Shower Pan Leak Detection & Repair in Commerce City, CO
We locate the leak before any wall or slab is opened. Commerce City emergency response, any time.
Call (303) 552-3896The pan flood test takes 24 hours and costs nothing. Plug the shower drain with a rubber test plug, fill the shower floor with 1 to 2 inches of water, mark the water level at the tile wall, and return 24 hours later. A water level that has dropped confirms the liner is breached. A level that holds confirms the liner is intact and the moisture source is elsewhere.
Commerce City homeowners and sometimes contractors skip this test and proceed directly to regrout or recaulk work based on the assumption that the tile or grout is the source. Tile grout is not waterproof. Caulk at the tub-to-wall joint is not waterproof under continuous water contact. The waterproof element in a tiled shower is the liner beneath the mortar bed. Recaulking a shower with a failed liner delays the ceiling stain in the room below by a few months and does not resolve anything.
Shower Pan Liner Construction and Failure Modes
Tiled showers built before 1990 in Original Commerce City, Adams City, and Irondale homes typically use PVC or CPE sheet liners hot-welded at seams and turned up the wall behind the tile. Liners from this era are at 30 to 40 years of service life. A liner that has cracked at a fold, pulled away from the drain flange clamp ring, or delaminated at a wall-turn seam allows water through the mortar bed continuously whenever the shower is used.
Reunion, Belle Creek, and Buffalo Run showers from the 2000s and 2010s use either traditional PVC sheet liner or foam-board waterproofing systems applied to the wall substrate. Foam-board systems resist the PVC cracking failure mode but can fail at grout joints in the mortar bed if the shower floor was not properly pre-sloped before the board was set.
The drain flange clamping ring is the most common liner failure point in showers of all eras. The liner is captured between the drain body and the clamping ring; if the clamping ring is loose, corroded, or improperly installed, the liner seal at the drain exits and water bypasses through the drain body into the subfloor assembly.
Shower Pan Repair
Drain flange reclamping: if the liner is intact but the clamping ring is loose, retightening or replacing the clamping ring restores the drain-liner seal without tile removal. Full liner replacement: tile removal, mortar bed removal, new liner installation, mortar bed rebuild, and tile reset. This scope takes 3 to 5 days and is the correct repair for a liner that has failed at any point other than the drain clamp. Partial liner repair at a crack or seam failure is not durable under the thermal cycling and water exposure conditions of a daily-use shower. Call (303) 552-3896 with the flood test result and the approximate age of the shower, and we will advise on whether drain clamp adjustment or full liner replacement is the appropriate scope.
Call 24/7: (303) 552-3896Frequently Asked Questions
How do I run a shower pan flood test in my Commerce City home?
Plug the shower drain with a rubber stopper plug. Fill the shower floor with 1 to 2 inches of water. Mark the water level with a piece of tape on the wall tile. Return after 24 hours without using the shower. A level that has dropped confirms liner failure. A level that holds confirms the liner is intact.
My Commerce City shower flood test shows the liner is intact. Where is the leak?
With the liner confirmed intact, the moisture source is at the drain connection above the liner, the supply valve body inside the wall, the tile-to-wall transition caulk joint at the shower curb or in the wall corners, or the wall tile substrate if the wall waterproofing has failed. Thermal imaging after a shower cycle identifies the moisture zone and electronic amplification detects supply valve failures in the wall.
Does shower pan liner replacement require removing all the wall tile?
Typically no. Standard liner replacement removes only the shower floor tile and the mortar bed down to the subfloor or slab. The wall tile remains unless the wall substrate has sustained moisture damage. If the flood test confirms recent liner failure and the wall substrate is dry, wall tile typically stays in place.
Related Services
- Shower Leak Detection & Repair
- Bathroom Leak Detection & Repair
- Ceiling Leak Detection & Repair
- Drain Leak Detection & Repair
- Thermal Imaging Leak Detection
- Bathtub Leak Detection & Repair
Locations We Serve
Leak in Commerce City? Call Now.
24/7 Adams County response. Licensed in Colorado. No forms.
(303) 552-3896