I just fitted a new bathroom in our house. I did everything except the tiling. There's a bath with a shower over it, all tiled round as is common. I did all the prep work for the tiling which included tanking the wet area around the bath/shower... Tiler siliconed round the bath before putting tiles over (with the idea it would extra protection I guess) and finished the job. I did the final siliconing myself after I fitted shower screen... Anyways, used the shower for the first time today and noticed a couple of wet patches under the bath. Upon investigation I see the water coming down the edges of the bath. First thought is there's a hole in the silicone. I check it and it's perfect. I then did a bit more testing with the shower head. First I aimed it just at the silicone around the bath, no leaks, hmmm. I then moved the shower head up 6 inches or so onto the tiles and that's when the leaks start. So I can only conclude that the water is getting into the grout, running down the tanked wall and dripping down the edges of the bath..../?? sound plausible? The thing is, the grouting looks fine so I'm not entirely sure what to say. Any ideas?
either you have used rubbish ready-mixed grout from a DIY shed, the bath is flexing or the tiles are not butted down onto the bath properly. It sounds like bad tiling to me.
you mentioned the tiler silicon the bath edge before doing the tiling are you sure, as if he has then the water should not go below bath. What you should of done fill the bath with water 3/4 volume and then seal the bath edge with Clear silicon, as the weight of the water will slight push the bath down by couple of mm. Did you do that ? Is your bath steel or Fibre Glass ? If you still have the problem then you will have to take the 1st row of tiles from the edge of the bath and i guarantee it has not been siliconed on the edge, unless you have seen it yourself. I had this problem and i had to take the tiles off from 1st row of from the bath edge, as i told the tiler to silicon and he never did, as he said it should be ok and i had a leak under the bath and straight into the kitchen ceiling, when you look at the tiling you think it would not leak and i thought he did a good job. I called him back and then he is blaming the plumber and all sort of excuses. There should be enough gap between the tiles for the grout to stick.
Didn't do the water thing but I definitely saw him use clear silicone around the edge of the bath before doing any tiling. It looks water tight, as you say, but it's not. I'm hoping sealing the grout with the sealguard is going to fix the problem
This is a bodge job. To silicone behind the bath in order to stop leaks is ridiculous. If the grout is good quality and applied correctly it will stop just about all of the water. To see that water is running through after just a few seconds or minutes shows that there is something wrong. This wouldn't be so bad if you had tanked the thing correctly, as that would stop water penetration 100%. To say that he siliconed around the bath AFTER you tanked it shows that you didn't do it correctly, if you had you would have used the tanking tape to run onto the bath edge, thus giving a perfect seal, and therefore rendering the application of silicone behind the bath impossible. I rest my case. You should have left the tiling prep to a competent tiler, he would know what he was doing.
I know quite a few tilers who wouldn't have even bothered tanking it, that's why I did it myself. As a customer it's often difficult to say to a tradesman who's been doing the job x years what to do when they say 'I've tiled straight onto plasterboard a million times and never had a problem'. Regarding the tanking onto the bath edge. In all honestly I didn't think I needed to do it and can only imagine in practice it's very very tricky to do. If the tiles are 10mm, the wall wavey and the edge of the bath curved lipping the tape onto the bath seems rather difficult given you only have 10mm to play with. In places, the bath edge itself was 10mm from the wall as the wall was out. Also, the tiler said he ALWAYS siliconed the bath to the wall and I know from other tilers forums that he's not alone in doing that. I didn't do it in reaction to what I had done.
Yes, most baths are siliconed in, the point I was trying to make was that if tanked properly, then the silicone would not be part of the waterproofing as the tanking would be taking care of that. If the wall was out it could have been replastered and/or the bath set into the wall. When I fitted mine I chased out the plaster on the wall so the bath was set into it about 10mm (back to the brick). This makes the tanking easier to apply around the bath edge as there are then no gaps to bridge. Some people will always pay the extra to have the job done right, others never will. It still sounds like you have grout problem though.
the wall gap should have been sorted before the bath was fitted. The grout sounds like either shed rubbish or it has not been allowed to dry properly.
