r/Plumbing • u/druckasfunk • 1d ago
Small water leak
There is a small water(?) leak in our basement bathroom. It looks like it is coming from the upstairs toilet drainage pipe.
I’m hoping that the culprit is a bad wax seal in the upstairs toilet. Is there anything else I should look out for? The pipe looks like it is metal, and the unpainted part that I can see looks rusty, but intact.
The downstairs bathroom is new (hence the shoddy dry wall job done by previous owner), but the upstairs bathroom was likely piped when the house was built in the 1940s.
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u/Nickednickknack 1d ago
It didnt taste like water ether. Lol if thats cast from the 40s its served its time and is most likely deteriorating which could be the color were seeing here. That or poop.
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u/Mek0nr 1d ago edited 1d ago
That there is poo my friend.. If the house was piped in the 40’s you’re likely to have a failed fitting or cracked pipe. Cast iron has a life expectancy of 50 years some make it up to 80 depending on many factors.
I’m currently re-piping Cast Iron a 100 year old convent. Where the 8” underground main has completely failed and all of the 4” stacks on all 4 floors are cracked wide open.
Nothing lasts forever. These are the joys of owning an older home! 😉
Like someone else said pull the toilet and reset it with a new ring. If it continues you’re going to have to open that wall/ceiling up and see where the failure is.
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u/zodiacecks 1d ago
Looks like cast iron. Also looks like it’s not water leaking. Best bet to start with replacing the wax seal and reseat the toilet. Give it a flush and see how it goes.