hot water system cupboard.

Anyway, despite the fact the water has not been anywhere near that cupboard for several weeks, the cupboard door (chipboard) has now swollen, turned brown and split at the bottom and we can't get it on/off.

Over the past week, the water has increased very much in volume and only appears on the other side of the room and seems to be coming through the grout (which has now cracked majorly) between the kickboard tiles.

Everything feels totally dry inside the vanity cupboard...we don't know where the leak is coming from, but have called a plumber. Of course this has to happen at Christmas!!!

Does anyone know what this could be? Hopefully the plumber won't have to drill 50 billion holes in the wall or floor or vanity to find out!

If the inside of the vanity is dry but the sh!tboard sorry chipboard
has swollen.. it sounds like a waste pipe issue.
Though it could also be the plumbing connection to the vanity.

Waiting for the plumbers verdict sounds better...
Then if I can be of help I will.

We had a similar leak after we replaced a tile under the return panel in our shower enclosure. We discovered water was leaking in under the screen between the tiles, running to the wall, then along the wall and would then run out under the vanity. This was because the tile stopped behind the vanity and the water could escape out from between wall and tiles there. It was easy to fix, we found the little gap and siliconed it, but did need to replace the vanity.

In other words, your water could be coming from anywhere. It could be a leaking water inlet pipe or waste pipe, it could be related to your shower, or maybe even your hot water system. Sorry.

Use a local plumber, they have x-ray devices that are "hand held" that can detect pipes leaking and trace it back to the source. No need to drill or cut anything. I had a problem like this once, I had exceptionally high water usage and high electricity usage. When I found the problem as a leaky copper piper under the tiles, Integral energy rebated SOME of my years excess power, but the water company didn't. The x-ray / plumber costs me about $500 - $600 to get done, then I knew what I was dealing with, then + costs of repairs.

Without the xray, the whole bathroom would have been done sooner !! and cost a whole lot more too !!

Cool, thank you!

We can’t get anyone out till 4 January. *sigh* Hopefully our entire house won’t be under water by then.

either you have an indoor pool by now and don't need the plumber to fix this "feature" or you know what it was. What was the outcome ? NB pretty cool "x-ray" gear they have ?!

Plumber's coming tomorrow. I got back from a 10 day trip yesterday, and the water's still been coming in, worse than before, but not extreme. No flooding or pool inside. lol

We don't know what it is...hopefully the plumber will know.

and the plumber said ??!! (put a statue on top of the leak and make it a water feature ?) Are you on a raised floor or a cement slab ?

Concrete slab I think. I wasn't there when the plumber came, my partner was, but he said it's the element/thermostat in the hot water system, and all we need (not a whole new HSW thank god!) is a new one of those, seals, etc. Which should cost around $120-$160.

Soo...we now have to get an electrician who does HWS to come and do this. Harder than originally thought, especially as a heap of contractors are closed right now.

Then once that's fixed we can lodge the second insurance claim for water damage we've had since moving in here 1.5 years ago! (never had any claims before EVER!)

Oh dear.

Well, the electrician came, did his stuff, but...it's still leaking. Not as badly (yet), but still the same leak as always, from the same places...

The electrician replaced the element as it was all rusted, but said the overall system was good, and it was simply "bad luck" and some hot water systems leak and some don't. It's not old, doesn't need maintaining...just bad luck. *sigh* He was concerned that the screws and screw holes on the element / hot water system were really rusted due to it leaking...and they were REALLY hard to get off, and then he had to put washers in to get them back on again properly, due to the rust...

So obviously here is the problem. They're still not quite in place properly. STUPID RUST!

Do we have to replace the WHOLE perfectly functional and not old system now because of 2 rusty SCREWS!?

I'm sick of endless and (potentially) expensive problems that we have no control over and which are not our fault.

1. The dishwasher that came with our apartment sucked and ended up damaging the kitchen cupboards and kickboards. This was all covered by insurance, but the carpet cleaning / mould removal wasn't (well, it was, but the excess was the same as the cost, so no point in claiming), and we had the stress of a dishwasher that would take 3-4 hours on the shortest cycle and then find nothing was even cleaned. And of course, we had to buy a new dishwasher, which wasn't an expense we'd factored in since our place CAME with a supposedly-functional dishwasher. It was only installed 8 years before and looked new (probably cause the previous residents didn't use it cause it didn't actually WORK)

2. The hot water system screws, and again, it's caused damage to the cupboards and kickboards, this time in the bathroom. *sigh*

3. Now our insinkerator is being odd. When we switch it on, it makes a HORRIBLE noise. But nothing seems to be in there...no cutlery or anything. We only ever put soft cat food and fruit peel / skin down there...nothing hard. And now also it's not letting water run down it properly. *sigh again*

4. We can't use our broadband internet properly because for some mysterious reason nobody can work out, our wi fi network access SUCKS. I get terrible signal from inside my apartment on my mobile (no signal at all unless I stand at a door, and then it's 1 bar and I get cut off a lot. Perfectly fine if I actually go outside, but this isn't practical), but thought that surely having a modem about 15m away from the wi fi / PC would be alright, but no. There are too many other people also using wi fi nearby who are sharing the only channel I can use wirelessly. *huff* So we have no choice but to have a long cable stretched through our entire apartment to use the internet.

