Need some advice for a leaking shower please

[mu0n]

Hello.

We're having an intermittent problem with a shower leaking through to the kitchen (directly below). I had a handy man come over and have a look, he used a camera on a rod and couldn't see any pipes leaking, but suspects its the drywall behind the shower tiles that's getting saturated and eventually dripping.

I regrouted the bottom tiles (he said they are porous) as well as using a spray to 'waterproof' them. However, today, it leaked again. It has only happened twice since we've been here (about 6 months).

Any advice on what action to take? I will give a lot of things a go myself, but not sure if it's worth taking all the tiles off and doing it again with a membrane of sorts behind the tiles to stop this? Assuming it is the tiles leaking and not say the shower which is hidden behind the tiles.

Many thanks guys.

[bobtail4x4]

its more than likely to be the outlet from the shower, they tend to leak if the seal gets old and perished.

[dazwalsh]

The whole porous tiles thing sounds a bit daft, if your sealant and drainage pipes are all ok I would take the cover off the shower and see if there is any internal leaks that is causing water to run back down the pipes themselves.

[Gingerbread Man]

Spray the shower handset up and down the shower screen profiles and see if it comes through the ceiling. You'll need two people for this. Often the silicone behind the profiles on the shower tray to wall junction can be missing.

Siliconed on the outside and not the inside?

Waste and pipework checked over?

Silicone checked with a person/ weight in the tray?

[Ice White Socks]

I had the same situation- the shower had been tiled onto normal plasterboard (most are)- water had got through to the back and turned the plasterboard to mush. I removed the shower and shower basin- stripped out the bottom two rows of tiles, spliced in some aqua-board- re-tiled and resealed and its been fine ever since. I am no DIY expert but didn't have too much trouble getting it looking acceptable. HTH. Mike

[mu0n]

The shower is a little similar to this



So all what goes on is behind the wall. Without sounding too inept, if I was to unbolt the shower unit part (goes into the wall in 2 places assuming for hot and cold water inlets) would I need to turn the water off downstairs to isolate it before I start undoing that stuff?

[roofer]

Go and hire a decent boroscope, pinpoint exactly what's happening first.

[Rickyy]

9 times out of 10, it's a poor silicone seal.

Even if it looks ok, it can still be ineffective. Especially when there is weight on the tray.

Peel, scrape and cut the old stuff away and leave the shower to dry out completely for a few days, then reseal with a good quality sealant (Dow Corning stuff is great), then leave at least 24 hours before you use it.

[mu0n]

Thanks gents. I was wondering whether it was where the faucet is, whether that is leaking behind somewhere but surely if that was the case it would leak every time you used it, not intermittently... as I said, it's only happened twice in the 6 months we've been here.

So scraping the silicone seal between the tray and the wall and replacing it with a good quality one is worth a shot?

[mu0n]

roofer said:

Go and hire a decent boroscope, pinpoint exactly what's happening first.

I had a friend come over who had one and he couldn't find any leaks - all he found was the plasterboard at the back behind the tiles (looking from under the shower tray) were saturated.

[MrV]

mu0n said:

Thanks gents. I was wondering whether it was where the faucet is, whether that is leaking behind somewhere but surely if that was the case it would leak every time you used it, not intermittently... as I said, it's only happened twice in the 6 months we've been here.

So scraping the silicone seal between the tray and the wall and replacing it with a good quality one is worth a shot?

As said above its normally the case with a shower leak ,that or the grout but as you have already regrouted I would go with a new silicone joint.

[guindilias]

Tiles are rarely porous, but the grout is - even epoxy grout. It never forms a complete bond with the tile borders - so unless you use waterproof plasterboard (or better, cement board with a vapour barrier behind it), it will always eventually leak. And go nice and mushy.
Which at least means you can often salvage and re-use the tiles!

[paolow]

mu0n said:

I had a friend come over who had one and he couldn't find any leaks - all he found was the plasterboard at the back behind the tiles (looking from under the shower tray) were saturated.

Are the tiles straight onto said plasterboard? I'm going with the water getting through a failed grout/silicon join if so....
If that is the case it may well already be too late for remedial work....

[bomb]

We had a problem like this on a new build house. Problem was the plastic pipework that fed the mixer unit ( behind the tiled wall). The screw connections had not been tightened up and when the shower was on, it gushed out water from the connections.

We managed to solve it by going into the cupboard behind the shower ( in the bedroom next to the bathroom), and we cut a hole in the plasterboard wall. This allowed access to all the connections.

Bloody useless builders / plumbers that installed it......