One of the pitfalls of owning a 2-story house.

[Thumper]

Lynn did some laundry Sunday and the last load into the dryer was a bunch of bath towels. When she came home from work yesterday, she pulled the towels from the dryer to fold them and put them in the linen closet. Well, she enters the laundry room and hollers for me. I go in and she points to the large globe lamp on the laundry room ceiling and asked, "What is THAT?" This is a very large globe ... 16" across and maybe 6" deep ... and it was full of water! In a slight panic, I went into the den which adjoins the laundry room and there was a wet area on the ceiling about a foot long and about 6" wide. Dammit! Worst case scenario, we have a water pipe or tub enclosure leaking (the upstairs bathroom is above this area). Most likely cause? "Hopefully" ... a leaking wax gasket at the base of the upstairs (master bedroom) toilet. Either way, we had a bit of a mess, but at least no "major" ceiling damage.

I removed the globe from the laundry room ceiling and watched ... no dripping water (a good sign). Then I had Lynn flush the upstairs toilet ... nothing ... I wait a bit and here it comes ... drip ... drip ... drip ... then a small stream ... then back to a few more drips and then nothing. CRAP! (no pun intended) I went upstairs to shut off the water valve to the toilet and ... DAMN! The thing wouldn't budge! I couldn't shut the water off. I went outside to where the water shut-off valve is entering the house, tightened it to the closed position and turned on the garden hose. Huh? The water drained from the house but there was still a steady stream coming from the hose. Damn! TWO VALVES are bad??? I venture into the garage for the water shut-off tool standing in the corner and made a trip back outside to the water meter to shut off the water supply to the house. Unbelievable! It wouldn't budge! I put my full weight into it ... nothing! I went back to the garage for a "cheater bar" and cranked on it some more. The whole tool started twisting but the shut-off still wouldn't budge! Dammit! Why do relatively simple projects always have a way of turning into major projects? I stretched the garden hose across the yard toward the curb, turned the hose bib on wide open and let the water run into the street. I went back upstairs, turned the water on in the bathtub and (good news) ... no water!

I gave Lynn a large cup and instructed her to start scooping the water out of the toilet tank and bowl ... then soak up the excess with an old towel. (didn't want to flush the tank dry for fear of damaging the den ceiling worse than what it already is) I returned to the garage wondering where I stuck the "emergency" wax ring for situations like this and finally located it in a workbench cabinet. I grabbed the ring and necessary tools, dragged everything to the upstairs bathroom and went to work. I managed to disconnect the toilet feed line, unbolted the toilet and lifted it from the floor. Ok, by now I was wiped out. My back was SHOT! I assumed a supervisory position and handed Lynn the scraper and instructed her on how to clean out the old wax ring material. We got it all cleaned up, installed the new ring and it was all I could do to lift the toilet while she laid on the floor guiding it into place. I tightened everything down, turned the water supply back on and everything is back to normal ... EXCEPT for that big ol' soggy wet spot on the drywall ceiling of the den. DANGIT!

'Course, after all that, I told Lynn I was starving and asked, "What's for dinner?" :D

Today I'm recovering ... nursing the sore back and tending to the black eye I got when Lynn hit me with that crescent wrench! :(

Today, I need to call the county and have them replace the valve at the water meter (it's between the meter and the street, so IMHO, it's THEIR responsibility (?). I don't even want to attempt replacing the hose bib or shut-off valve at the toilet. The way my luck has been running, I'll twist off or strip a dang water pipe!

[BarryBobPosthole]

I think that is one lesson learned from when I built this house. I'm not sure I'll EVER put an upstairs bathroom in a house, assuming of course that I ever build another one. The bathroom our 'boys' shared upstairs is right over our kitchen. Smart move. NOT. I've had to repaint and do drywall repair on my kitchen ceiling TWICE both times due to some idiot (again my 'boys') clogging up the toilet.

BKB

[Thumper]

We had ONE 2-story house while I was growing up ... but I didn't have to worry about responsibilities like this as a kid ... so it didn't bother me. The first house I owned for 10 years (California) was a 3-bedroom single story ... no problem. When we moved to Florida I bought this 2-story (4-bedroom) and have lived here 24 years. I have to say, IF I ever buy another house, it'll be a single story.

[Buckrub]

You guys' knees are too bad to own a 2 story house.

[jb]

I have a three story house (two story with a walk-out basement), have two bathroom on second floor, kitchen and bath on first floor and bath in the basement..
28 years old, not a problem with leaks so far.
Only trouble we've had was wife woke up in the middle of night to go to the bathroom, wased her hands but left the water running with the stopper down, woke up the next moring with water on the bedroom and bath floor, kitchen cl'g below was sagging and basement floor was wet also, water damage to all three floors.
Glad she worked for State Farm, insurance covered the 22K loss.
Majority of the houses I design have bath's on the second floor, today it's not a big problem if the plumbing is done right.

[Thumper]

No basements down here to speak of. They'd be nothing but indoor swimming pools! Actually, our house is a tri-level of sorts. The main floor has the kitchen, dining room, living room and foyer. Then there's a step down (3-steps) to another level with guest room, large den, downstairs full bath and very large laundry room ('bout the size of a small bed room). Then there are three bedrooms and another full bath upstairs.

