How to crack a tile to check for leak under bath

united4ever

See pics -


https://imgur.com/XP3N5hF

https://imgur.com/IZn8g5R




hall has sins of water staining/damage underneath bathroom (directly below where water pipes would be). Sadly the bath is tiled in and does not have an easily removed tile for inspection.


I have sealed myself and also had it done by a tiler recently too but there is clearly still damage being done.


I have decided it is worth breaking a tile to have a look to see if there is a leak. In the long run it is better than more damage being done to the ceiling below.


Also, we moved into this house 5 years and most of the taps (kitchen and downstairs loo) have leaked at some point and needed fixing so maybe the plumbing was not great.....which again compels me to think it's not the sealing.



I am not a DIY expert by any means but some questions before I do it:


I don't have any spare tiles - there is no way of doing this without damaging at least one tile is there - I am not so fussed about one replacement not looking exactly the same design....I would also like the replacement tile be easily removed for access in future....could I just silicone one in? Do tiles come in standard sizes?


From the pic - which tile would be best to remove - the one right in the bottom corner is less than half a tile so going to require cutting a tile to that size to replace - but would that tile give best visibility of leakage?


Finally - when doing this - I don't have specialist tool to cut out grout - plan is to put a chisel and hammer to the middle of the tile and crack it. Is there anything I can do to ease the grouting around the tile in advance without buying a special tool.


Thanks in advance...

Myser

Ideally you'd use something like a multitool to carefully remove the grout and tile.


If you place some strong tape (gaffa) on the surrounding tile edges, this should avoid any damage.


Place some masking tape over the tile you want to remove to drill a small hole.


These videos should give you an idea:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae4xdn_KqN4


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ectgy6Z-z6A

JimmyChanga

You could just remove the whole bath panel with tiles and replace it with a colour co-ordinated one instead of being tiled. Use something like plywood and screws with plastic caps.

Shaun_of_the_Dead

Why is there grout missing from that tile?

theonlywayisup

Shaun_of_the_Dead wrote: »

Why is there grout missing from that tile?

I think it is discoloured, not missing....?

Is there anything between the worktop and the tile apart from the wooden cover type thing.

Are we looking at the bathroom ?

Shaun_of_the_Dead

theonlywayisup wrote: »

I think it is discoloured, not missing....?

Is there anything between the worktop and the tile apart from the wooden cover type thing.

Are we looking at the bathroom ?

If it's discoloured then why, waters obviously getting to it. I'd bet it's a plywood bath panel and if you remove the tiles there will be mold on the ply.

united4ever

don't know what's behind the tiles - it was 'done up' for sale when we moved in - I believe the bath is the original cast iron one.

mchale

Before you go removing tiles have you checked the bath waste is tight, the is normally a screw in the middle of the waste.

Tucker

Have you ruled out the possibility of the water damage being from water lost whilst the bath is in use?

Water overflowing onto the back and side rims and making it's way down the back and below? Is that area sealed correctly?

Something I have found to be a particularly problem in the past when kids use the bath and lose large amounts of the water! It's got to go somewhere and the ceiling below cops for it but not necessary where you might expect it to settle.

If there's a leak on the pipework that patch would be wet. If it's drying out and staining which it looks more like, it's either lost water from the bath or an issue with the waste pipe.

Tucker

Plan b and a better option for me, is cut out the ceiling below and see what the issue is. That can be repaired and patched easier without trying to replace tiling with one's that don't match.

united4ever

plan B sounds ok but not comfortable doing that myself....what trade would you engage for that? plumber?