Shower and Tub Overflow in American Fork, UT

A filled bathtub holds a lot of water, and when it runs over the rim the volume arrives all at once. In American Fork, many of the newer two-story homes on the west side and the east bench put the kids' bathtub and the primary shower upstairs, right above a kitchen, dining room or great room. Water slips under the tub apron, where a towel cannot reach, and settles on the subfloor under the tub itself. From there it follows the joists toward the drain opening and drops through the ceiling below, often around a light fixture or a heat register. The hidden pool under the tub does the long-term damage.

In the first hour water is still pooled under the tub and in the ceiling cavity, and extraction plus a small access opening can remove most of it. By 24 hours the drywall ceiling below is soft and the bottom of the bathroom walls has wicked moisture up behind the tile. By 48 hours the wood under the tub and the insulation in the ceiling bay can start to grow mold. After a week the subfloor under the tub can delaminate, ceiling drywall can fall, and the tub may need to come out for repairs.

A tub overflow with clean water that is caught the same day usually leaves a lot that can stay. Tile floors on a cement backer can be dried in place, and a fiberglass, acrylic or cast iron tub does not absorb water at all, so the work focuses on what sits under and around it. The subfloor under the tub dries with air movers blowing beneath the apron and through an access panel if the home has one. Ceiling drywall below that is only damp, not sagging, can often be dried through a small access cut, then patched and painted instead of replaced.

Removal comes into play with sagging ceiling drywall, swollen trim and long soaks. Ceiling drywall that bowed, or that held water on top of soaked insulation, is cut out, because it rarely flattens and the wet insulation must come out too. Medium density baseboard and the bottom of a laminate vanity swell and are replaced. Used bath water is closer to category 2 than clean supply water, so any carpet pad it reached in the hallway is usually removed. If the subfloor under the tub delaminates, the tub may need to be lifted so that section can be replaced.

Tub and shower overflows happen across American Fork, but upstairs bathrooms are where they cost the most. In the newer two-story homes on the west side toward I-15 and on the east bench, a kids' tub on the second floor can send water into a kitchen ceiling and the cabinets under it. In older homes near Main Street and the original town grid, a single bathroom often sits on the main floor above a finished basement, so the water ends up in a basement family room. Hard water scale on older faucet cartridges near historic Main Street also makes a tap that will not shut off fully more likely.

The same calls come in from Orem, Provo, Springville and Mapleton. Provo student rentals often have a basement apartment, so a tub overflow upstairs can soak a tenant's ceiling and belongings below. Mapleton's newer homes usually have large upstairs bathrooms over open living spaces, and Orem's 1970s and 1980s homes often have original tubs over finished basements. When you call, say where the tub is and what you see below, and you are connected with a local crew that can usually come out the same day.