Wet room tiled without membrane, is that right?

noah1234

Hi,
Anyone had experience in having a wet room tiled without the tanking membrane?

The builder who is doing the bathroom I realised now that he doesn't seem to know how tanking works, as he did not put the membrane on the floor before tiling it! :-(
He said he tiled many bathrooms before this way and they never leak, I am not sure what to do now, if anyone has experience with that please share it.

Thank you.

chappers

A genuine wet room should be tanked yes, either with a membrane system or at least a paint on one.
Mind you with a name like Noah, you should be in a perfect position to deal with a flood should it arise

andyhop

It'll leak from day one. Grout will allow water to pass over time

Walls and floor should have been tanked with a minimum of 3 coats of paint on tanking or a single layer of tanking membrane . All joints should be flexible reinforced with tape

Doozergirl

Just to echo above, really. It sounds very wrong indeed.

How much are you paying for this wet room and where did you find the fitter?

ryder72

Ohhhhh. sounds like a disaster in the pipeline. A wet room must be tanked.

TheCyclingProgrammer

I tanked my downstairs shower before it was tiled so the idea of having an entire wet room without appropriate tanking sounds like a complete bodge and a disaster in the making.

As has been pointed out, regular waterproof grout does not form an impenetrable waterproof barrier - it’s just designed not to break down when wet. When water eventually gets through the grout, you’re in trouble.

I hope you’ve not paid the builder yet. You need to find somebody who knows what they are doing to do it again.

magn8p

I second all the expert above. More information about tanking from this plumbing blogger - https://www.diywetroom.com/guides/wetroom-tanking-and-tiling

Share that with your plumber and ask him what he thinks. Tell him if the job is done well, you may have to escalate the issue to trading standards body. More information here - https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/report-to-trading-standards/