Possible damp behind bathroom tiles

monaymadlol

Hi hope you are well

I'm looking for some expert advice please

Moved into new place not long ago and doing some cosmetic work, one planned is regrouting some disclosured grout in the vicinity of the shower head. Closer inspection shows some cracked grout, and though no tiles are loose, one has definitely bulged out a little. Tiles on opposite end are fine. A few tiles on the wet area sound hollow to tap.

I'm in an apartment, and I know the best thing would be retile the whole bath area but is there a quicker, cheaper solution for now?

I was going to have the whole area regrouted with a decent grout to at least slow the moisture getting in (power shower) and resealant everything.

Would it be possible to remove individual tiles by a tiler, cut out any damp board underneath and re-membrane a section of it and adhesive the tiles back on? They are the larger tile type and I do not have spares.

Look forward to your thoughts 

FreeBear

monaymadlol said:  Would it be possible to remove individual tiles by a tiler, cut out any damp board underneath and re-membrane a section of it and adhesive the tiles back on? They are the larger tile type and I do not have spares.

To remove a single tile may be possible, but.... There is a very good chance that it will break in the process. Cleaning any adhesive off the back adds another opportunity for breakage. Large format tiles should be "back buttered" with adhesive before sticking to the wall. If this had been done with your tiles, I'd say it would be unlikely that they can be removed without damage.

If you have damp behind the tiles that has affected the wall, you'd need to remove several tiles to repair the wall boards. In all probability, you'd need to strip the whole wall in order to do an effective repair. Short term fix would be to regrout and save up for a complete overhaul of the space.

monaymadlol

Thank you, too risky as I suspected. It's an apartment, older building. I don't think it's too bad yet (tiles loose etc), we have a window and a new extractor fan which may help slightly. 

Should I worry about it becoming a serious structural issue at any point?

Jonboy_1984

Have you made sure it is coming from your shower and not a flat above (or pipe work in a loft space).

Any seepage risks making structural timbers weak over time or trickling down the inside of the wall and/or into a property below.

monaymadlol

How would we be able to check if it's coming from above? Ideally don't want to go knocking on doors...what would be the signs?

I'd say it's inherent in the our bathroom...given weak extractor, cracked grout and the tiles being worse in the vicinity of the shower end than the opposite end of the tub.

There is some bubbling on the ceiling directly above the shower head, consistent with humidity so we'd need to sort that too.

grumbler

Several (semi-)lose tiles can be removed before re-grouting and put back. If cleaning them from adhesive is difficult and the same tiles can't be found, the old ones can be cleaned with angle grinder.

Personally, I always keep a pack of spare tiles after tiling, but I don't expect this from the majority of people.

monaymadlol

None are loose, one looks to have edged forward slightly out of line, probably where it's bloated behind, and these are large plank tiles so not sure removal is an option now. I just need a good grout, probably expoxy, and a sealant 

NeverTooLate

I have recently had a similar problem and only one spare tile. I was fortunate that the builder who originally did the work came back and fixed it for free.
My tiles had been laid incorrectly and didn't have a full bed of adhesive as mentioned above so there were gaps in the adhesive under the tile. This meant that the tiles were easier to remove than if they had been laid properly but it still took 2 men 3 days to get the all up (without breaking any), clean off the adhesive & relay and grout and it was a really messy job.

Jonboy_1984

monaymadlol said:

How would we be able to check if it's coming from above? Ideally don't want to go knocking on doors...what would be the signs?

I'd say it's inherent in the our bathroom...given weak extractor, cracked grout and the tiles being worse in the vicinity of the shower end than the opposite end of the tub.

There is some bubbling on the ceiling directly above the shower head, consistent with humidity so we'd need to sort that too.

In my case it was the damp mark in the grout being a few inches above the shower as it shouldn’t travel upwards, as the pipe work will normally run up from the control/pump, particularly as the shower-head is normally mounted away from the wall…

Neighbour above found a leak under their bath, from a botched upgrade a few months before.

subjecttocontract

I had this issue......there was an area of tiles that bulged out and had obviously become detached from the wall. I very carefully removed the tiles....getting the first one off was the most difficult. I then soaked the tiles in a bucket of water to loosen the tile cement which scraped off easily. The wall was very smooth plaster so I roughened it up with an old chisel. In my case there was no water leak or damp area just a very smooth wall. I then re cemented & grouted the tiles......job done.