Water under bathroom tile

[Irie]

Just discovered water under one tile in the bathroom, specifically by the toilet. I’m hoping it’s the base flange and not something worse. Just started today, coincidentally (I hope) after dumping the black tank.

Anyone see this before?

[Jim_HiTek]

Yep. Have seen it before.

There are several places on the toilet itself where the water could be coming from. Take the toilet out, flip it over, and follow the rust. Usually it's a leaking flush valve but there are other places to check.

You don't give info about your RV so I'm assuming it's old enough that a leaking water connection can be ruled out. They usually show up at the first use and get fixed then.

[Irie]

It’s an Alpine 40FDTS. 2005. We’re still 3 weeks from getting home from our trip.

[wolfe10]

Short answer: You can NOT take a chance of water damage to sub-floor.


Pull the toilet and figure out what the problem is.


Fix the problem or replace the toilet, AND dry out the floor. Water trapped under the floor covering can do extensive damage.

[Irie]

Believe me, I know water damage. Unfortunately I don’t know if we have the tools with us to take the toilet up, plus we are living in it full time for at least the next three weeks. I’m kind of stuck ☹️

[Jim_HiTek]

Likely a leaking flush valve. What I did was to find where it was coming from on the toilet (it's clean water, nothing to worry about) and put a dish under it. In my case, didn't have to fashion anything to direct the water to fall into the dish. Than, for the next couple months while traveling, I'd just use tank water. Filled the tank when needed from shore water of course. No connection to shore water. That way, I could turn the water pump on when I needed it, and off when I didn't. As soon as would turn it off, I'd also open the bathroom sink faucet for a couple seconds to relieve pressure in the pipes. That kept the drip to a bare minimum.

I found where it was leaking without removing the toilet just by running my hands up around the mechanisms and back behind. Then I used a bathroom sized mirror to narrow it down to the exact spot.

Then while I was parked for a week before heading into Mexico, I bought a new toilet and installed it.

[Irie]

Just been informed by hubby that it’s not fresh water...I’m still thinking base flange, though I believe that was changed out not long ago.

Going to drink a beer now and pull the head in the morning to see what’s going on.

[wolfe10]

Should only take standard wrenches to remove.


Worse case, find a CG with bathroom!


Far cheaper than doing extensive damage.

[Hayduke]

Hi Irie

You recently got your coach, right?

I have the same coach. Aren't they nice?

You said the water was "under one tile".
That confuses me a little. I'm guessing you meant on top of?

You may need to "rebuild" your toilet. I did mine in Quartzsite this year. We bought ours last August, so I expect to have to replace rubber bits here and there.

I did the bottom gasket and the bowl gasket. My leak was the bowl gasket. The water will end up on the floor, or in my case, all the way down on top of the holding tanks.

Do you have any odor yet?

That was our first symptom. Then I eventually figured out that someone had to be sitting on the toilet for the bowl gasket to leak.

It could be either of the valves too, but both of mine still seem fine. Turn off the supply way in the back and see if the leak stops. Feel with your hand around both valves. Are the bottoms wet? To find slow leaks, I will dry every thing then put new pieces of paper under suspected leak locations. I like newspaper as a single drop that has already dried up is very obvious.

Ask more questions if you need to. I will answer best I can, but mine is down in Phoenix getting the radiator replaced. Meanwhile I'm in Flagstaff (mumbles something about the RV was supposed to take him away from the cold).

[Irie]

Hayduke, we’ve been dealing with odor from the start. Finally it just disappeared one day (after I had bought new seals, anti siphon valves - not installed yet). Yesterday, I went to use the head right after draining the black tank and before I could sit, I noticed one tile was squishing water out from underneath. Not the closest tile to the base either.

Hubby is about to start working on it, I’m conveniently running errands to stay out of the way (and buy more beer for after). I’ll let you know what we find.

Sorry about your radiator and the weather 😞. I’m not sure which is worse. Hope you found one at a decent price.

[Irie]

Thanks Hayduke for some additional info that I couldn’t figure out! Here it is for any others wondering. This forum is great!

AAV behind washer bay - you can get to the washer drain AAV by removing the metal access panel in the middle.

Black tank - To get to tanks, you want to open the hatch on the opposite side of your wet bay. There are 2 screws at the bottom that hold it on. It has the same hinge as all the other panels. It just doens't have a latch.

[Hayduke]

Which tile?

The AAV for the washer is accessed by removing the metal panel in the middle, above washer. It's an awkward position to get to, but not hard. My biggest fear was dropping one behind the washer.

To get to the tanks, open the panel opposite your wet bay. There are 2 screws at the bottom that hold it closed. Your husband needs to get on his back and look under there. There are 2 metal tabs with a screw into the coach. The panel has the same hinge as all the other panels. It just doesn't have a latch. I will put a latch there someday.

If you had a clog, you might have more/different issues than we had. I'm convinced our issue was entirely related to the bowl seal. I replaced the bottom one first though before I realized the leak only happens if someone sits on the toilet. I wasn't able to determine that without a helper, so maybe this will be a 2 person test for you too.

If you open up your wet bay and see water on the tanks, that is the source of your odor. I cleaned mine off and put some bleach on it.

[Irie]

Thanks everyone. Turned out the bowl had a HUGE crack in it! Floor is damp but no damage, though we broke one tile. Of course it’s the one that fits around the base ��

Local RV shop had one in stock, just need to swap the fitting for the sprayer onto it.

[wolfe10]

Be SURE to completely dry the sub-floor! If not, it will dry rot.