Thanks to everyone for these responses. I have been reading them all. The new plumber came (plumber #4). He looked inside the hole that my painter friend cut in the ceiling in the second floor bathroom. He said he didn't see anything obviously wrong with the drain area on visual inspection. So he went into the crawl space area behind the shower/tub from the third floor bathroom. (The second and third plumbers both did this as well.) He ran the shower and said he could see water coming into the area where the handle to turn the shower on is. I don't know how to describe the handle area well, except to say (a) that it is just above the faucet and (b) that there is a metal circle somehow fastened to the wall, with the handle being attached to the metal circle. The shower head drips water down the wall to which it is attached, and this water keeps going into this shower handle area (behind the metal circle, I guess). I asked him why the caulking would have been slowing things down for so long. He pointed to the new caulking below the shower handle area and the faucet (this new caulking is where the tub meets the wall to which the shower head, shower handle area, and faucet are attached). He said that caulking matters because before it was redone, there was probably water coming into that area. He replaced the shower head for me, and the new one does not drip water down the wall to which it is attached. I am hoping this solves the problem. My daughters have taken a few showers since this 4th plumber came, and so far, so good. During the first shower taken, I went to the second-floor bathroom and made sure no water leaked through the hole. I told my painter friend. He said this might all be right and that he'll put caulk around the metal circle area where the shower handle is. We're going to leave the hole for a few weeks, just to be sure the problem is really solved. Fingers crossed.
Assuming this 4th plumber really has solved the problem, MakesCents from above gets the award for pointing to it. It isn't the faucet spout, but it is right above that with the handle area, which is pretty close to what MakesCents mentioned.
One last point: Part of my difficulty with this whole situation has to do with these companies that never send me the same plumber. I feel like I am starting over each time, explaining the problem anew. And I also feel like there is less accountability when each plumber that comes knows that he won't need to come back because, even if I call the same company again, they just send whichever of their many plumbers is closest or freest (or both) at the time. I tried calling an individual plumber who works alone (my painter friend gave me his name), but he didn't answer. My painter friend said there aren't many of these individual plumbers left. They are mostly older and retiring. These companies with lots of "the younger guys" (my painter friend's words) are all that is left here. This is Philly. I don't know for sure that it is this way everywhere, but some of my family members in other parts of the country have had similar issues. So maybe it is the same way everywhere now. Oh, how I wish I were handy: it would make my life easier.
Assuming this 4th plumber really has solved the problem, MakesCents from above gets the award for pointing to it. It isn't the faucet spout, but it is right above that with the handle area, which is pretty close to what MakesCents mentioned.
One last point: Part of my difficulty with this whole situation has to do with these companies that never send me the same plumber. I feel like I am starting over each time, explaining the problem anew. And I also feel like there is less accountability when each plumber that comes knows that he won't need to come back because, even if I call the same company again, they just send whichever of their many plumbers is closest or freest (or both) at the time. I tried calling an individual plumber who works alone (my painter friend gave me his name), but he didn't answer. My painter friend said there aren't many of these individual plumbers left. They are mostly older and retiring. These companies with lots of "the younger guys" (my painter friend's words) are all that is left here. This is Philly. I don't know for sure that it is this way everywhere, but some of my family members in other parts of the country have had similar issues. So maybe it is the same way everywhere now. Oh, how I wish I were handy: it would make my life easier.
Statistics: Posted by chiliagon — Thu Aug 15, 2024 5:51 am