Problem solving

When Camille was here for Thanksgiving, I started noticing water problems in the bathroom.

First, I noticed the wall looked like it had been damp. I touched it, and my finger went through the gyprock.

Great.

By the time she left, there was a puddle of water on the floor by the bathtub every morning after I took a shower.

I knew that there was an access panel in the front hall closet, so I removed it.

I couldn't see any water.

I removed the bottom panel on the bathtub.

Again, totally dry.

One of my neighbours has a camera that can detect moisture behind walls, etc. as part of his business. He came over on Friday. He didn't have that camera, but he had a different camera that's on a flexible cord, so that you can run it up a wall through an access panel (for example).

We used that camera and ran the shower.

Nothing.

No water leaking, no puddle on the floor, no sign of trouble at all - except for the hole you see in the above picture. We removed the drywall, and that's the area that was damp. The 2x4 was damp as well - but only on that side, the other side was fine.

By Saturday morning, the 2x4 was damp.

I haven't seen a sign of water since then.

The good news is that it's not as big a problem as I thought it might be. The bad news is that if you can't find it, you can't fix it.