Travertine Tiles Tiling Problem in a shower area

[leony]

Hi,

Happy to be a part of this forum. We are an independent tiling shop and we supplied some travertine tiles to a client. Their tiler installed the tiles in a shower room and they are saying the water is leaking through the tiles to the downstairs ceiling. The took some of the tiles out to check if the pipes are ok and all plumbing seems fine we were advised.

Now they are claiming that the tiles are leaking water (it might be possible as these are porous stuff)

I am suspecting of wrong installation possibly lacking of some backer boards or membranes that goes under the tile to stop the water.

Can any of you experts advise what might possibly been wrong here?

 

[Stef]

Hi Leony, surely you as an independant tile store should know the products you sell.
You should be advising your customer about the potential risks involved with fixing these tiles in a wet environment.
These tiles must be sealed & if they are going onto a shower wall then there must be some waterproofing as a substrate for fixing tiles to.
The "Tiler" should also know this but who shoulders the blame????????

 

[Ian]

There are some very poor quality travertine tiles around at the moment (and have been for some time), the rear of the tile is full of holes and there is a lot of filler on the front, which will allow water to pass through with ease. In my opinion stone of this quality needs to be back skimmed to fill the holes during fitting and a tanking system must be used in wet areas. You didn't mention if the travertine was un filled or filled and honed, either way, the fitting method and lack of tanking system are most likely the cause of this particular issue.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

You supplied the tiles but you cannot be held responsible for where or how the tiles are fixed!
The quality of the travertine is also irelavent as far as the sale is concerned. If they have had it installed they have accepted it as fit for purpose and their tiler is now responsible for any waterproofing that was required. If he knows his product he'd have know the nature and requirements of stone and as a supplier you shouldn't be expected to tell him how to prepare/ do his job.
I've fixed some real poor travertine over the years and never had water going through the tile, and I'd suspect that the problem is from fixer error.

 

[Sean Kelly]

It might not be the tiles or tile installation at all. It could be the shower trap leaking. Someone will have to perform some tests like pouring a bucket of water onto the shower tray, but not touching the tiles. It could be the silicone seal or water could be getting into the corners of the shower.

 

[aytiling]

It might not be the tiles or tile installation at all. It could be the shower trap leaking. Someone will have to perform some tests like pouring a bucket of water onto the shower tray, but not touching the tiles. It could be the silicone seal or water could be getting into the corners of the shower.

Exactly my thoughts. Easy way to isolate the potential cause.
I have done wetrooms for best part of 20 years and sometimes I don't put a membrane down. In my opinion sometimes it can cause more problems, adding another layer is adding another potential decoupling.
With proper adhesive, grout and sealer, and as long as a suitable drain is used (like Schluter)
it's quite possible to make a secure seal without a membrane

 

[Jelthetiler]

Doesn't matter what job I do now whenever I use soft stones I employ a labourer to seal twice before, once after laying, once after grouting and a final seal before leaving. The tile companies are using cheaper and cheaper stone and the quality has suffered.
Has anyone looked at the mastic? I always use a mastic man, I have a great fella and trust his work as I trust my own.
I make a plasterers work look good and my mastic man makes my work look better.

Jel

 

[leony]

Doesn't matter what job I do now whenever I use soft stones I employ a labourer to seal twice before, once after laying, once after grouting and a final seal before leaving. The tile companies are using cheaper and cheaper stone and the quality has suffered.
Has anyone looked at the mastic? I always use a mastic man, I have a great fella and trust his work as I trust my own.
I make a plasterers work look good and my mastic man makes my work look better.

Jel

Hi,

Many thanks for all your replies which have been very helpful. We always recommend to seal before grouting and after grouting for all natural stone tiles, obviously we do not know where the tiles are being installed on and how. Also we have supplied many of the same material over the years and I am pretty sure some of these already been installed to shower areas with no problems. This is the 1st complaint of this kind.

According to your answers I understand that this is a fixing error (the tiles are honed & filled travertine tiles by the way). The waterproofing (tanking) has not been done properly, and to be frank I also knew with my limited knowledge in installation that you must have some sort of waterproofing on the back of the tiles for wet rooms.

They have listed the jobs they have done:

1 - Natural stone adhesive been used
2 - Tiles were sealed before grouting
3 - Tile tiles were grouted
4 - Sealed again after grouting
5 - Silicone was applied to shower area and has not been used for 1 week for it to dry.
6 - The found a leaking tile and applied grout to the surface of that particular tile and tile was sealed twice.

No mention of the waterproofing here.

In my opinion they think that grouting the surface and sealing will stop leaking.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Unfortunately you need to know what the substrate was and if it's been prepared to receive travertine in a 'wet' area!
What thickness is the tile and the weight for the substrate is important. What make of grout was supplied and has silicone been used at all the joins ie corners, floor etc.
Have they ruled out plumbing faults, dial, waste etc.
Roughly what price range is the travertine and is it heavy or full of holes ( like a pumice).
Can you post a picture of the back of a typical tile?

 

[martin1c]

I can't really see how this is your problem. They chose the tiles and a tiler fitted them.

Personally I've never fitted travertines in a bathroom but that's because I've always told people that they are not worth the trouble.