Water appears to be getting through grout!

Bexm

Hello

We are having huge problems with our bathroom.

We did it out entirely at the beginning of the year in our new house but our walls are not 90 degrees so the where the shower is at the end of our bath there was about an inch gap in the corner.

We completely filled it with silicon and it just kept leaking, finally it appears to have stopped after about 6 attempts but now when we check the water appears to be coming down behind the tiles!!

We have a waterfall shower which gives a lot of steam and lots of water.

We think the water is getting through the grout.. it's about a centimetre in the bottom of an icecream tub per shower, so it has to be stopped! (so we've stopped using the shower)

We have large tiles with a row of tiny mosaic tiles in the middle all round the bathroom, apparently theses were porus so we used some stuff the tile shop gave us that was meant to seal them, we put two coats on!

We are pretty sure the silicon is now sealed and we have sealed down the corner with silicon but we are wondering if there is any way to seal the rest of the grout as we can't think of what else to do?!


Any suggestions? We really don't want to rip out and start again as it was a hell of a job doing the bathroom! but our floor and ceiling below is just getting ruined!

Help!

Bex

googler

I'd say you have no choice but to take it out and redo it. You need to see what the damage to the flooring and joists below is for a kickoff.

Are you 100% certain that there's no leaking waste pipes below the bath? Are you 100% certain it's coming from the gap and the porous tiles?

For one thing, it's absolute madness to leave a one inch gap to be filled with silicon sealant, so you need to make a alternative plan for next time. Rejig the wall or set the bath into the wall a bit further.

Did you do all the work yourselves? Any experienced plumbers involved?

Innys

To be honest, if you fitted out the shower and noticed a 1 inch gap at that stage but only put silicone in to deal with it, you were asking for trouble.

Silicone is handy but I doubt even the best silicone is suitable for gaps that large.

Using porous tiles, even with a sealent, is unlikely to have helped either.

As the other poster has mentioned, I can't see any alternative but to remove the shower tray/bath and resite it. That's likely to be easier/cheaper than ripping all the tiles off and bulking up the wall to meet the tray/bath.

Bexm

Hi

Thanks for the replies..

Apparently I am exaggerating about the gap being 1 inch.. it's more like 1cm!

There's no leaking pipes or anything and the floor and joists are fine.

The stupid thing is FIL did build out the wall to make it 90 degrees.. but the other walls were so wonky it ended up not being 90 degrees and he didn't realise until it was too late!
(our bathrooms a parallelogram, with wobbly walls!)

We had experienced dad's doing it.. they've done it before with no problems so assumed the same would be now..

We are almost 100% that the silicon is now sealed!
:eek: I don't want to have to resit the bath.. are you sure there's no other way

tony6403

If you are convinced that it's the grout which is causing your problem you could consider very carefully removing it with a tool like the one demonstated in www.ultimatehandyman.org/video/tiling/grout-removal.php. and then buy good quality waterproof grout and meticulously regrout.

keystone

Grout isn't waterproof (well epoxy is but you don't want to be messing with that on a DIY basis) it is only water resistant.

We think the water is getting through the grout..

I don't.

it's about a centimetre in the bottom of an icecream tub per shower,

You have a leak rather than water penetrating your grout unless you have holes where there should be grout!

No walls in ANY house are at 90º to one another. ALL houses have wobbly walls. You have to make allowance for that when installing the bath. If that means the edges of the bath being partially let into the plaster than thats the way it has to be. Sorry but I think you should start again.

Cheers

tony6403

Keystone - I have no idea about the properties of grout , but are these manufacturers telling porkies when they say that it is waterproof.