A major mess!

[chablis]

I've had a dripping tub faucet for quite some time, and THOUGHT it was just dripping into the tub. Until I discovered that it is leaking from someplace inside the faucet, onto the tub decking, and from there through the broken caulk surrounding the tub, under the tub, and onto the floor.

The reason I finally figured this out is that there is now a soft spot in the bathroom floor.

I can't afford to fix the soft spot in the floor right now. But it seems the obvious thing is to fix the bathtub faucet to prevent more extensive damage.

I have no idea what brand of faucet this is. The faucet handles are on the formica tub deck. They are acrylic. The spout comes out of the lip of the tub and is plastic, but brass-colored, if that means anything to anybody.

The house is a 1995 double-wide Fleetwood, if that is helpful.

Can someone talk me through figuring out what to buy to repair the faucet? Quite frankly, I'm scared to look under the stupid carpet-covered wall thing that surrounds the front of the tub deck!

And yeah, there is a stain on the sheet vinyl on the floor that corresponds to where the soft spot in the floor is.

[JD]

The water that you can see dripping from the faucet is not causing the floor damage, unless you can see that the water is dripping off of the tub and onto the floor. Water damage coming from under the tub will be a plumbing leak (either supply, drain or cracked tub) from under the tub or in the wall with the faucet. This could be the faucet itself or any of the fittings. It could also be damaged supply pipe, but that is unlikely. The tub has a lip that goes up behind the bath walls about 2 inches.

The floor repair will have to be done at some point but for now you need to find and stop the leak to stem more damage. Often times there will be a water heater compartment right behind the tub faucet. Sometimes you can look in there and find the leak. Replacing the faucet from the water heater compartment is often hard or impossible due to lack of room. If there isn't a water heater behind the faucet, then you can try to find or make an access panel to get to the plumbing in the faucet wall. Faucet's can also be replaced from the front side of the faucet wall, but that requires removing the tub enclosure. Some enclosures can be removed intact but some are thin panels glued to the wall and will probably be destroyed getting it off of the wall.

If you want to repair the existing faucet, you would need to determine the brand and model to be sure that it uses and you can find the replacement cartridge. Again, I do not think this is what is causing your floor damage. But your best bet for replacing the cartridge is to find the manufacturer and hopefully get a pdf file for the installation instructions. These instructions will usually have cartridge replacement instructions. The instructions usually don't cover the tiny details like what to do if the cartridge is stuck and won't come out.

Hope this helps,

JD

[chablis]

Maybe a little more explanation is in order.

The tub itself is one of those soaker tubs. It is an oval drop in style, the deck is a formica platform. It looks like a drop-in bathroom lavatory sink on steroids.

There is no hot water heater behind the plumbing. There is a stall shower at the end of the tub where the faucets are.

I popped off the cap of one of the acrylic faucets, and noticed that the screw is corroded into an unrecognizable mess.

[Greg]

I think you need to do some exploring. If possible you need to open up the wall on the back of the faucets, some times you can get lucky and pop the whole panel loose from the studs, if not you may have to cut an access panel. If there are no leaks in the faucet, then look under the tub, the drain may be leaking under the tub.

As for a faucet, It sounds like it will be quicker & easier to just buy a new one rather than try to match up parts.

Sub floor repair is not that costly, it IS however time consuming. Greg

[JD]

It sounds like you have a garden tub. I have seen some of these tubs have problems with the way the faucets are designed. While filling the tub, the water is coming out like you would expect, but there is also a small dribble of water that flips up under the spout and follows the spout down to the base of the faucet. It might be caused by calcium or mineral build up at the lip of the faucet.

The faucet is usually serviced through that vanity panel in the front. If this is water damaged sheetrock, then you might as well open it up and take a look. The panel is pretty easy to replace.

JD