Advice on leak in shower

[Julia84]

Hello I’m not sure if I’m posting in the right place but I could do with some advice regarding our newly installed bathroom (6 months old.)
I’ve just noticed stains in our dining room
Ceiling directly below our shower. My first thought was leaky pipe work but I’ve just spent ages inspecting everything and have found:
-Bubbling paint all down the dining room wall which indicates this has been going on for some time,
-cracks and holes in the grout all over the place in the shower cubicle,
-gaps between the shower tray/sealant, which I imagine is what’s causing the leak.

Now I need to know what I should expect from our bathroom fitters. Should they fix the grout, reseal for free, should they also fix the downstairs room? Should we suck it up and sort it ourselves? Is it normal for gaps and holes to form?

As a side note the wall tiles were fixed using dot and dab which I questioned at the time but he seemed confident and said it needed to be dot and dabbed due to uneven Walls (despite them fully boarding and plastering). Will add pictures if possible. Thank you.

 

[WetSaw]

Did I read that correctly, they reboarded and then said the walls were uneven?
You are correct that Dot and dab is not an acceptable fixing method. No amount of Silicon or regrouting is going to fix things I'm afraid.

 

[Waluigi]

Unfortunately when you make little errors like that, it can ruin the boarding behind the tiles. This is why we tank shower areas. It protects the substrate should something not be quite right.

There’s no Second chance if there’s no tanking, waterproof board or even water resistant board.

The internal corner is an expansion joint and should be sealed with Silicon, the grout should fill the entire joint in other places and there should be a bigger Silicon bead on the wall to tray joint. Also in Pic 2, the grout looks like it was too wet and has sunk.

 

[GoneGuy]

Looks like it will need to be ripped out and done again as any repairs will only be superficial, I would imagine the substrate is damaged and will be breaking down.

 

[Julia84]

Okay that is definitely not what I wanted to hear. Thanks for replying. Is this something they should be fixing for free?

 

[One Day]

Okay that is definitely not what I wanted to hear. Thanks for replying. Is this something they should be fixing for free?

Read up on the sale of goods and services act. Hopefully you've got an invoice from them or proof of a contract.
Legally, its always messy and painful, but you've a definite case.

 

[Julia84]

These people are members of the federation of master builders. Do you think they would help if I contacted them for advice?

 

[Julia84]

This is the wall directly under the shower. Could these gaps have caused this?!

 

[Waluigi]

There’s no harm in checking.

Unfortunately this sort of thing is very common.

If you are letting a professional into your home then as part of the Quotation you should ask to see a copy of the tradesmans Public Liability Insurance Certificate. Not many people do ask for this. I encourage it.

I run a small Bathroom Installation business and I provide not only my Insurance Certificate but my City and Guild Plumbing Certificates. On the Plumbing Certificates, it gives the customer an indication of how long I’ve been in the trade.

 

[Perfect Tiling]

Crikey....this is a bad job and the scary thing is that there are bound to be others in the same situation due to the same company. Any professional tiler shouldn't be using dot and dab and they should be tanking any wet areas. The tiler must be blind or carefree to leave the grouting and siliconing like that and then charge for it. Don't let them try to fix it by filling the holes with grout or silicon.....it all needs to come out as water will be trapped behind the tiles festering away and causing further issues down the line. As for the other water damage below.....thats obviously caused by the bodged shower so they should be liable for that too......all the best!!