Not sure what the plumbing has to do with leakage from an upstairs bathroom. Toilet (wax ring) leaks are just one of those things that "happen". Sink/bathtub overflowing or a stopped up toilet overflowing also has nothing to do with "proper" plumbing. Heck, I had to repair a large water stain in the downstairs bedroom once from a big water bowl that Lynn put in the upstairs spare bedroom for the frigging cats. Of course one of them managed to knock it over. :banghead

Face it, if there's water upstairs ... sooner or later there's going to be an "accident" and it'll end up downstairs!

[Chicken Dinner]

The big thing in new construction around here is to put the laundry room up on the 2nd floor where the bedrooms are. I get how convenient that is, but just shake my head ruefully. Even if you put the washing machine in a tub, there's no way in help I'd have it any where other than the basement.

[BarryBobPosthole]

I actually considered installing some sort of catch-pan type deal under my upstairs bathroom and drain it to the outside after the second occurance. But the ceiling joists run the wrong direction and I couldn't figure out how to do it in the space I had. And I figured my boys would be gone in a year or so anyway and just blew it off. Still, it wasn't the smartest thing in the world to put a bathroom right over the kitchen.

Now I'm trying to figure out how to run a vent to the outside for a stovetop overhead vent. I want the motor and stuff to be on the outside so it won't sound like a 747.

BKB

[Chicken Dinner]

I think every house I've ever lived in has had the bathrooms and kitchens "stacked" as it makes running the plumbing more efficient.

[Chicken Dinner]

And, right now the dry wall in my basement bathroom ceiling is all torn out because the damn dishwasher leaked. Man, I live in a 60 year old house and I've learned to hate water. Drinking water, bath water, rain water. I hate it all the same. I can and have done some plumbing in the past, but I won't touch it any more so that when if gets fucked up, and it will, I've got somebody other than me to bitch at.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Plumbing in general just makes me mad whenever I have a plumbing project to do. I've yet to find one that doesn't require a contortionist to do and my soldering skills at least for copper pipe are poor at best. When I build my house I wanted Pfister valves throughout the house. My plumber advised me he was a 'Delta' man and couldn't install Pfister. So we went with Delta, although I was pissed off and it would have cost me a bunch extra to hire someone else to put them in. I've now replaced the valve cartridges in all three bathrooms with showers because the old Delta pieces of crap went bad. And this in just 15 years. (Yeah my expectations are high for that stuff) My master bathroom shower is down for repair right now because of that Delta piece of shit and I will have to do tile work in that shower (which I also hate to do) because I am replacing the whole goddamned thing with a Pfister like I wanted to do in the first place.
BKB

[Thumper]

Nothing over our kitchen. The double garage, foyer, living room, dining room and kitchen are under one section of roof so there's no part of the house (other than attic) over those rooms. Then there's a "step-up" that forms the second story and the rest of the house is stacked on that end of the house. The water on that end goes to the upstairs bath, the downstairs bath and downstairs laundry room.

I've also seen the trend to put laundry rooms on the second floor and think that's just begging for a disaster. Something else I've noticed here is some builders are sticking the water heaters in the attic. Another potential mess as far as I'm concerned. Heck, it's bad enough having my air handler for my heat pump in the attic. I've already had that disaster twice. The old unit had an outside drain for the handler. If it plugged up (as it often does, there was an overflow drain that came straight out of the ceiling and into the garage. One time the o/s drain plugged up and the emergency drain just happened to be right above my big "roll-away" toolbox. I was pissed! Toolbox and drawers were full of water and rusted tools! With Florida humidity, there's a LOT of drainage from an a/c!

When I had that unit replaced, the new one has no back-up drain, but has a cut-off (float) switch in case the drain plugs up and the drain pan fills up. About 2 years after having the new unit installed, I walked into the garage to find water everywhere and the drywall ceiling collapsed into a wet heap on the floor! The MF'er who installed the air handler had laid the wires for the thermostat across the float rendering the emergency cut-off useless and the catch pan overflowed. I called the company that installed the unit and the bastards said their LABOR was only guaranteed for 1 year!

[BarryBobPosthole]

Every spring, my drain pans on my air handlers get a cup of bleach in them. Do that and you'll never have an issue with them. and yeah, mine are upstairs too.
BKB

[jb]

Stacking or clustering plumbing is no longer a big deal, plastic pipes and water lines make it unnecessary.
Second floor laundry by the bedrooms is popular, but a good builder places the washer on a special floor tray that has a drain built in for overflow problems, or will build the laundry room/closet just like you build a shower, ceramic tile with a drain..

[Thumper]

... a good builder places the washer on a special floor tray that has a drain built in for overflow problems...

Key word ... "good" builder! ;)

[Bwana]

Had something similar happen a few years back.

Was in Denver for some work-related thing and called home one night to see how things were going. Wife said, "Not good, a part of the living room ceiling fell down."

Turn out the sewer/drain pipe for the master bathroom stool had a VERY slow leak in it, as in only a few drips per flush but after enough years things finally let loose. No mess at all but had to cut open the ceiling so I could determine what was leaking and then replaced a portion of the PVC drainpipe. Had to get the Drywall Doctor in to match orange peel though I know things could have been WAY worse.

[Buckrub]

That's how I noticed that my central A/C was out.......dripping through the ceiling and raining on my head in bathroom. Found the pan under condenser rotted out, coils rotted out, unit rotted out........ and had to replace it.

Luckily it leaked about two days, and all I have are a few water spots on ceiling.

[Niner]

These animals make plumbing repairs a LOT easier. Especially if you have Polybutylene or PEX pipes.

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