Advice on a bathroom wall

[PMaz]

Hi,

We have a fully tiled bathroom which was installed about 12 years ago. We have a bath with a Mira power shower installed over it. If you can imagine an L shape the short arm of the L is a solid brick wall where the shower is installed. The long arm of the L is another solid brick wall and the other side of that wall is our kitchen. We have noticed that the paint in the kitchen bubbles up. The area where it does this is largely above the height of the bath and in the long arm of the L (about half way down the long arm towards the junction of the long and short arm of the L). We have taken the bath panel off and everything seems dry. There are a couple of tiny leaks where the bath is sealed in the corner

What is concerning me is that the kitchen/bathroom wall must I assume have moisture in it hence the bubbling of the paint. The tiles in the bathroom on the long arm of the L were fixed after that solid brick wall had been completely replastered.

I suspect that water may be coming through the tiles and grouting and trying to escape from the wall hence the bubbling of paint in the kitchen.


I would be really grateful if a professional tiler would advise me on the following

1. Do you think my diagnosis is probabl?
2. If so, would it be advisable to ask a tiler to completely regrout the offending tiles in the bathroom?
3. Would it then be advisable to use a grout sealant on the new grout?

Any other advice gratefully received!

Many thanks,

Maz

 

[White Room]

Hi and welcome....after 12 years your walls may absolutely sodden, regrouting and sealing the joints may just be holding the water in.

If your walls on the other side of the shower have Gypsum plaster that again will be soaked through and even if dried out may become rotten over a time and start to break down.

You could try a regrout and seal the joints but IMO it may now be time to retile with a good tanking product.

 

[PMaz]

Thank you for your reply. Looking underneath the bath all the walls appear perfectly dry. So it is rather confusing. The plaster on the kitchen wall appears to have blown in certain places according to our plasterer. But he had a good look in the bathroom and did not think there's anything obviously wrong. Even more confusing! And if the walls were sodden, surely we would see evidence of mould growing somewhere? And we don't see anything in the kitchen. We have got a tiler coming to have a look on Friday though.