Bathroom Fitting

How to investigate shower leak behind wall?

Anonymous user 16/03/2024 - 2.52 PM

Setting the scene: I have shower with 3 walls and a shower screen/door. The walls perpendicular to the screen/door are covered with ~45×45 cm tiles. The wall opposite the screen/door are covered with 2×2 cm mosaic tiles. The shower head is attached to the ceiling. The shower controls are attached to one of the walls perpendicular to the screen/door. This wall also separates the bathroom from the kitchen. The other perpendicular wall separates the bathroom from the bedroom. And the mosaic tiled wall separates my apartment from the neighbouring apartment. The bathroom is approximately 14 years old. The problem I'm having is some mosaic tiles are coming loose at the edges of the wall where they meet the perpendicular walls and there's discolouration of the grout in various areas in the middle of the mosaic wall. The grout is normally grey but of the areas which have problems some appear darker and some have an orange discolouration. Regular cleaning doesn't seem to have an effect. So far, I've posted a job to get a tiler to fix the loose tiles, re-grout and re-seal. Some have said they'll apply a skim coat for the entire wall too. However, I've done some more research and the problem I'm having might be the symptom of a leak. There isn't a bathroom above mine as my apartment is on the top floor, so it won't be a leak from another apartment. I don't think it's a leak from an incoming water pipe because my meter doesn't change when all taps/appliances are off, the ceiling is fine and the tiles/grout on the wall with the shower controls look fine. I doubt it'll be a leak from the wastewater pipe because that's under the shower so it shouldn't show up on a wall. So I suspect the mosaic wall was leaking in the first place (maybe there was a single loose tile/grout somewhere which wasn't noticed and now the problem has grown a bit) – would this sound most likely? As a result I'm wondering how to get this investigated and what the best course of action would be. My questions are: - What would an investigation look like? I assume some mosaic tiles will need to be removed and the wall behind inspected? - The options, in order of least to most expensive, are to either: (1) Fix the damaged areas + re-seal. (2) Fix the damaged areas + skim coat or regrout the entire wall + re-seal. (3) Re-tile the whole wall, replacing the plasterboard behind if it's too damaged. Option 1 is nice in the sense that it's the least expensive. But I'm worried that problems with the wall behind won't be revealed if there's an actual leak somewhere. Option 2 has the same risks as Option 1. Applying a skim coat or re-grouting might push the chance of problems/failure further into the future (i.e. preventative maintenance). Option 3 is the most expensive and I'm worried it's overkill. But it's the most comprehensive solution. And it might be a good opportunity to use a larger tile to make future maintenance easier.