Lime scale ???

[astute1]

Hi everyone, have uploaded some pics for your to check out. Is this lime scale. I tiled this bathroom and shower stall for a client about 3 yrs ago and went back to tile a second bathroom for them, they wanted the same tile set up for the 2nd job so I went to the look at the first bathroom as a reference and saw this in the bottem of the shower. The client has cleaned the shower constantly and cant get rid of this. She said it appeared only a few months after the job was complete. It will scrape off, almost like a calcium build up. I used the ardex superflex wpm and the ardex abaflex ady, ardex grouts and silacones so I cant expect there would be a compatabiltiy issue. The client is on tank water ( rain water collected from the roof) I have never had this happen before , been tiling full time for 12yrs. Can you Identify this and is there a way to stop it returning

 

[doug boardley]

it certainly looks like limescale, is it in a "hard water" area?

 

[Gazebo]

Morning astute1, am i right i thinking that this is coming out from the shower enclosure/door.? maybe dripping from the seal when the door is closed..?


if so then maybe the thing to do is rectify the leak 1st then water will not run and leave scale deposits.


If it is not the case then my apologies and good luck in finding a cure.


Gary

 

[jay]

Might help if you can run us through the build of the shower floor (floor substrate .render then waterproofed or waterproofed first then rendered ) and did you use a puddle flange .would help

 

[DHTiling]

It looks more like efflorescence to me... if it scrubs away with a nail brush etc then imo that is what it is...

 

[astute1]

Thanks for the feed back , This was a bathroom renovation, the client had a tanked vinyl floor sloped to a waste. the shower was just open to the room, builder stripped everything out. So I was left with a floor that was dished over about 1m2, with a waste in the middle. The plumber changed the waste over to a tile waste with a leak proof flange etc. I used a self level comp and built the floor to level and then used a " newline' shower tray, ( these are a high density foam tray that are prefalled to the centre and a hob all in one.) Have used them for a long time 30 yrs warranty. Once that is installed it is waterproofed over which picks up the wall linings etc and then tiled. As I said ady, grouts and wpm are all from ardex which again I have used for a long time with no issues.

The only possible thought is the waste pipes travelling in the house concrete slab are only 35-40 mm and the client has stated that in general the waste water is slow to get away( through the entire house) If the water is not getting away properly and is sitting sub-tile in the ady, but ontop of the wpm would this promote the efforesence you spoke of.

If this is the case would it be the grout or the ady that is efforesence-ing. I have considered removing the grout and replacing with epoxy, but would or should I be lifting the shower floor and replaceing the tiles using an epoxy ady with the epoxy grout.


thanks sorry about the long winded story.

 

[DHTiling]

Efflorescence isn't a major issue, it can be salt migration from the adhesive bed or the grout... it will slow down once migration fades.. there are a few Efflorescence removers on the market but i suppose epoxy'ing the joints would help..

 

[jay]

Looks a bit like water is pooling at the joints in the pic