I live in an apartment and recently the dishwasher stopped draining completely, leaving about 2” of water in the bottom. About that same time, my kitchen sink kept backing up. And it smelled like sewage. Used clog remover, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. Then I started hearing a drip sound after I turned off the water. It dropped 3-4x quickly for about 10 seconds then slowed considerably to a drip about every 10-15 seconds then stopped. At first, it would only happen sometimes but now it happens every time I run the water for more than a couple of minutes. Also, it has developed a double drip- one drip then another almost immediately behind it, and it drips for a longer period of time now. This has occurred over the past month or so.

My theory is that, due to the smell and initial backup into the sink, along with the dishwasher not draining completely, there is a slow moving clog in the drain that is causing water to back up the drain pipe to a weak spot/hole in the drain pipe itself. The fast drip in the beginning starts to slow as the drain water slowly filters through the slow moving clog. Not being a consistent fast leak, there isn’t enough water leaking from the pipe to cause visual water damage to the apartment wall.

The maintenance guy used a small moisture meter and said there’s no moisture in the wall, basically ignoring my concerns of mold growing. After considerable back & forth, management called a plumber and without actually hearing the recordings of the sound, diagnosed over the phone that it was expanding and contracting PVC pipes making the noise. I objected to the phone diagnosis and lack of background information by the plumber, asking why it would suddenly begin ticking if that’s what it was. Manager finally called a plumber to come to my apartment Monday.

Any opinions as to whether I’ll be right in that it’s a leak? I really appreciate any help and will do my best to answer any questions for more information.

Thanks in advance for any assistance!