Rising water marks on tiles around shower - normal? (pics)

[FiscoKing]

Hi,

Just started using my walk in shower.

The shower area (wall) is tiled with ceramic wall tiles.
Tiles are held onto the wall with ToppsTiles ceramic tile wall adhesive.
Grout is BAL White.

I waited 4 weeks for the grout to set before turning the shower on.

I've noticed that after 30 mins use, there are now water marks on the tiles. By this I mean the colour of the wall tiles are changing around the corners and from the bottom up where the all meets the floor (like rising damp).

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h316/goodproducts101/Dsc00256.jpg
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h316/goodproducts101/Dsc00257.jpg

The tiles looked this way after the tiler had applied the grout, but the tiles dried out after about 4-5 days.

It looks to me as if the tiles are soaking up water from the edges???
Is this normal?

Thanks.

 

[breezer]

my 2 p worth ( i am not a builder or tiler)

did you use water proof grout?

should there not be "mastic" at the bottom?

as you said it looks like capilary action is in progress

 

[FiscoKing]

No, the grout is not waterproof, but the product literature does say that it can be used in showers:

http://www.bal-adhesives.co.uk/bal/bal_products/microflex.asp

The tiles went onto weiboard, which is itself waterproof.

Don't know about the mastic. ToppFix (thew wall tile adhesive) is not waterproof either.

I did question the use of non waterproof tile adhesive for the wetarea, but he told be he'd done swimming pools with the stuff (&BAL white) and had no problems. So I took his word.

Even though ToppFix is not waterproof, the wedi board is. When TopFix gets wet, will it loose it's adhesion and cause the tile to fall off the wall?

It could be that the grout is not flush enough with the top of the tile and therefore the water is getting in below the glazing?

Could someone take a look at this photo of the edge of a spare tile I have and tell me if the glazing on the side is normal? It looks a bit on the shallow side to me, but I've not seen many tiles.

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h3...1/DSC00259.jpg


If the grout has not gone deep enough, then I'll call the tiler back to finish the job.

Can grout be applied to the top of existing grout? or will he have to remove the shallow grout first? Difficult job?

Thanks.

 

[wanabechippie]

Have you tried wiping the tiles down with a dark, dry towel? Might be that the tiller left the grout residue on the tiles. This might be holding water and making the tiles look damp? A dark towel will show up the residue if there is any.

How long after the shower was last used were those photos taken? Do the water marks disappear after a few hours?

Odd one, that.

 

[FiscoKing]

Yes, I wiped the tiles down.

pictures taken the day after the shower was used.

the marks go after a week.

After much discussion with other tilers, the thinking is that the grout has not gone proud enough (too much rubbed away with the grout sponge).

Where the marks appear, you can see the light brown of the unglazed tile on tile edge by the grout.

That's all I think this is.

The tiler has said he is coming back to take a look....

Fingers crossed. I \ He \ We may have to remove the grout and do it again.

 

[bananaspark]

did you seal the grout?

b/

 

[Robwearsred]

looks very much like mine when i got lazy and could not be bothered wipng all down!

You may need to scrape residue off with blade if it has wet-dried-wet multiple times.

Looks like you need to silicone the join between wall and deck and you can also by grout and tile sealer in aerosol form now. spray on and wipe off tile after 10min
(approx £20 per can=10sqm)

hope this helps.