Yet Another Suspected Wet Room Floor! Looking For Advice Please!

[widler]

The impey ones ive used are very good, never had a problem.
The membrane goes under the drain and makes a drain away and the plate just sits on top, so any water what gets under goes down the drain.
Seems a good system.

 

[p4ulo]

same with a schluter system (brilliant btw), the drain is a 2 part system, that the membrane sits on-top of so no chance of any water getting out any other way!

 

[Paula]

OK, I think we have finally found out why my wetroom shower tray has suffered from permanently wet grout ever since it was installed 18 months ago.

When I rang Impey for the second time (prompted by the post above), I was told to check two things:

1. that the stacking height adjustment rings in the drain had been glued together properly and weren't letting water escape from the drain as a result, and,

2. that the tiler had placed enough adhesive under the metal frame that holds the drain grille in place.

I was told that the frame could easily be removed without invalidating the Impey guarantee (it does not come into contact with the membrane), although it would probably get scratched in the process, so they would send me a replacement free of charge. Apparently if there is not enough adhesive under the frame, as soon as any weight is placed on the drain (eg by someone standing on it) then the frame wobbles, then the grout around it cracks, and water can collect under the void underneath, leading to permanently wet grout.

When I looked carefully at my drain again, I noticed that there was a fair amount of cracking of the grout around the frame, and that when I pressed on the frame, water could be seen to be oozing out.

It took a while for the builder to send the plumber and tiler back, but they came last week and removed the frame and.......surprise, surprise.......there was no adhesive under the frame and a large puddle of water! I attach a photo of what we found. The stacking rings were glued correctly, so no leakage here.

The tiler has now placed plenty of adhesive under the frame and re-grouted with epoxy grout around the drain (to match the rest of the shower tray) and we are waiting for it to dry out properly before using the shower again.

Hopefully, this will be the end of the whole sorry saga. I only wish that Impey had thought to tell me to check these two things the first time I phoned their technical department nearly a year ago (at the time they said that our problem was most probably the result of the tiler "dotting and dabbing" adhesive under the tiles, and therefore water was allowed to collect under them - something the tiler always denied).

Interestingly, Impey told me that, just after I had purchased my drain (Spring 2014) they changed the design to incorporate weep holes, so that, if any water does find its way under the tiles, it can seep into the drain and down the waste pipe. I only wish we'd had the new design!

I hope that this information will be of use to others experiencing problems with wet room shower trays staying permanently wet, even if the tiling appears to have been done correctly. It seems that the correct application of adhesive and grout around the drain itself is of great importance (something our builder and tiler seemed unaware of).

Needless to say, I'll keep you posted if this doesn't solve the problem once and for all!

Thanks, Impey, for monitoring this thread and finally shedding light on our long-running problem.

 

[One Day]

Weep holes! Yay!

 

[Paula]

Weep holes! Yay!

Yes, you were right! I expect you were interested to hear that the new design of Impey drain incorporates weep holes?

I'm hoping that my new super-stuck-down drain cover will stop any water accumulating around the drain and make them unnecessary......

 

[One Day]

L

Yes, you were right! I expect you were interested to hear that the new design of Impey drain incorporates weep holes?

I'm hoping that my new super-stuck-down drain cover will stop any water accumulating around the drain and make them unnecessary......

thanks for coming back and sharing the info! Weep holes are always needed for sub-tile drainage.

 

[Impey Showers]

We're very glad of the happy result.

Unfortunately, we did get our wrists slapped for recommending that this post be handled via direct emails and phone calls rather that discussing in public but sometimes this is the best course of action for such a complex thread. In no way whatsoever did we intend to hijack the discussion and infringe the rules and gain an advantage over paying members. A phone call direct to our technical team was considered the best and quickest course of action.

Wishing all members at superb 2016.

 

[bcd-87]

We're very glad of the happy result.

Unfortunately, we did get our wrists slapped for recommending that this post be handled via direct emails and phone calls rather that discussing in public but sometimes this is the best course of action for such a complex thread. In no way whatsoever did we intend to hijack the discussion and infringe the rules and gain an advantage over paying members. A phone call direct to our technical team was considered the best and quickest course of action.

Wishing all members at superb 2016.

What a nice message

 

[SJPurdy]

Reading through this thread again prompts me to ask a couple of questions which may be appropriate:

The wet area grout was soft! well there is something wrong there because these grouts are designed for use in wet areas including, for most, swimming pools. They do not become soft if kept wet even if the water is trapped under the tiles (as it will be in swimming pools). For grout to be soft when re-wet after curing indicates to me something wrong with its composition.

How should the joint between tile and grate surround be finished? should it be grouted or should it be flexible sealant? That's one that has always puzzled me - I've done both in the past!

If the tiles are fixed correctly then they are on a solid bed of adhesive with no voids/channels for water to accumulate in, but this adhesive may be itself wet as it is porous/permeable and water can travel through it down towards the drain under gravity. How then can bedding the grate surround on a full bed of adhesive be detrimental (compared with on corner dabs only) as the water can still travel through the solid bed, under the grate surround, and into the drain?

 

[One Day]

Two simple principles over-arch all the design speil you'll ever come across... No. 1 you should be able to use a wet area without tiles. If you can't, your prep is rubbish. No. 2 any design should deal with water BELOW the tiles and be able to get it down the drain instead of letting it gather and sit.

 

[One Day]

And the grout likely went soft because bacteria will break down cement if it stays wet and stagnant. And never Silicon around a drain. It only helps trap the water...

 

[SJPurdy]

And the grout likely went soft because bacteria will break down cement if it stays wet and stagnant.

The example quoted earlier the grout was soft after two weeks!

I think there are going to be a lot more problems with these trays in general. I think most of the ones I have fitted over the years have not had much consideration built in to allow the adhesive bed to drain into the drain, conversely I suspect most had a plastic barrier solvent welded (plumbers job) into the drain which was then tiled up to. Many of the ones I fitted then also had the joint between tile and this plastic lip filled with flexible sealant (in accordance with BS) as grout would crack and let water through (into the cement bed not the drain).

 

[One Day]

Yeah, 2 weeks something else was up. Definitely agree on the design flaws. I've seen far too many xps core trays turn to mush this past couple of years!