Leaky Bathroom

AbbyCarr98

A few months of owning our first house, we noticed that there was a leak in our bathroom that was visible from our downstairs kitchen ceiling, and also the wall where the water had trickled down. The bath had been tiled over, making it a nightmare to uncover. After carefully removing all the tiles and the bath panel, the floor boards were completely sodden; it was clear this had been leaking for months and months. The main issue is it seems difficult to identify the cause of the leak. The sealing around the bath all looked fine. It is a shower over the bath, and ever since we've only been taking baths to minimise the leaking. We had a local guy round looking at a kitchen repair, and he offered to take a look. Th jist of what he was saying, was that as we stood in the bath, it lowered; and was creating a gap in the silicone; which was then letting water through as there is also a gap between the tiles and the bath itself. His parting words were to have the entire bathroom retiled; but this is currently not a possibility.

After a bit of googling, I've wondered if the following remedy may work to enable us to gain some use of our shower again, until which point we can replace the bathroom. If I were to remove all the silicone from the bath, and allow it to dry out for several hours, and then re-seal it with a quick waterproof anti-fungal silicone (such as everbuild) but whilst the bath was full and myself standing in it (at least for an hour until its partially set).

If not, does anyone have any suggestions as how we can prolong the life of the bathroom? It is only 16 months old in the first instance and we do not currently have the funds to replace.

Grenage

Remove the old sealant, fill the bath so that there's some weight, and reseal with new silicone. Empty the bath the next day.


There's always a gap between the tiles and the bath - how big is the gap? If you can take the side of the bath off to help it dry out, it will help.

AbbyCarr98

The gap is perhaps 5mm at the most. I haven't measured entirely. It would suggest that it was sealed without being weighted. Over time the weight of people in and out and water has caused the water to leak. I'm glad that your suggestion is the same as the original, we'll definitely be giving that a try.

Grenage

5mm is fine, so you needn't worry; definitely no need to redo the tiling for that!


It's quite easy to use sealant, the chore is getting the old stuff off; I normally use Dow Corning 785, it's quite popular.

AbbyCarr98

It's just frustrating we didn't catch it sooner as the paint work in the kitchen is wrecked (due in part to it not being kitchen paint). But with the bath panel tiled over, we didn't know till it came through.

I'll definitely see if that's one we can get a hold of! Should the weight of a full bath be sufficient, or would you recommend adding any additional weight?

Ganga

AbbyCarr98 wrote: »

It's just frustrating we didn't catch it sooner as the paint work in the kitchen is wrecked (due in part to it not being kitchen paint). But with the bath panel tiled over, we didn't know till it came through.

I'll definitely see if that's one we can get a hold of! Should the weight of a full bath be sufficient, or would you recommend adding any additional weight?

A bath full of water will be sufficient,as said clean off all the old silicone and re-do using good quality silicone,a one with anti- fungal additive which will last longer.
Last time we had a leak under the bath i dried the floor up with a cloth and bucket then used my wifes hairdrier to dry out the wooden floor,maybe not the best way but it did want i wanted,good luck these sort of problems will give you something to laugh about many years from now:T

phill99

I fit bathrooms for a living. When I mastic I fill the bath with water, then physically stand in the water (having taken my trousers and boots off!!!) to do the masticing. this means that the gap between tiles and bath will be at its widest and creates a good seal.

AbbyCarr98

The silicone has been removed. What a nasty job! Some areas are very mouldy underneath which show water has been getting in. There's a gap of around 5mm, slightly larger in some areas. The Original tradesperson has kind of stuffed broken tile into the gap. Like long thin pieces of tile and then siliconed over that. Is it safe to remove these pieces and silicone inside the gap and then around the bath and tiles?

Ganga

Yes you can do that,be carefull with the slivers of tile as they can be sharp.

JohnB47

AbbyCarr98 wrote: »

A few months of owning our first house, we noticed that there was a leak in our bathroom that was visible from our downstairs kitchen ceiling, and also the wall where the water had trickled down. The bath had been tiled over, making it a nightmare to uncover. After carefully removing all the tiles and the bath panel, the floor boards were completely sodden; it was clear this had been leaking for months and months. The main issue is it seems difficult to identify the cause of the leak. The sealing around the bath all looked fine. It is a shower over the bath, and ever since we've only been taking baths to minimise the leaking. We had a local guy round looking at a kitchen repair, and he offered to take a look. Th jist of what he was saying, was that as we stood in the bath, it lowered; and was creating a gap in the silicone; which was then letting water through as there is also a gap between the tiles and the bath itself. His parting words were to have the entire bathroom retiled; but this is currently not a possibility.

After a bit of googling, I've wondered if the following remedy may work to enable us to gain some use of our shower again, until which point we can replace the bathroom. If I were to remove all the silicone from the bath, and allow it to dry out for several hours, and then re-seal it with a quick waterproof anti-fungal silicone (such as everbuild) but whilst the bath was full and myself standing in it (at least for an hour until its partially set).

If not, does anyone have any suggestions as how we can prolong the life of the bathroom? It is only 16 months old in the first instance and we do not currently have the funds to replace.

Nobody else has suggested it but do make absolutely sure that it was the sealant around the bath that was the only culprit. Bath waste, tap and overflow fittings can also cause long lasting drips and leakage.

I have found that bathroom and kitchen fitters often cut pipes too long or too short, meaning that pipes going into plastic joints are not aligned properly and this can cause the joints to fail, often many months/years after the job was done. Probably because of repeatedly being flexed by people having baths and showers.

Now that you have the bath panel off, I would suggest putting a few sheets of plain paper on the floor directly under the bath waste, overflow and tap fittings. Leave them there for a few days/weeks and have baths and showers as normal. Pull them out now and then and have a look - any drips will clearly show as either marks on the paper or distortion of the paper or both. A cheap and easy thing to do.

AbbyCarr98

We're planning to leave the bath panel off for a little while. It will enable us to see if the leaking is fixed or not, before it enters the kitchen again.

We will definitely give that idea a go!