This is an assurance that a bathtub in your bathroom can add a luxury and comfort in your life style. But you also need to remember that you have to take good care of your bathtub to get the optimum experience with it. I am suggesting this because even one bathtub leak can lead you to a serious water damage issue in your home. It can cause a flooding situation and if not addresses quickly and properly, then it can lead you to some serious water damage in your home. In case, you already have a leak in your bathtub and you are wondering how to repair a bathtub leak, then here are some steps that you should follow for that.
Find the leak: Before you start the repairing process, it is very important that you find the exact location for bathtub leak. If you will not find the exact location then you may not solve the issue in proper way. In most of the cases, bathtub leak can happen at 5 main areas. These areas include faucet, grout, body, overflow pipe and drain.
If this leak is there from a dripping faucet or from a leaking grout, then you can easily spot it in a minute. But if this bathtub leak is there because of other areas, then it can be a challenging task for you to find the leak. To know the leak in the body of bathtub, you can wipe the outside of the tub with a dry towel. After that, wrap it with old newspapers to find the bathtub leak. If there is any leak in it, paper will get wet faster and you can consider that place as leakage spot. If you have any leak in the drain pipe, then you need to carefully evaluate it to repair the bathtub leak.
Repair the faucet: If you have this bathtub leak problem in your faucet, then you need to turn of the water supply to your bathroom before making any chances in it. when you do this, make sure you turn off the water supply completely including cold and hot water. After you stop the water supply you need to remove the plastic cap from the centre of faucet handle. Remove that carefully and after that use a screwdriver to remove the screws that are holding the handle at its place. Pull the faucet handle out and use a wrench to detach the packing nuts that is locking the faucet in the place.
When you do this, some stored water may come out, so that is ok don’t worry about it. now install a new gasket instead the faucet and reinstall everything else it its place. Now you can turn on the water supply and it should not have any leakage in it.
Repair the grout: If the bathtub leak issue is there in grout, then you need do the same with some heavy duty sealant. To repair it, first you need to clean the leaking area so you can find out the exact problem and how big the problem is. If you have a minor crack on your grouth, then you can use sealant it shall stop the leak. Before apply the sealant, make sure you stop the water supply for your tub and make it dry completely. Once it is completely dried, then you can use sealant and then wait for 2 to 4 hours before turning on the water supply. Now it should not leak after the repairing work is done. If it is still leaking then it is suggested you contact some experts for that.
Repair the body: If you have a bathtub leak in its body, then that could be a very challenging task for you to repair it. For that you need to use the best quality sealant and you need to use it in the best possible manner. Once you find the sealant, then identify the exact spot again using paper and water method. After that, make a mark outside and inside with some marker so you can identify the place easily. For internal damage marking you will need to empty the water, so let it dry and then make a mark.
Once you find the exact spot, mark it and let it dry for before applying the sealant.
Once it is completely dried then take the sealant and apply that inside and outside both. Make sure you apply it both the side and you do not leave any space open. If you will leave even a minor leak, then it will cause the same problem and it will ruin your entire efforts. So make sure you do this properly. Once you are done with sealant application, it is advised that you let it dry for several hours. Ideally you should not use your bathroom for almost 6 hours after applying the sealant on your bathtub body.
That is essential to remember so keep that thing in your mind for better result. Once it is dried, you need to fill it with water and you need to check it again for any leak. If there is still some leak, then calling an expert would be always a good idea for you instead of doing any more work on it.
In case, you have bathtub leak in your pipes or internals of the plumbing, then I would not advise you to make any changes by yourself. In that situation I would strongly recommend you to contact an expert plumber for that. If you would try to do the work by yourself, then chances are high you will make more damage in it instead of repairing it. I am sure, you will not want to have this kind of results, so it is advised that you keep this thing in our mind. Also, if above given solutions are not working for you, then you should not do any more work by yourself, but you should hire a plumber to get it repaired without making any further damage in it.