Exposed brick wall in wet-room (next to shower)

DailyClicker

Hi,

We moved into a house that has a wet-room with an exposed brick-wall next to the shower. When using the shower water does bounce onto the wall.

We are having some problems with ceiling staining in the room underneath, and suspect it could be partly due to the wall. We have had a few plumbers/builders come out to look at options, but they are struggling to come up with any solutions other than to remove it.

Has anyone used any waterproof products that could be applied to the brickwork to repel water? 

Thanks

BlueVeranda

Nice feature, kind of defeats the point of having a wet room though. What were they thinking!

I would suggest you could cover it with a sheet of glass or perspex but the decorative bit at the top will make that tricky.

DailyClicker

BlueVeranda said:

Nice feature, kind of defeats the point of having a wet room though. What were they thinking!

I would suggest you could cover it with a sheet of glass or perspex but the decorative bit at the top will make that tricky.

Thanks, that's a good idea, but you're right, unfortunately with the bit at the top, will make it tricky to stop water from getting between glass/perspex and wall, and then quite challenging to keep clean as will be difficult to reach

Greatgimp

Paint it with high quality water repellant varnish/paint

stuart45

There are brick sealers you can use, although personally I think it would look better tiled.

Doozergirl

Even if you paint it with something, there are still going to be exposed cracks where water ingress is likely. It would be difficult to get a proper seal with silicon at the upstand, even.  

That is bad design, I'm afraid.  

ThisIsWeird

That wall might be a red herring. Easy to assume it's responsible for the leak. Could you drape a plastic sheet over it for a few showers and see if the stains stop?

Interesting that they've added a plastic sealing quadrant along the bottom of one wall but not that one.

If you really want to try and preserve that wall, then I wouldn't use a clear glass or plastic cover as you'd almost certainly get mould forming behind it.

Silicone-based water repellents? Possibly, but risky. If you wish to try this, make sure the wall is bone dry to start with, wire brushed, and then apply liberally until it stops being drawn in. But I suspect it's going to be nigh-on impossible to fully seal around its edges.

FreeBear

Doozergirl said:

Even if you paint it with something, there are still going to be exposed cracks where water ingress is likely. It would be difficult to get a proper seal with silicon at the upstand, even.  

That is bad design, I'm afraid.  

I would agree. And with the splodges of paint and wotnot, it is not particularly pretty. Either fix some Wedi board or Hardibacker to the wall and then tile it. Alternatively, cover it in Tadelakt, but you might end up doing the whole room in the stuff.

Doozergirl

ThisIsWeird said:

That wall might be a red herring. Easy to assume it's responsible for the leak. Could you drape a plastic sheet over it for a few showers and see if the stains stop?

Interesting that they've added a plastic sealing quadrant along the bottom of one wall but not that one.

If you really want to try and preserve that wall, then I wouldn't use a clear glass or plastic cover as you'd almost certainly get mould forming behind it.

Silicone-based water repellents? Possibly, but risky. If you wish to try this, make sure the wall is bone dry to start with, wire brushed, and then apply liberally until it stops being drawn in. But I suspect it's going to be nigh-on impossible to fully seal around its edges.

Good spot of the quadrant. Looking closer, there's also massive smears of silicon around the edges of the brickwork so I think they didn't know where the water was coming from. 

I think it's pretty obvious though.  The wall is a case of 'if not now, when?'  A brick wall is not waterproof.  That wall in particular is a solid, period wall with no cavity and is in its nature, both moveable and breathable - that might defy logic for the average layperson, but it is a fact.  

Quadrant in that place isn't fit for purpose either but it's possible that it is the red herring.  The whole area should be tanked behind the tiles.   If it isn't (we know one adjacent wall isn't) and water is able to get in that joint, then the OP has a much larger problem and the whole thing needs ripping out and redoing because it isn't a wet room at all.  

Whoever fitted the bathroom is incompetent and whoever is subsequently trying to fix it is also missing the obvious problem but I sincerely hope that at least the areas covered by tiles have been tanked.  

benson1980

If it were me, I might be inclined to cut a section out of the plasterboard ceiling below, where it is staining, to properly investigate. Not only will this hopefully assist in confirming where the water is coming from but it would also allow for assessment of any damage and whether it might be some form of repair or alteration of design to that exposed brickwork, or rip out and start again job. Who knows how long the previous owners were using it prior, and it is sometimes surprising the extent of damage behind water stained plasterboard even when water isn’t physically dripping through.