Leaking walk-in shower tray

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Hi,

Just wondered if anyone had any advice on this. We've had a walk-in shower fitted as part of a bathroom renovation. The showed used a pre-formed tray which was fitted into the floor then tiled over. After about 6 months we noticed some wet patches on the ceiling of the room below. The builder came back, and had a look, along with his tiler. They reckoned that the grout had cracked, water was getting under the tiles, then the tray was filling up (under the tiles) and water was leaking over the edges, where the waterproof tray met the regular floor. They removed the tiles & re-tiled & re-grouted.

However the problem still seems to be occurring, and I'm fairly sure I can see cracks in the grouting again. The builder is coming back to have another look & a chat. Are there any common reasons why the grouting would be cracking again, just so I can be a bit more informed when meeting with the builder? Someone suggested the tray could be flexing, but surely if they used a pre-formed tray, it should be strong enough not to flex?

Thanks!
 
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i take it this is a wet room
tiles and grout have nothing to do with the leak, a properly layed wet room floor/wall with a proper tanking system can be used without any tiles on the floor/walls
was any tanking (waterproofing) fitted before tiles were fitted
 
Yet, it's a wet room. The floors & wall are all waterproof, and they are working fine - no leaking at all. The problem is that obviously at some point, the waterproof floor stops, and the normal floor starts. Above the tiles there is a glass partition, so the water can't get to the normal floor. However the water is getting under the tiles, and therefore getting under the glass partition, and getting over to the normal floor. At that point it comes through the ceiling.
 
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The shower tray won't flex, but it may be moving because that haven't laid it on a decent base. You haven't mentioned whether the leak could be coming from the shower waste, or it's absolutely from the tile area. Tanking is a damn good idea, but all it's going to do, is stop water from a bad installation going anywhere. Exactly where is the grout cracking; between the shower tray and the tiles?, the vertical lines? or where. There should be silicone sealant between the tray and the tiles, but unless there's some some sort of movement in the walls, the the grout should be cracking, so we need some clarification, or pictures please.
 
Some pictures maybe required here. I had mine in for 8 months and then it sprang a leak, turned out to be the rubber seal between the waste trap and the actual wetroom tray. I undid it all and reseated and all has been fine ever since. I did however have the foresight to install a hatch below the waste for such issues so didn't have to make a mess cutting the roof out, not to be smug so 5ft away a pipe sprag a leak at a elbow on the bath and I had to cut another hatch in DOH.

EDIT my wetroom was fully tanked in the shower area up the walls the lot all with a cement type board similar to the grey tray we used I had poured water in it before we tiled it to make sure it didn't leak.
 
I'm pretty sure it's not the waste pipe - the first time it happened, they took the floor up and ran the shower, and you could see the water was dripping down where the waterproof floor met the normal floor. There was nothing coming from the waste pipe. The grout is cracking around the tiles on the floor - it's mosaic tiles - i.e. the vertical/horizontal lines.
 
Sorry Rich, but I think we'll need some pics to clarify the setup. Are the mosaics on the floor in the wetroom area, and is this where you suspect the leaks coming from. If that's the case, then what are the mosaics tiled on to.
 
Apologies for not getting back to this, life got in the way. I've put an image below. The floor (small tiles) is on waterproof boarding. The walls are also waterproof boarding under the tiles. The problem seems to be that the floor flexes, the grout cracks & then water gets underneath, and tracks under the tiles on the left (as you look at the picture), thereby getting underneath the glass screen. On the other side of the glass screen are normal floorboards (under the tiles), so the water then finds its way through those floorboards.

I know someone suggested that the entire bathroom should have used waterproof boarding, but that wouldn't really solve the problem - water would still get under the tiles, and presumably in the end the tiles would all lift. It's also not really a solution right now, because it would mean ripping out the entire bathroom!!

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Do you know why the floor flexes, because it shouldn't. What sort of base was used, and was it a preformed base, or a made up one.
 
Do you know why the floor flexes, because it shouldn't. What sort of base was used, and was it a preformed base, or a made up one.

It was some sort of pre-shaped tray, made of some sort of blue material (the same as waterproof boarding used for the walls), that was put in place of the floorboards and then tiled over. The builder has suggested coming up from underneath & re-inforcing it to stop it flexing, so we'll see what happens. I just wondered whether flexing in these kind of situations was normal, and if so, how it was avoided.
 
You'd normally take out the floorboards and put in a piece of 22mm ply or chipboard with a bit of reinforcing across the joists to support it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I've just seen the new post so I edited my previous post out.

OP,
You say a "builder" removed the "floor boards" and replaced them with "some kind of blue material ... same as used on walls"? Can you be more specific, surely this "builder" knows the name of the blue stuff?
Whatever it is, without a sub-floor all remedial efforts will fail.
You will have to lift the shower floor - not only has the floor failed but now your tiles have also failed.
Perhaps you will post photos when the joists are exposed?
If you do we can take you through what to do next.
 
Last edited:
I've just seen the new post so I edited my previous post out.

OP,
You say a "builder" removed the "floor boards" and replaced them with "some kind of blue material ... same as used on walls"? Can you be more specific, surely this "builder" knows the name of the blue stuff?
Whatever it is, without a sub-floor all remedial efforts will fail.
You will have to lift the shower floor - not only has the floor failed but now your tiles have also failed.
Perhaps you will post photos when the joists are exposed?
If you do we can take you through what to do next.

I'm sure the builder knows what it's called, I'm not asking on his behalf, I'm just asking to try & make sure that the solution he's proposing is likely to work!
 

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