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Bathroom Fitting

We have a leak from our walk in shower and we don’t know what’s best to do

Anonymous user 23/02/2024 - 3.32 PM

Hi, We moved in a new house 1year and a half ago and at that time we refurbished the bathroom only and now we have a walk in shower. Couple of months ago we started with the kitchen and right under the shower we realised there’s a leak and when we striped all the cupboards and shelf we realised there’s a lot of damp with small drops coming after 2 hours of someone taking a shower. The grout ( ultra tile flexi joint ) don’t think is water proof and the person who did the tiles was really rushing the work so I personally don’t know how was done if he respected the best practices etc. Apart from the leek we also have mould on the shower wall and it’s really bad considering how new the shower is and white marks on the grout but I thought it’s because of the hard water. Anyway the grout doesn’t look good and it has a different colour than the rest of the bathroom. We were advised to actually remove the existing grout and redo it properly with water resistant one or seal it with a product. On the floor wouldn’t be a problem but the shower wall is Made with small mosaic tiles which will take forever to do that. Lastly, we have 2 small holes in the silicon right in the corner because my husband is not an expert and he applied the silicon himself so I was thinking that possibly the leak can be from there as well. Please help me and let me know what is best to do if you’ve ever experienced anything like this. Update: Thanks everyone for the replies, very helpful! I forgot to mention that I have been 200% reassured that the shower is super protected and waterproof with tanking paste and membrane and my husband checked everything before we tiled. So I believe the issue started from the tiling. Thanks

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4 Answers

AMS Bathrooms

Rating: 5 out of 5

Liverpool

Hi Dana, from your narrative it is hard to exactly identify where the leak is emanating from so will have to generally assume that is could be the most obvious place or places. I agree with the previous answer that one of the best courses of action would be to strip out the shower area, start from scratch and install the proper tanking, waterproofing, tiling, grouting and sealing methods. If that course of action is not an option then you have other options. (1) clean all the loose and addled grout out of the mosaics and grout again with the best grout available. Remove all evidence of mould and sealant and reseal again with a top of the range sealant. Don't apply sealant on wet/damp grout. Let it all cure/dry and test. If it fails then go to next step which is start from scratch again and remove tiles etc. or go to option (2) use PVC shower wall panels to attach over the current mosaics from top of shower tray to full height. PVC shower panels can be glued directly on to existing tiles. There are now plenty of styles and options to choose from, they are fully waterproof and if fitted expertly they will solve the leak issue (if it coming from behind the tray or behind the mosaics). I would advise the wall panel option as option 1 could result in a fail if the area behind the tray and tiles has not been waterproofed correctly in the first place. Hope this helps. Good luck Alan

Answered5 June 2020

Luxurian Homes Ltd

No reviews yet

Coventry

Hi Dana, This must be frustrating. If a shower should cost a certain amount and a tradesman asked for half the price and you accepted, then the work won’t be at a good standard. Anyway, going back to your question, this potentially happened because the walk-in shower hasn’t been made waterproof with a tanking paste. The grout would be enough if there was 0 movement, but in a walk-in shower that’s generally not the case. If the bathroom is also on the first floor and on wooden joists, the bathroom fitter had to redo the floor and also add backer boards or uncoupling membrane at least on the floor. With that being said, the course of action would be to investigate the leak, meaning that the bathroom has to either be entirely done or partially. Good luck with that. All the best.

Answered5 June 2020

Version Homes Ltd

Rating: 5 out of 5

Leeds

Speaking from an insurance and recovery point of view. I would lodge an insurance claim and if your policy extends to trace and access (this is where you can remove / damage building materials to find the source of a leak at the cost of the insurance company) and then instruct a specialist leak detection company like ourselves to determine the cause of the leak. The water damaged materials would then be stripped out or dried and your property reinstated back to its pre loss condition. As far as the previous bathroom installer is concerned, the insurance company would look to seek recovery from him/her directly for poor workmanship if it was determined they are liable.

Answered5 June 2020

AJ Properties

Rating: 4.2 out of 5

Manchester

You should also check the water outlet is screw in properly, and the waste is all connected properly, you could pour water straight into the tray and check first it is not coming from there, if the problem is not there you could take off the first couple of rows of mosics and seal the shower tray and replace with matching tiles, regrout with waterproof grout and reseal again once dry

Answered6 June 2020