Pearl white shower tiles turning blue?

J

jonathen

Hi DIYers!

I hope someone can help me. A couple of years ago I had my shower ripped out and replaced and all has been well until recently. I've noticed that some of the bottom tiles in the shower have turned a sort of blueish colour! The tiles are pearl white (gloss) and yet some of them have changed colour (as you can see in the attached image - the tiles within the red area).

At first I thought this was rising damp behind the tiles (I hope not!), but if so, why does the colour change for a whole tile, and in some cases, for a whole row of tiles? Why not change halfway - surely damp/mould is not that orderly!

I'm at a loss as to what this is, and I think we could have a serious damp problem, because the shower and tiles before were rotten, so we had them all ripped out and replaced, but I'm worried that maybe the builders did not allow time for the walls to dry out...

Any help/suggestions appreciated!

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I can't see it in your picture, but it might possibly be a buildup of limescale/soap/detergent etc

Try one of those "bathrooom cleaner" sprays such as Flash or Muscle , and a white nylon scourer.

I had something similar on a white basin, and that shifted it.

In my case it looked like a greenish haze (I have a water softener)
 
If you look at the shower base at the bottom of the picture, that is how white the tiles above it were, and how white all the other tiles are. This blueness has spread all the way around the bottom 2 levels of tiles (on all 3 walls), and in some places, to 3 levels.

We clean the shower reguarly, there's no soap scum or anything else on the tiles - they're spotless. It's almost as if the discolouring is coming from inside/behind the tiles.
 
At a guess I would say they are wet - i.e. the tile is wet all the way through.

I put white 8x8 tiles on and one or two were taken off and cleaned for re-use. As an amateur I do occasionally get it wrong. Those I cleaned went in a bucket of water to soften the adhesive and they went a similar colour, gave them a day to dry and they came back to white. Now that is easy to do when they are loose . . . . . . .

What happens if you don't use the shower for a week?

What is on the other side of the walls?
 
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they are probably 6"x 6" turkish whites @ 7p a pop.

replace 'em all you tightwad. :eek: :LOL: ;)
 
it might be that you have to remove that red line first, it could be attracting the water, i first saw this a few years ago, the red line syndrome, it can creep up on people and before you know you have discoloured tiles. its a sorry state of affairs when it happens.
 
I think I'm going to remove those tiles (and the dry row above) and dry the wall out behind (and the tiles too) as I think you are right - the tiles have gotten wet behind them.

Oh well, thanks for your help, IJWS15.

P.S jefoss - thanks for the advice about the red line - why didn't I think of that! ;)
 

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