The wall wasn't that much out, not worth re-plastering that's for sure. I ws trying to make a point with the tanking tape onto the bath being not so easy. My feeling is that it's cheap grout that's the problem. It wasn't BAL, Mapei or any other brand...but some from Al Murad tile chain. I assume Steve you know them as they're based in Leeds... FYI the quote was on the expensive side but I'd seen his work before and it was good. I wanted a good job and asked for one despite what you might think Steve...I didn't specify a brand of grout and assume it's rare customers do. It's difficult to tell a tradesman that you want them to use a certain brand of adhesive/grout. I know tradesman don't appreciate customers telling them how to do their job. Looking at the job, it looks good. You'd never ever imagine water getting through but, sadly, it does. He's coming back tomorrow to have a look.
I only use my local Al-Murad in Barnsley for Microban silicone, which is the cheapest place I can get it. From what I remember, they do Granfix grout which is a top make and I like the stuff. But beware, they are also purveyors of the cheaper and nastier stuff too.
hi bill have u checked for any hairline cracks in the grout and for any in the tiles?? have u fitted feb-seal around bath proir 2 tiling in most cases i find u get water penatration this way if not fitted when bath fitted/siliconed an filled with water? imo i dont like using the feb-seal for these reasons better with silicone finish..u may b taking some tiles of the wall ere mate best of
also dont rule out the bottom of the shower screen, must have a silicone seal between that and the bath
I don't even know what feb seal is? I checked for hairline cracks with the magnifying glass and couldn't see any in the grout or silicone. Looking at it, it looks perfect job. There's no pipework anywhere near that would cause the leak here. Shower is exposed as well. I know exactly where the water is getting in though. It's around the first horizontal grout line just above the taps in the middle, which is about 6-8 inches above the bath. Can only assume that the water is penetrating the grout and there must be a lack of adhesive behind which is causing the water to run through and down so quickly. Tiles are 300x450x10 Had tiler back to day and showed him, he was rather amazed. Plan is to seal the grout, silicone in the vertical corner and then try to get as much silicone up between the bath + wall from underneath. Hopefully that will fix it. Failing that he said he'd remove some tiles and try and fix it that way. Obviously I'm rather not have all the upset again. I posted this on another forum too and had all kinds of suggestions, wrong adhesive, dot and dab, leaking shower, poor prep, **** tiler, poor silicone, didn't pay enough etc etc... I think my prep was good but didn't even think about lipping the tanking onto the bath as it seems difficult in practice. Perhaps next time I would do it that way. I still know lots of tilers who would never even go to the trouble of tanking a bath/shower so that's why I did it. Had the wall not been tanked I guess you'd never know as the plasterboard would just soak it right up. I guess it proves a point in a way. I think the tiler is a good tiler but saves £ by using cheap adhesive/grout, or rather can't justify the cost of BAL if he can get the job done with unbranded stuff and have it look the same. In this case I just think the grout is **** because it looks perfect, yet I spray water at it and it acts as if it's got a big hole in it. The fact that the wall is tanked and NOT lipped onto the bath helps demonstrate just how non water proof the grout actually is. Steve, FYI. It's not granfix but Al Murad branded, Yellow bag which contains a few smaller clear plastic bags of white grout. Next time I employ a tiler I will be demanding they use a decent quality adhesive and grout and if they don't like me asking for that then I guess I won't be using them.
Well you seem to have nailed the problem there Bill - Al Murad grout. I can't imagine ANY professional tiler using Al-Murad stuff. It's DIY grade not professional, just the same as B & Q own brand etc. etc. I could buy the Al Murad stuff for a fiver, or get professional stuff for about £8, why anyone would compromise for the sake of two quid is beyond me. P.S. don't let him silicone under the bath, thats just fixing a bodge with a bodge, your lower tiles are gonna end up with pools of water behind them and you'll wonder why they're loose in a few months. P.P.S why didn't he silicone in the vertical corner??? A six year old would know that it had to be done.
Oh, and I'd love to see the adhesive on the back of the tiles when he starts ripping them off, it must be dot and dab heaven back there
feb-seal is the upstand u put round the bath proir to tiling mate with a 45deg cut in ur corners..then tiles sit on top imo the stuff is carp try not 2 use it myself any water penatration is usually down to this not fitted properly..but as u have said looks like cheap nasty grout but wonder why only failing in one area and not all over???
hi mate reading back over ur posts...tiles size 300x450x10...ok was the addy he used for these a bag or tub??
Forums
Facebook
Twitter
You Tube
Instagram
Shop