i think water is leaking through my tiles

[havabeer]

hi everyone.

I'm having some trouble with water seeping/leaking from what i think is through our en-suite tiles. been living in our house for a bout a year. the house its self is about 5 or 6 years old which we bought as mortgage repossession and was about 99% complete (no carpets, curtains, polished boards, drainage problems but thats another thread). the problem we're having is that 6 or so months after we laid the carpet we noticed a small brown stained patch where the carpet meets the en suite. this patch has gotten worse since. originally thought we must have splashed water there but after a bit of a snoop around the shower recess i noticed there we no silicon around the base/wall of the shower and the grout it self didn't look great.

so i ran a bead of silicon around the shower and after a day or two it didn't feel like the carpet was getting damp any more. last week though i re checked the silicon and noticed that in (what i thought was the offending corner) that the silicon peel off VERY easily. i ripped it off, cleaned the area with the adhesive solvent cleaner stuff we use at work which dries to nothing and laid down a thicker bead and filled in a few of the gaps around the shower door. i also went underneath the house to have a look to see whats been happening and there's a big dirty wet stain on the chip board and what looks like a bit of white mould starting to build up.

did a little bit of measuring and the patch (where it looks the wettest) is about 800mm from the shower drain. and there's no evidence of water underneath the bathroom drain and the vanity drain, nor the plastic hose's that go up to the fittings. so i'm not to sure on how the water is making its way over there that far with no other signs bar that one stain. i've included at coupe of pictures to help convey what i'm on about.

but any information on where to start hunting for this leak would be great. we have a spare shower which me and gf will have to start using (hopefully same problem doesn't occur in it) but how long should i expect it to take for that wet area to dry out enough that i could do some testing (plug up the shower drain and fill with water and see if it leaks etc). if there's any other photo's i should be taking or any other information that could help will gladly provide it.

thanks heaps

shane

http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/7721/p1020736g.jpg

can see where the carpet meets the en suite concrete, this photo actually showed me how half the concrete is obviously damp.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/9201/p1020737r.jpg

same but different angle showing the damage its doing to the carpet.

http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/3813/p1020739l.jpg

inside the shower the black arrow is showing the corner which i thought looked the worse and where the silicon peeled up. originally though there was no silicon around the whole base of the shower. you can also see how the grout has become quite moldy around the base.


http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/4155/p1020738fd.jpg

i only noticed this tonight when i took he picture but around the shower drain there's actually quite i decent hole, what should be the plan of attack for this. not sure if i should just fill the hole with silicon and even a bit around the entire rim. you can see how dodgy things have been done but the fact they didn't even remove the protective plastic from it before they installed it :(( most of the drains in the house are like this.



http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/7725/p1020741qf.jpg

and so this is whats happened underneath the house. like i said the shower drain is about 800mm from the actually patch is self. and you can see the mold starting to build up.

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/4300/p1020743t.jpg

[Gaza]

new bathroom on the way to your house

dont worry about the hols in the grout there might not be a membrane

[havabeer]

hmmm not good news then. would it be worth ripping off that metal strip and seeing if there is any kind of membrane in there. i thought it'd do damage alot sooner then 6 months to a year

[Master Splinter]

Even if there is a membrane, tilers can still manage to bridge it by using the waterstop angle as a level for their screed bed, so the tiles end up higher than the waterstop angle, which lets water leak over it.

Tiles and grout aren't actually expected to be waterproof - keeping the structure dry is the role of the waterproofing membrane.

[havabeer]

trying to track down the builder now, to see if i can get this on a warranty job. someone took out warranty insurance back in 12/01/06 but the occupancy cert isn't till 2008. either way i'm hoping to scrape in under the 6 years.

[Oldsaltoz]

The minimum warranty for waterproofing is more like 7 years, this covers the builders normal 7 year warranty, so you have a good chance of getting the work done.

The leak at the door is most likley because the water stop has failed, you can fix this with s bead of sealant on the carpet side, rather than remove it, or the tiles. However it's also a clear indicator that the floor is very wet under the tiles, it's this leak you are looking for.

First place to look is around the base of the shower, to do this you need to dry the area out first so the grout is nice and dry.

Then before filling the shower, put a cap on the shower spigot outlet (available at any plumbing outlet of even Bunnies). Make sure it will not drip when you turn the hot and cold taps on full, leave it for at least 20 to 30 minutes and inspect the grout near the walls and drain for any sign of darkening indicating damp.

If this all goes well, block the shower drain with some cling wrap and bring the garden hose into the shower and fill it to just under the spill point, again look around the outside of the shower for any signs of damp grout.

If still result get under the house and check for moisture, looking at the picture it suspect if it leaks you will srr a drip forming and moving across to follow the line of the stain, the lowest point.

Good luck. :)

[havabeer]

hi oldsaltoz

i'll definitely give your two test's a go. will wait a week or two and see how the floor goes with drying out. luckily we have a spare bathroom to use and hopefully the same problem wont occur with it. but i'm a bit confused as to where you mentioned placing a bead of silastic. did you mean red green or blue arrow?

also after reading your post i went and had a really decent look at the grout, and there's rather large bits missing out of it where you can see almost the whole way down the side of a the time. there's cracks all up through a lot it and it scratches away with a finger nail very easily.

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/3418/stuffdw.jpg

[Oldsaltoz]

The red arrow.
Just pull the carpet back a bit (enough to finger down to the bottom) run a bead of sealant along the bottom between alloy and concrete and use soapy water on youe finger to push it in under the alloy strip, also do this at both ends in case it's getting around the sides as well.

Good luck. :)

[havabeer]

thanks again, will get onto that this weekend.

would you also recommend i scrape out and replace the damaged bits of grout that i can find. and even run some grout sealant through the new stuff? i only ask as the grout in the ground just seems cheap and nasty and scratches out really easily and the guy who built it has done such a @@@@ house job.

[Oldsaltoz]

thanks again, will get onto that this weekend.

would you also recommend i scrape out and replace the damaged bits of grout that i can find. and even run some grout sealant through the new stuff? i only ask as the grout in the ground just seems cheap and nasty and scratches out really easily and the guy who built it has done such a @@@@ house job.

No, do nothing till you have run the test/s.

Sealing up some edges and corners will not stop the leak, water will still pass through the remaining grout.

If the waterproofing was done before the screed was placed the screed will soaking wet, if was waterproofed after the screed was placed the leak might be around the waste.

Waterproofing before screeding is most likely.

I can assure you adding more sealant in the floor area will achieve nothing.

Good luck. :)