Water damaged plasterboard substrate

[RDTiling]

Hi all.

I’m looking for another opinion(s) on this. A friend of mine posted this picture on facebook, and someone tagged me in a post to look at it. I’ve not seen this in person, as I’m in Edinburgh and the problem is in Horley.



My initial thoughts were that water had got into a crack in the grout and had caused the plasterboard substrate to decay. My friend posted back to say that their landlord had sent a tiler out to look at it and he had pretty much said the same as me. I also added that given it was a shower cubicle, the walls should have been cement backer board or at the very least the plasterboard should’ve been tanked.

The landlord is more interested in saving the tiles than the wall, which I can partly understand, due to probably not having many spare tiles.

The missing tiles came away pretty easily by the tiler ‘poking’ at them so I’m guessing its been going on for a while.

I might be over thinking this (and feel free to tell me If I am) but my concerns are that the amount of work carried out by the tiler is going to be limited by the landlord, which is likely to amount to replace the plasterboard in the affected area and retile. Should my friend be insisting that they carry out further tests on the substrate to see how far the up/across the wall the water had been absorbed by the plasterboard? Exactly how this is done or if it can be done is unknown to me, which is why I’ve posted, as I’ve only been tiling since July so it’s a new one on me.

My other concern is that have a toddler and I’m thinking that if those tiles came out easily with a poke, what it is to stop a tile higher up coming out if the water has spread, if their toddler bangs the wall? The consequences of which could be disasterous.

Any thoughts or opinions on this would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[beanz]

You know what landlords are like.. They will only ever do the minimum they can get away with! As for the backer board/tanking, that's still quite a recent thing really.

 

[White Room]

There is every chance the whole lot should be ripped out, the plasterboard will be damaged and moisture will have crept into the stud work as well.


Personally there is no point in trying to save anything, the rest of it maybe even worse.

 

[RDTiling]

Thanks Beanz. I take your point on the backer board and tanking. And in fairness to the landlord, he probably didn't arrange for the tiling in the first place - the development is only a few years old, so was probably the house builder.

I guess my initial answer was based on too much reading about hardie board and tanking on here) but it proves the surface preparation I've read about has sunk in, which is why this forum is invaluable to people starting out.

 

[RDTiling]

That was my thoughts too Whitebeam, but I can't see the landlord paying for it all to be ripped out.

 

[White Room]

Can't he claim on his insurance....

 

[Stef]

I don't think the landlord will find an easy fix here,
I've ripped out enough showers in my time to know that the plasterboard will be damaged in quite a big area.
You will be able to salvage the tiles by soaking them in a bucket of water as it will prob be a D1 adhesive used to fix the tiles initially.
The problem arises when trying to refit the tiles, do you just tile with the chance of this happening again or do you try & tank or fit a waterproof board?

 

[John Benton]

You'll only really know by removing the tiles, what damage has been caused elsewhere.

A good indicator could be to look at the ceiling directly below, the shower cubicle, if possible see if there is a stain the same shape i.e. 3 sides where water could have escaped and marked the ceiling.

If other new builds are anything to go by, they are all thrown up in weeks with the cheapest materials, so he's going to have a lot of expense.

I have a rental and spent £20k renovating it. It's all done properly, even provided trivets in the kitchen and doormats front and back!!!

 

[RDTiling]

Thanks all, you have all made great suggestions. I'll send a link to this thread so she can get a feel for exactly what rectification work should be happening.

A very valid point on the insurance front Whitebeam, the landlord is probably weighing up the cost of the excess for a full and proper repair versus a quick fix!

 

[padtheplumber]

It also looks like a plastic tray and a flimsy 3 / 4mm shower door - both are prone to movement and leaks (I've ripped out dozens of them).
I would think its a good opportunity to rip it all out, put a stone tray in, good quality door and tank the lot and retile. Should save the landlord money long term - but he probably wont see it like that....:mad2:

Mart.

 

[afright]

I have just done one just like the photo for a landlord same thing told him it needs all ripping out and replaced with backer board but no "do at least as you can", so just done the bottom 3 courses of tiles fixed backer board then retiled but what I charged it would have been about double to redo the whole shower.