Leak in Shower Caused Walls to Grow and Paint to Bubble
Twelve months ago we noticed the walls in our hallway had started to bubble the paint. It was just a little odd bit at first. We checked the taps in our shower and could not see a leak. So thought about the tiles and wondered if the grout could be leaking. After seeking expert advice we were told it was more than likely a grout leak.
Then we stripped all the paint of the walls outside the shower in our hallway and laundry areas. Left it to dry out for a couple of weeks, then sealed the walls and repainted. Everything looked fine. We went touring around Australia for thirteen months.
What causes these problems?
Tiles are waterproof although we cannot say the same about the grout. They may have used a cheaper form of grout or it may not have been applied correctly. It could start with a tiny gap which is enough to let the moisture through. If this occurs it will spread as the gap becomes larger.
There could also be a leak between the tiles and the shower screens, especially in the corners, if there is movement. Grout does not tolerate any movement at all and will crack.
A good sign of moisture is if black spots start to appear on the silicone sealant around the shower screen. If the screen moves the moisture can get behind the seal.
On return after our trip
When we got back the walls had grown with the damp again. This time it was worse than before. We had plumbers and insurance assessors out and they said it was not covered with insurance because it must be a grout leak. The plumbers tested the walls and said there were no leaks.
To be honest we were still not convinced. As we want to sell this house and move into a smaller one and go travelling again we needed to be certain that every angle was covered. This time, my husband pulled all the tiles off the shower wall and the floor. Everything was saturated. The damp was halfway up the walls on both sides.
And can you believe it, there was no membrane behind the tiles. Evidently about ten to fifteen years ago, it was a shortcut taken by a lot of tilers, to reduce installation labor time and costs.
Now that the tiles have all been removed we found a tiler to retile the shower. As soon as he saw it he knew the problem as a lot of houses were done that way. He gave us a quote and then the fun started trying to find tiles similar to the existing ones. No hope there at all. They have completely changed the sizes of floor and the wall tiles, and do not even have the same shade or colors.
As it is just for the shower only we chose the same for floor and walls. The tiler came back and sealed the brickwork, then returned twice and coated the walls with concrete like substance. The next trip he applied two coats of the membrane. And that is where we are up to.
We spent time cleaning the old tiles that didn't break to put around the hand basin which never had any to protect the back wall.
The tiler will tile the shower tomorrow, and grout either the next day or the day after. This process from the first phone call to the insurance company has now taken since the 20th of October 2009 and will be finished I hope (fingers crossed) about the 23rd of December. We are really hanging out to have a shower. No we don't smell, we had to content ourselves with baths each day.
I must add that, this is only getting the shower finished. We still have to finish rendering the hall and laundry walls, seal them and paint. We had to wait this long to make sure the wall was completely dry
Yes I am not even going to worry about finishing this mess now until after Christmas. Hope you all have a great one.
They told us to completely seal the tiles with a shower sealer. We bought a container of Crommelin's Waterproofing. It says on the bottle permanent water based penetrating sealer to fix leaking showers. We gave the whole shower two coats.
We fixed that shower and eventually had the tiler retile it. Then sold the house and bought another one. Can you believe it - We had to do the same thing again in this house as there was a leak behind the taps.
Yes
No
Flag
Comments
Oh Eileen don't such things drive you mad. Let's hope the work has cured the problem.
I sure hope so. But hey worse things happen.
Water problems are nasty...first to find, and then to repair.
Yes it has been a long slog, wish we had found out when it first happened it would be all done now.
Water leaking is the worst problem to identify where it is coming from....which obviously needs to be found, so it can be rectified.
Kp3028 thaks for that yes we moved into another house and now have the similar problem again only this time it is leaking through the actual see through flass shower screen, we have stripped the sealant and resealed and it is still leaking. But it wont beat us...I hope..
You must be logged in and verified to post a comment. Please log in or sign up to comment.