Help! Tiled wetroom floor looks perfect but grout doesn't dry out!

[Bathfix Bob]

Don't get me wrong I'd happily hang the plumber myself but going from the pics its a top notch job so I'm thinking more along the lines of a failed fitting or something rather than sloppy work.

 

[John Benton]

That's why I said get the the plumber to check the valve and pipework!!!

 

[Bathfix Bob]

Agreed.

 

[Dan]

Calm down lads.

I've posted a thread on plumbing forum and a couple of the lads have taken their time to come over to the dark side here and join in the (what is now a quite long) thread to see if they can look at it from another angle.

We all want to get this sorted out for Paula and I'm sure we're all talking about eliminating things and not looking for blame per se.

So let's not turn this interesting and slightly stressful thread sour just yet 🙂

Back to the topic.

 

[Paula]

I wish I had a close up picture of the shower outlet elbow, and facia plate.
Lets not hang the plumber just yet, could be faulty shower valve.
I had one at Christmas that decided to stream out of the spindle and down the back of the tiles onto the ceiling.
What make is the shower Paula?

OK, Bob, I've taken some photos of the fixed shower head (very expensive Grohe, solid brass) and the valve (Crosswater, also brass I believe). Hope this helps!

 

[Bathfix Bob]

Thanks Paula, is there any pipework for the shower visable from the loft?

You need to keep ringing the builder, he needs to get the plumber back. Don't pay anyone else to come and investigate or the builder will wash his hands of it.

 

[Paula]

Thanks Paula, is there any pipework for the shower visable from the loft?

You need to keep ringing the builder, he needs to get the plumber back. Don't pay anyone else to come and investigate or the builder will wash his hands of it.

Hi Bob

I finally heard back from the builder who says the plumber is coming "some time next week" (!). He also asked if we often used the bath (we don't) as he wondered if it was anything to do with the bath waste coming up in the shower somehow. He didn't believe that water could flow down the wall from the shower head or valve without us seeing wet patches on the wall (which we don't).

No, I don't intend to pay anyone else to come and have a look, as this has been a problem since the day the shower was installed, so I really think he needs to sort it out. He is just very reluctant to do anything more than he has done already (ie. changed the grout in the shower tray area). And it's very hard to get him to come back!

Yes, there is a small amount of pipework visible from the loft, as the hot and cold pipes drop down from here. Should I be looking?!

 

[Bathfix Bob]

Hi Paula

No don't do anything now until plumber has been and keep us updated.

 

[Paula]

Hi Paula

No don't do anything now until plumber has been and keep us updated.

Thanks, Bob. Apparently the plumber is coming some time this week. We haven't been using the shower now for a couple of weeks, but I have been carrying out various tests. I repeated running the main shower head into buckets on a couple of occasions, but couldn't get the wet patch to come back again, which was confusing. I then ran the second, hand-held shower directly down the drain, avoiding any splashes around. I have been running it once a day for about 3 days, and last night, again, there was a noticeable damp patch outside the shower screen, as there was before. So I suppose we have just proved that the damp is not coming directly from above the tiles (in normal use) but either from the shower valve or either of the heads, or the drain itself. It is difficult to trace as it obviously takes a while for the damp to appear, which is why I have been repeating the tests over several days.

I'll let you know how we get on this week!

 

[Bathfix Bob]

Interesting....

It could be the hand held shower outlet elbow, when fitting them you have to get it exactly right regarding the tile thickness, and screwing the fitting into the female thread getting it to end up pointing the right way. The shoulder of the chrome fitting could be bottoming out on the tiles before making a watertight seal in the backplate (depending on the design).

Its a blind fitting and there's no real way of testing it other then very careful planning and sometimes hoping for the best, it could be dribbling down the wall tile adhesive when in use and ending up on the floor tanking somehow.