Wet Room floor leaking?

[Tilerinkent]

HI

i have recently tiled a wet room floor using 30x30 porcelain, the plumber had installed a wet room tray and drain that was approx 800x800, i have enveloped cut in this area and the problem is the customer has a shower with body jets that when turned on are hitting the back wall (approx 2 mtrs away) and these tiles have no fall in them so the water is running out of shower area and eventually leaking through the floor to ceiling below, i have mentioned to customer that if they have a shower that is spraying water this far the whole area should have been a wet room tray so that the falls/envelope cuts would have started at the back wall, am i correct in thinking the plumber should have installed a bigger tray?

Let me know

Sean

 

[AliGage]

Not necessarily. Is there any wetroom/walk-in screens installed?

How's the floor constructed and what sort of tray was used?

 

[swanman]

Should have used a conformed tray

 

[AJPlumbing]

Sean, I agree with your logic. As I have said on here before, a properly designed and constructed wetroom has an overall fall across the entire floor of 1:100 - 1:200 (0.5cm - 1.0cm per metre). Within the shower area itself the fall should be higher if created from scratch (1:100 - 1:50), or in line with manufacturer's design if using a proprietary tray. What is surprising to me though, is that standing water outside of the shower area in this wetroom you describe is managing to find it's way downstairs. What tanking did you (or the plumber) put on the floor? And how much of the floor was tanked? Same question for the walls.The whole floor should have been tanked, and so should the walls, and all wall/floor interfaces (either using a membrane/fleece kit, or waterproof boards, tanked at the joints and screws). If there was no tanking outside of the direct shower area then this is a badly designed and constructed wetroom. If there was proper tanking and water is still getting through then it sounds like tanking failure (membrane or fleece), which might be a manufacturer claim.Please let us know the detail and we can try and help further.Sorry to hear about the problems, it's never fun for anyone when things go wrong like this.

 

[Thespanishtiler]

As above.

the tiling in a wetroom plays no part in the waterproof integrity of the wetroom, it is purely a decorative finish.

the plumber has designed and installed/prepared the room incorrectly.

too many unskilled/ill informed people out there 'having a go' at installing wetrooms in my opinion.

hope you get it sorted for the client.

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

AJ/SPANISH have this spot on ! all i can add is :welcome: to the forum keep us posted on how things pan-out

 

[peckers]

As all off the above! Who designed the wet room? if the wet area is contained with in a screen area then the absolute minimum off area to be tanked should be not less then a meter outside off the screened area, if it is not contained within a screened area then the whole lot should have been tanked imo. Sounds like a break down in communication as to how much water and area is going to get wet! or weather it was going to be retained by a screen and or door?
If the water is passing past the area that has been tanked then the only real way to solve this is to remove the tiles in that area and to tank that area.

 

[bugs183]

First off before who did what etc, tell the customer to STOP USING THE SHOWER, for some stupid reason they always carry on using it in the full knowledge that it leaks!!!! Better still get the plumber to turn off the water supply. Then investigate all of the above.
Good luck.

 

[Tilerinkent]

Sean, I agree with your logic. As I have said on here before, a properly designed and constructed wetroom has an overall fall across the entire floor of 1:100 - 1:200 (0.5cm - 1.0cm per metre). Within the shower area itself the fall should be higher if created from scratch (1:100 - 1:50), or in line with manufacturer's design if using a proprietary tray. What is surprising to me though, is that standing water outside of the shower area in this wetroom you describe is managing to find it's way downstairs. What tanking did you (or the plumber) put on the floor? And how much of the floor was tanked? Same question for the walls.The whole floor should have been tanked, and so should the walls, and all wall/floor interfaces (either using a membrane/fleece kit, or waterproof boards, tanked at the joints and screws). If there was no tanking outside of the direct shower area then this is a badly designed and constructed wetroom. If there was proper tanking and water is still getting through then it sounds like tanking failure (membrane or fleece), which might be a manufacturer claim.Please let us know the detail and we can try and help further.Sorry to hear about the problems, it's never fun for anyone when things go wrong like this.

Many thanks to everyone who has replied, i will try to explain a bit more, we have an raised (6") area approx 2mx2.5m with shower in corner, the wet room tray is fitted within a screened area and the plumber used a paint tanking system and covered an area of approx 2m x 2m with this, i then tanked all surrounding walls with membrane before i tiled, the problem is that the plumber is saying i should have turned the tiles that are out of tray area up slightly giving a fall back towards shower and i have tried explaining to customer that i couldn't do this as it would cause problems with lipping tiles as there is a step 2.5m away with a chrome trim that needed to be flat, also by tilting tiles up slightly you would only get a fall in one direction, there is under floor heating on this floor and the water is hitting this back wall and eventually finding its way to step and this is roughly where leak is appearing downstairs, it only leaks when the body jets are turned on and water hitting this back wall. customer is using shower without body jets at moment but is looking for someone to blame for this problem, i was unaware of body jets in this shower as all i had were the 2 pipes extruding from wall to cut round

 

[Olz]

So the water is being sprayed out past the area that was tanked etc, or past the area where the fall is, and sloshing into a non tanked area?

 

[Tilerinkent]

So the water is being sprayed out past the area that was tanked etc, or past the area where the fall is, and sloshing into a non tanked area?

Yes thats correct

 

[Olz]

Sorry mate, Im still confused, I must be tired!!

 

[Tilerinkent]

Sorry mate, Im still confused, I must be tired!!

what i am trying to find out is if a customer has body jets that are going to hit a wall that is 2 mtrs away then should they of had a fall built into the substrate at this distance or was it my mistake for only putting a fall into the 800x800 envelope area,

Cheers

 

[White Room]

Can't the power on the body jets be turned/reduced down, 2 metres is a fair old force...

 

[peckers]

I agree that 2meters distance for a body jet is a great force(pressure behind that would hurt the dangley bits) back to the problem!
The plumber started the tanking system and diddnt complete it as he only done the floor area and the area he diddnt do which is 0.5m away from the rear wall? if this is so then the plumber is at fault imo! why? because he took it onto himself to protect the floor by tanking it but he diddnt go far enough across the floor for the power off the body jets that he installed! you say that he is blaming you for not putting a fall in the tiles to take the water away from that area! But that area in question should still have been tanked! as tiles themselves are not designed to stop water penetration into the substrate that is what the tanking system is for!
Also the fall should have been put in when the floor was prepped for tiling (this should have been thought about at the design stage) although you can create a fall by bedding up the tiles it is always better to create the fall within the substrate. If you were not asked to tank the extra area which the plumber did not tank and you were unaware that the body jets were going to hit the back wall then i cant see how you are to blame. The plumber new what was going to happen as he was installing it! He also tanked the floor and he should have tanked all off it.

Unfortunateley either you or the plumber should have done all off the tanking rather then you both doing some off it, the buck can be passed forward and backwards untill you are blue in the face! I still think personally that the plumber is at fault with the information you have given, if this had happened to me then I would argue the fact that the plumber tanked the floor! and as far as you knew he had done enough for the shower installation that he had put in as he done the tanking to the floor and took it upon himself to ensure that the floor area was suitable! and you were not asked to finish off the remainder!