Bathroom Help

[PaulR]

Hi

Hi, I'm not a DIY person by any stretch, so I'm looking for some guidance and assistance please

I have a bathroom in an upstairs loft conversion. Its probably 6 months old and contains a square shower cubicle - we moved in 3 months ago. Recently we had some water leakage in the ceiling downstairs and after making holes in the celing and using the shower, we established we have a leak from the shower walls. Its not the tray, nor the seals around the tray, nor the trap and I don't believe it to be the seals around the cubicle or in the corner of the wall where the walls join, as we have done some lengthy tests and the Silicon all looks in tact

When we run water at certain points on the shower wall, the leak when looking from below is almost immiedate and comes out of the bottom of the plasterboard as you look up from below.

With some assistance, we have established that the grout in places is no longer solid and the board behind the tiles is plain unskimmed plaster board, with adhisve put straight on to attach some quite large tiles.

I would like some help on what to do next. My insurance company who are only covering the damage, but not the reparation work to sort the shower out, have advised I remove the enclosure, strip the walls back, replace the plasterboard in the shower area with some Aqua panels, simply by cuttting it out and reaffixing with aqua fitments and tape and then re-tiling. Another friend of mine has suggested re-grouting

I am thankfully able to source the same tiles (these are 2 foot by 1 foot) and I wonder if they are too large and heavy. But I also do not have anyone I know who are able to complete all this work. I know a good tiler, but he is not confident of removing the all current tiles cleanly and then replacing the board

Does any one have any advice, any contacts or suggestions of where I could go or who to speak to, to get some

Many thanks - rather depressed by the whole affair

I'm based on the Essex - Herts borders!

 

[MICK the Tiler]

I've had a couple of jobs where the grout was the problem and the water came through the ceiling straight away, but in those casese the plasterboard was shot.

No waterproofing then?

 

[faithhealer]

No waterproofing then?

No Very few showers get waterproofed over here IMO. I don;t think builders are going to 'waste' THEIR money, they don't care what happens in years to come and is still hard to sell customers something they can't see working.

 

[DHTiling]

No Very few showers get waterproofed over here IMO. I don;t think builders are going to 'waste' THEIR money, they don't care what happens in years to come and is still hard to sell customers something they can't see working.

Good point john..and i think it is a point that needs addressing in this country...

 

[MICK the Tiler]

No Very few showers get waterproofed over here IMO. I don;t think builders are going to 'waste' THEIR money, they don't care what happens in years to come and is still hard to sell customers something they can't see working.

So you don't have to waterproof a bathroom floor and walls even on the second storey?

 

[DHTiling]

So you don't have to waterproof a bathroom floor and walls even on the second storey?

Nope....not in the regs mick....

I think we need a big shake up don't you..?

 

[MICK the Tiler]

CRIKEY!! How many leaking bathrooms do you have over ther then? :yes:

 

[DHTiling]

A few...:lol: no doubt

 

[MICK the Tiler]

Down here a house cannot be sold unless a waterproofing certificate is submitted to council. Me thinks you guys over there should look into doing the same. :yes:

 

[GazTech]

Surprised insurance companies hav'nt demanded it

 

[DHTiling]

Down here a house cannot be sold unless a waterproofing certificate is submitted to council. Me thinks you guys over there should look into doing the same. :yes:

Totally agree mick....will save insurance companies a fortune..

 

[faithhealer]

Sorry to Paul for hi jacking his thread, can anybody in the Essex herts area give him some advice?

 

[PaulR]

Right

I've taken the main tiles off, quite cleanly actually.

I removed the shower valve to do so and in doing so, felt quite happy that the water was not escaping down the back of that

What I have discovered is that the tiles were affixed reasonably well using slotted scrapings of adhesive across the wall in most places and there is little evidence of any water damage. The water appears at this stage to be escaping through grout and then running down the adhesive lines down the board, this is the only thing I can think and the fact that the backing is simple wooden stud, no skimmed plaster and some gaps in the board, give rise to confirming this to be the issue.

The majority of the grout I removed was quite flaky and came out in chunks. so I'm not convinced it was flexible, but hopefully waterproof gernerally

For piece of mind I now need to come up with a solution

My gut says retile the whole shower unit, from scratch, replacing the board with aqua board, or at the least 'tanking' whats there - but this seems an awful lot of work and way beyond me

Any opinions?

I also would like to know if this is all with the remit of a tiler, or do I need a plumber and a tiler or more?

Thanks

 

[colinthebloke]

Hi Paul

I've had 3 or 4 of these up here in Nottingham.

In every case the grout has cracked, water gets behind the tile onto the plasterboard, which flexes more, grout cracks more... These have all been stud walls in rented properties, and my guess would be that the original developer used non-flexible grout, hence the original cracking.

Solution I've used is to strip back to studding, fit water-resistant PB (the green stuff), and re-tile / re-fit shower cubicle or door. My recommendation anyway for only doing the job onece, but maybe someone else has a less invasive solution?

Colin

 

[SlateR]

There is a product made by Ardex (water proof coating) that is a 2 part powder and latex product that you mix together and is applied very easily with a paint roller. you just apply 2 coats and 2 hours after the second coat is dry you can tile straight on to it. The product also comes with a roll of skrim for the corners.

Tanking out a wet area used to be a labourious process and costly to the customer as you used to have to wait for 8 or so hours for other similar products to dry.

We always recommend a flexible grout for shower areas aswell such as Bal superflex or equivalent and we never have any comebacks.

This is such a common problem but now there is a simple solution

sales pitch over :yawn:

 

[PaulR]

Thanks Guys. Sounds like a complete re-work of the shower though.

I'm not against that - I'd rather get it right than have all this again in a few months, but its finding someone who can do all of this as a job, rather than two or three different people

I have the tiles though and some good flexible grout (the brand escapes) me.

I think I'll go with one of the above, the waterproof PB or this ardex too. Are there any restrictions tling onto the waterproof board and any recommendations on the adhesive

I like to at least appear knowledgable when I find someone to do the work!?