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Brian Glaister
almost 2 years ago • Seattle

Shower is leaking

My dining room has a soggy ceiling. The first plumber we called said we need to recalk outside the shower and we havent used it since, but he also said the floor underneath felt soggy. First plumber wasn't excited to do any work here. Do we need a plumber or a handyman, and who should we call?
3 replies
over 1 year ago
I've dealt with leaks in our house, which gets a lot of exposure to wind driven rain. In my limited experience, plumbers only deal with pipes. For soggy floors or drywall you need a contractor. I'd start with a handyman and work your way up from there. Anything that's expanded/soggy probably needs to be torn out and replaced, which is a huge pain. Especially in our overheated market, where contractors are completely booked up.

If stuff is still wet, consider using a dehumidifier to minimize the damage. You might end up saving money.

The most important thing is to locate the source of the leak and ensure it doesn't happen again. No point to fixing the damage until you've fixed the leak. That can be hard to do, though. You might have to dig into the walls to find the source, which could be bad caulk but could also be a loose connection somewhere. Contractor is still your best bet.
almost 2 years ago
We used servpro for water damage remediation. They specialize in teardown and removal and drying it all out, and potentially recommended mold treatment. Once you get it opened up you can hunt for the root problem.
almost 2 years ago
Same, we used a water damage remediation service alongside a plumber to fix a leak we had in our bathroom. We went through insurance (USAA) and they organized al the vendors...it was a life saver.
over 1 year ago