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Maybe the copper was original, but in my area, a 1954 home with a crawl would have most likely been built with galvanized plumbing. So any copper would be far less than 60 years old.
Although this can vary from region to region.
Anyhow, leaks from 2nd floor bathrooms are why I carry a thermal camera.
But not every inspector has a thermal camera, and they are not required.
Many shower pans only leak when someone is standing in the shower.
Just sayin
Cheers
Thus the reason to use a shower dam.
The weight of 2" of water on 36"x36" pan will be close to 100lbs. Most pans in my area are much bigger (everything is bigger in TX…)
That 100 pounds would be evenly spread on the 1,296 sq/inches. If a person weighs 200 lbs and they are standing on two spots about 3"x10" the results would be different.
Just my opinion.
You are absolutely correct, the results would be different. A person in a shower doesn’t have the drain stopped while taking a shower, so most of the water will go down the drain and there is less of a chance to catch a leak in the pan.
With the shower dam, if there are any cracks anywhere in the pan or at the drain connection, it will show up since water is standing in the pan.
This is why we first use the shower dam as we set up the house. By the time we get to the bathrooms, water will have been in the pan(s) anywhere from 20-30 minutes. Then we let the water run for 10 minutes. The last thing we do is IR scan around the bathrooms and lower level ceilings.
Can we just do a SOP inspection of the bathroom? Yes, but chances are something will be missed.
In five years, we have had two instances where the sellers called us back not very happy (for obvious reasons) that their newly renovated bathrooms never had any problems until we inspected them. After I explained to them that if the shower pan was properly installed (if even present), then our testing would not have affected anything. In both cases, they got the contractors to come back out and for one of them to actually install a shower pan and repair any damage caused.
In both cases I contacted my E&O insurance and was told we were not liable as we were hired to identify defects and these were major defects.
To answer the question maturely…
Knowing if the pan was leaking when the inspector was there, would be impossible at this point. But…
Me personally, if I was inspecting a home built in the 50’s with original pans not only would I look hard, but I would disclaim them and put in the report that hidden damage should be anticipated with the age. Unless some tiles were loose or a leak was found it would be impossible to find any hidden water leaks. Any shower on wood framing that old is going to have some hidden damage.