Had a major leak in new shower in new home that went through the walls to the lower level. Builder said it was due to shower caddy on the shower head. He said he cleaned the joint, put on teflon tape and tightened it again. Problem gone. Is it likely that this could be caused by hanging a shower caddy on the shower head pipe? It really wasn't that heavy, though we did have it on there for months. How can I tell at this point what they culprit may have been? Thank you.

The next time you are at a Big Box Store check the shower arms. Because some shower heads seal at a rubber gasket inside the shower head assembly, the threads are not tapered like they are for a pipe to fitting joint. Sometimes folks screw the wrong end of the shower arm that is the straight thread into the fitting inside the wall. Using a lot of Teflon tape is only a patch fix, but the proper end of the shower arm should be screwed into the wall. It also depends on the type shower head you have. Some take a straight thread, some take a tapered head. Hope this isn't to confusing.

you could do chin-ups on a properly made up pipe joint and it will not leak.

BOTH ends of a shower arm have tapered threads. The shower head has straight threads and seals with a gasket.

The builder might have a case if the shower arm split at the threads, and he had to replace it. But, all he did was properly assemble the old arm and that fixed the problem. The shower caddy does not have enough of a grip on the shower arm to unscrew it.



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Thanks, everyone. That's what I've suspected and I'm getting consistent feedback from other sources as well. It's comforting to know the source of the leak but very creepy that they are trying to blame it on us. Thanks again.

It is called CYA, and everyone does it, when possible.

Hard to say what really happened without being there.

Bottom line it's poor practice to hang anything from a shower arm.

As as service plumber last three years it's very rare for the shower arm to break (I've seen 2)

I do come across A LOT of loose ones though and advise my clients NOT to hang things from their
shower arms.

If you do a new install and it's being inspected the inspector might grab the temp shower arm and really test it with some force. That female fitting needs to be installed with good fasteners and solid blocking.



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I think No, it is not due to shower caddy there is not enough weight to cause the leak. Your leaky shower could also be because of solder connections of the shower or tub valves that aren't properly installed or are getting old. Usually, valves have a screw-on connection that isn't tightened enough. Even if the connection is tight, they can leak as the shower ages.



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