Hello & advice re shower / tiles / possible moving floor

[AndyZR81]

Hello there,

Relatively recently we had a new en-suite fitted (complete rip out of the old fittings, and old wall tiles and floor carpet). This consisted of a quadrant shower enclosure, a stone-resin shower tray, new ceramic tiles on the floor and half tiling on the walls. All the work (including the tiling) was performed by a single bathroom installer.

We were happy with the result and for the first few months there were no issues. The en-suite was used, but not extensively. However, after about 7 months we began to notice a very large creaking sound whenever you walk in the room. It does sound like plastic cracking.

Please see the video: youtube.com/shorts/VWXhtzBRV3w

At first we thought that the issue was with the shower tray / enclosure itself but having contacted manufacturer and the supplier they are both adamant that the issue is not with them, and instead the issue is with the fitting. The suggestion is that there is movement in the floor.

Because we have now looked at the fitting / tiling more closely other possible issues we have spotted include:
-grout seems to have been used everywhere. The only Silicon seems to be inside the shower enclosure / tray itself. The grout is:
-between the wall tiles and floor tiles, around the perimeter of the floor and that is already cracking.
-around the bottom of the shower tray where the tray meets the tiles and that is cracking and breaking away.
-where the floor tiles meet the kickboard of the bathroom units.
-around the toilet where it meets the floor.
-annoyingly we did not see exactly how the floor / ceramic tiles were fitted, but the quote stated plywood would be used and we definitely saw that laid down.

However, we do not know if any back boards were used for example or adjustments to the sub-floor were made if it was not found to be solid / stable.

Interestingly, the level of creaking seems to vary with temperature but I guess that is just linked to the expansion / contraction of the plastic and how it is responding to movements in the floor?

We have performed the ‘drummy’ test on the floor tiles and to our ear there is no hollow sound and the grout between the tiles is not showing any signs of cracking (yet).

Would we be fair to ask the bathroom installer to come back and inspect their work? The cracking grout is annoying but we could probably rectify ourselves but we fear there is something more sinister going on (especially as the room has had minimal use so far).

If there is movement in the floor is there anything that can be done or are we just waiting for the inevitable fail of the tiles? Any idea on how long this might take to happen? If the tiles did fail could a new floor somehow be fitted or are we looking at a complete rip out. Could anything be saved ☹

Thanks very much!

 

[Slippery]

There is movement in the floor, this is expected really, all timber floors will move a bit but if it has been overboarded and flexible adhesive used this shouldn't be a problem.
I think the problem is the joint of the shower and the floor tiles, if this has been grouted, it's not allowing enough movement and I think it sounds like the plastic of the shower tray creaking. This is confirmed when you say it changes with the temperature as the joint will be tighter when the room is warm.
Ask your fitter to take out all the grout around the shower tray and install Silicon (the joint of the walls and floor should also be done too really) and I think it will solve the problem.
You don't show much of the job in the video but it looks quite neat from what I can see.

 

[AndyZR81]

There is movement in the floor, this is expected really, all timber floors will move a bit but if it has been overboarded and flexible adhesive used this shouldn't be a problem.
I think the problem is the joint of the shower and the floor tiles, if this has been grouted, it's not allowing enough movement and I think it sounds like the plastic of the shower tray creaking. This is confirmed when you say it changes with the temperature as the joint will be tighter when the room is warm.
Ask your fitter to take out all the grout around the shower tray and install Silicon (the joint of the walls and floor should also be done too really) and I think it will solve the problem.
You don't show much of the job in the video but it looks quite neat from what I can see.

Many thanks for this really helpful reply. The original fitter has now been back around to review what they think the issue is / how to resolve, and your proposal / diagnosis is exactly what is going to be attempted. The grout around the bottom of the shower tray, where is meets the floor tiles, is going to be replaced with Silicon. We are hoping this improves things in terms of noise and creaking. We will let you know how it goes.

Thanks again for taking the time to advise.

 

[Jamie273]

Did this fix your problem? I have exactly the same issue. no creaking cracking at all for the first 6 or so months and changes depending on temperature.

Plastic sound of creaking which i first thought was the quadrant rubbing on the stone resin shower tray but i removed the enclosure and still have the same problem.

 

[AndyZR81]

Did this fix your problem? I have exactly the same issue. no creaking cracking at all for the first 6 or so months and changes depending on temperature.

Plastic sound of creaking which i first thought was the quadrant rubbing on the stone resin shower tray but i removed the enclosure and still have the same problem.

Hello Jamie. Sadly it didn't. The grout around the shower tray and between where wall and floor tiles meet was replaced (we think) with Silicon a couple of days ago.

It looks a lot better, but sadly the creaking noise still persists. It does sound like it is the frame of the shower enclosure that is creaking.

We are not entirely sure that the old grout was fully dug out (that could be the problem) but we are now resigned to just keeping a 'watching brief' on the floor / living with the noise and at some point in the future be prepared for the floor to fail (hopefully that is not the case).

Many thanks.

 

[AndyZR81]

Thanks to everyone for the advice you have offered on this topic. Although we didn't managed to eliminate the noise, it wasn't for want of trying and hopefully the shower room floor will last a few years!!!!!!