I would be happy to get an extra phone outlet (we only have one in our place, in the lounge / kitchen. This is the problem. If it was in the same room as the PC, it'd all be fine), but apparently this can't be done cause we're on the ground floor so there's no access to below the floor, the roof or anything. *stomp* Sooo no phone outlet...

WHY DO PEOPLE DESIGN APARTMENTS, only 13 years old as well, WITH ONLY ONE SINGLE PHONE SOCKET (and a drastically inadequate number of power points also) WHEN THEY KNOW THAT ONCE THE BUILDING IS COMPLETE, NO ADDITIONAL SOCKETS WILL EVER BE ABLE TO BE INSTALLED?!?!!? My childhood home was built in the 60s and it had 3 phone outlets!!!!!!! For goodness sake!

HI,
Is your house new. If it is it could be the pipe connection to the BP elbow in the wall for either the hot or cold pipe. Most houses use polymer hot and cold piping systems. Sometimes you can get a faulty fitting which can weep or split. The water would naturally leak around the bottom plate of the wall and seep out around the kickboard tiles. I suggest you dont use the vanity for a while and monitor the situation. If it continues to have water, you have a problem behind the wall, which means you will have to remove the vanity to fix it

Iv'e seen this happen plenty of times

Regards
Shane

Thank you, but no, our place is an apartment and it's in a 13-14 year old building. Definitely not new! And it's also definitely the hot water system too. The element was all rusted from where it had been leaking inside...so yeah. *sigh*

Still waiting on the electrician to contact us about coming back.

We need a new hot water system apparently. YET MORE EXPENSES!! We’ve only been here for 18 months and we’ve already had to pay for a new dishwasher, partly pay to fix the damage the old one caused 3 months after moving in, and now this!! 2 insurance claims in under 2 years, and more money shelled out.

Anyway, I’m getting quotes for the new system. We need a 250 litre system, nothing flashy. It only needs to last 5 years (we intend to move well before this time so the new owners can deal with it after that), but it should work well, not break down or leak (again), shouldn’t be more expensive in terms of our electricity bills, and should fit in the cupboard the existing one is in. We do NOT have a lot of money to spend on this.

I was told by someone that such a system should be between $800 and $1,500. I’ve been quoted so far by one plumber $1,400 BUT he thinks it may be a problem fitting a new one into the cupboard. *SIGH* There is also no tray in the cupboard, which all the people who have looked at it have found odd and stupid, cause when/if it leaks, the water instantly is all over the ground/tiles, etc. Rust everywhere! Our old rented property had a tray, even though it was 30 years old (the property, not the hot water system. The system was about 15 years old).

I also got a reply from another plumber who said they have to come out and inspect prior to fitting a new one, and they can’t quote till they’ve done this, and it’d be $55 to come out and inspect. We’ve already paid the plumber and electrician to tell us we need a new one, we’re not paying MORE to be told the same thing, and then if their quote is high, we would’ve paid $55 for NOTHING!

How much should they generally be?

A straight change over should cost you around 1100 including gst, but that depends on ease of access. if access is difficult, then it will cost more.

a relocate from inside to outside cost usually around 1500, but this depends on the situation..

the trade cost of an aqua max 250 liter is about $740. Most plumbers charge between 70 and 100 per hour and it usually takes between one and two hours to replace a unit, add a bit for materials....about 20 add your gst and you should be able to work out what it will cost you..

That sounds about right...it sounds not too bad.

We can't relocate to outside as we're in an apartment so it's got to be inside, and the only place it can fit is where it currently is...and in terms of appearance, it HAS to be in a cupboard set up or we'd be looking at a hot water system tank all the time in our bathroom. Ugh! Also, our cats would be getting in and trying to find their way behind it, which won't do.

Do all plumbers have access to this Aqua Max brand? I've heard they only have 2 brands usually - Rheem and Dex.

yes, aquamax is a common brand. its actually owned by rheem, but is quite a bit cheaper.

the one brand to stay away from is dux. i replace a lot of hot water units and many of the dux units i replace have begun leaking not long after the warranty period has expired.

Aaah, cool. I will definitely avoid Dux then! Thank you!