We have a townhouse that was built in 1984. We bought this house last year. In the upstairs it has a master bathroom and a shower stall, I think it is some kind of fiberglass or plastic not sure. Anyway several months ago after taking a shower I noticed that the ceiling on the first floor was looking a little wet and I think the shower was leaking there and stopped using that shower. I don’t know what is wrong with it but now I want to see about getting it fixed and paint the wet spot on the ceiling. I would like to get some advice on this and what I should do about it.
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The first thing to do is determine if the water is from a faulty drain/shower pan, or from the shower fixture itself. You can do this by pouring several quarts of water down the shower drain. Be sure to fill the containers at a different location, the kitchen sink for example. If you then see water on the ceiling below, you’ll at least know that your shower is leaking from the drain/pan as opposed to the shower fixture itself. Of course you should also check and re-caulk any caulking in the stall. Knowing the source of the leak should make it a bit easier to make the required repairs.
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From the information you provided the only way i can think of is to open the ceiling up using a hand drywall saw . Be really careful as they may be pipes running close to the ceiling,I usually cut a small hole to put my hand thru and feel any obstructions I need to stay clear of.Make sure your cuts are square ,this makes drywall repair very easy. Get a good light and you should be able to see where the problem is.
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The shower can leak in lots of different places. I know because I have had to fix them all. First I would check the floor outside the shower to see if the shower door is leaking or water is getting out of the shower curtain. Then check around the faucet; sometimes while taking a shower the water will get behind the faucet where it meets the shower. Next, check the drain; just pour 5 gallons of water in it and see if it leaks. If the plumbing to the faucet is leaking, it will be wet all the time. One time a customer said they had a leak that the plumber could not fix under a shower. The plumber had the drain fixed, but it was still leaking on the downstairs ceiling. I know the drain was not leaking because I cut a hole in the ceiling and looked. Then I found the leak. It was not anything I have talked about so far so guess what it was!