Looks like wet concrete on my toilet pipe


  #1  
Old 09-01-16, 07:34 PM
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Looks like wet concrete on my toilet pipe

I have no idea what this could be! I just noticed it yesterday on the toilet pipe in the basement. It wasn't there a month ago. A month ago we had the central air unit replaced (and not by a pro, unfortunately), though, if that info is pertinent.

Thanks for any help!

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Last edited by PJmax; 09-02-16 at 09:42 AM. Reason: added enhanced picture
  #2  
Old 09-02-16, 03:30 AM
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Is it soft . hard what is above this?
 
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Old 09-02-16, 03:48 AM
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Poke that thick area on that 45 deg. elbow and see if it breaks apart and tiny white to light green maggot looking insects come out.
Had a new shower or bathtub installed above that area?
 
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Old 09-02-16, 05:58 AM
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I'm thinking you have a leak.
 
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Old 09-02-16, 06:21 PM
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All that brown stuff would be a leak from above, nothing to do with that concrete looking stuff.
 
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Old 09-02-16, 07:10 PM
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Is it soft . hard what is above this?
@pugsl

Haven't been brave enough to touch it yet to see whether it's hard or soft. Above it is the toilet.
 
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Old 09-02-16, 07:15 PM
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Poke that thick area on that 45 deg. elbow and see if it breaks apart and tiny white to light green maggot looking insects come out.
Had a new shower or bathtub installed above that area?
@joecaption

Before I poke it, can you please tell me what you think might come out? Nothing new installed but the central air. The outdoor part of the AC is right outside that bathroom, and the guy who installed it chipped a hole through that wall to pass some piping and black styrofoam-sounding tube for "drainage."

All that brown stuff would be a leak from above, nothing to do with that concrete looking stuff.
Hmm. Would you please explain further? I'm sort of confused now. I believe any brown on the pipe was there before we moved in. The gray (but looks brown in the enhanced photo) concrete stuff is new.
 
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Old 09-02-16, 07:19 PM
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I'm thinking you have a leak.
@Pilot Dane

Crud :/ Anything else I can look for to confirm/deny that?
 
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Old 09-03-16, 04:44 AM
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What do you mean "confirm/deny that"? You look for a leak! Run water upstairs and flush the toilet and go down below and see if the pipe is wet. If it's wet keep following the wet uphill until you find the source. Since you had a bathroom remodel and someone knocked a hole in the wall to tie in a condensate drain line it's very possible that something is leaking. After handling the pipe don't lick your fingers. It's probably poo juice that is leaking.
 
  #10  
Old 09-03-16, 07:06 AM
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Residue

I vote for masonry residue from the guy drilling a hole through the wall.
 
  #11  
Old 09-03-16, 01:19 PM
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I think you have had a leak for some time, that has gone unnoticed. The dust from the AC installation just made it visible to you as it stuck to the wet pipe.
 
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Old 09-03-16, 03:32 PM
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What do you mean "confirm/deny that"? You look for a leak! Run water upstairs and flush the toilet and go down below and see if the pipe is wet.
@Pilot Dane

I should've said in my original reply to you that I'd already tried the obvious: running water in the sinks on the floor above and flushing the toilet to see if the pipe got wet. It didn't look like it to me. So odd.
 
 

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