Would you expect to see water seeping out from behind the silicone sealant around the floor/wall joint? It is a tiled shower with a ledge about 400mm x 100mm across one end. There is also water coming from this joint as well. Noticed this morning a small area on floor that was constantly wet, even after drying it properly. Have been watching it all day & mopping up the seepage several times. Thought perhaps our thorough scrubbing to clean the grout had somehow forced water to get under the silicone. So hubby decided to remove some of the silicone & the more he removed the more the water poured out! We have now mopped up all the water & will check it in the morning. The shower was installed in 2011 by reputable tradies & was properly waterproofed etc. Any comments or experience of this happeneing?
zak410,
Jul 21, 10:26am
No, I think you should contact the reputable tradies for their advice; If you can post photos here someone may offer more help as well.
unclejake,
Jul 21, 10:59am
I'd say you have a leaky pipe.
cagivachick1,
Jul 21, 7:17pm
at least the waterproofing is doing its job, obviously water is getting behind the tiles so as my mate jake says you have a leaky pipe or a hole in the grout, dont resilicone it at the moment let it drain
happychappy50,
Jul 21, 7:26pm
Could be a leak behind the wall from your water pipes or the joints in the tap fittings,I would remove housings around the taps/mixer & investigate,failing that cut a hole in the gib in the wall behind the shower at the tap level & that will reveal all the fittings so you can determine that . Gib is easy to repair as against removing tiles & compromising waterproofing.Also,if it is the tap fittings often there is tell tale signs of water damage at the wall/floor Union in the backing wall wet carpet,blown skirtings etc etc all the best
happychappy50,
Jul 21, 7:28pm
As Cava mentioned do not re silicone as there is a problem & you need to source it,once you do that you can take remedial steps
lythande1,
Jul 21, 7:46pm
Leak behind the wall, call a plumber.
gag5,
Jul 22, 2:15am
ok - all the silicone sealant has been removed from floor & wall corner joins. Have mopped up a lot of water from these gaps by pushing rolled up toilet tissue into the gap. Still one or two areas where the tissue is getting wet but no where near as bad as yesterday. Have turned on shower (into a bucket) & that didnt appear make any more water run out. We are hoping it is a case of the sealant losing its seal & water has got behind it. Trying to borrow a fan heater to day to put in there to help dry thoroughly before decideing whether to re-silicone ourselves or call the tiler. We had also noticed the floor grout lines have got quite deep, as in it looks like not enough grout - also some holes. Is it possible for grout to wear away over a few years? The wall lines look fine. No, we won't re silicone until we know exactly what has caused it. Thanks for comments.
gag5,
Jul 22, 2:24am
happychappy - mixer & showerhead are on different walls. Tiles also on wall at floor level behind mixer - no carpet or skirtings. So hoping it is not anything more than leakage behind sealant.
unclejake,
Jul 22, 11:15am
All good moves.
Apart from your idea that water may have gotten behind the sealant - the two other obvious options are still 1) a leaking shower fitting (seems slightly less likely based on your update), or 2) water ingress from a source above the shower wall (i.e. a roofing related rain leak or a drain issue from the storey above the shower (if you have one).
Just food for thought. Once you get a good idea of the repeatable volume of water discharge you could try turning off the house water for a day to see if it changes noticeably. This kind of diagnostic information may help your plumber hone in onto the actual source faster. You can have them do a pressure test on your plumbing, but if the leak is small it's sometimes a bit hard to be definitive with a pressure test.
The advice you got about not resealing the joins yet is spot on.
happychappy50,
Jul 22, 7:21pm
Another thought on your issue,water maybe getting under the flanges of the taps/mixer check to see if they are sealing ok
gag5,
Jul 23, 3:06am
got a fan heater in there now (there goes the power bill). Tissues still quite wet this morning. Been under the house & nothing seems to be evident there. Am thinking we may have to remove ALL the grout lines (if this is possible?) Seems to me if there is water coming from silicone lines, there would be water behind all the tiles. also, seepage coming from opposite end of shower (1800mm x 1000mm) - you would think the water would run towards the outlet in teh middle.
cagivachick1,
Jul 23, 4:59am
how a tiled shower works is for the floor you have a slope towards the drain either formed in plaster/ concrete or timber framed floor, the drain has to be suitable to waterproof into. the walls and floor are then waterproofed, hopefully with something like Mapei Aquadefence with mapeiband for the corner reinforcing all done according to spec. Thats it really. the tiles are just for looking at . the grout is just to fill the gaps between the tiles. the silicone goes in the corners because it allows room for expansion etc and if you grout that it would crack. If there is water coming out of the wall floor joint obviously water is behind the tiles. there is only 2 ways that can happen (1) leaking pipe or mixer (2) water getting through the grout somewhere. Be thankfull its not getting through the waterproofing into the floor. The amount of water coming out probably means there is a bit of a build up in behind the tiles as its probably been happening for a while before you saw the water coming out. Get the plumbing checked and if there is no obvious signs of leaks then go over the grout with a magnifiying glass see if you can spot a obvious hole especially where the water hits the wall
gag5,
Jul 26, 12:53am
thanks for that explanation. We are sure (but not 100%) that the water has got in behind the tiles. There is still seepage. Yes, there are 1 or 2 small holes in grout. One, when we picked at it, as it appeared to be loose/soft grout, has left quite a gap. Am not impressed at all with the tilers workmanship. As even soon after having the job done, we got him to re-grout the floor lines - for some reason that right now escapes me! Hubby reluctant to ph the builder or plumber - likes to figure these things out himself.
summersunnz,
Jul 26, 1:26am
I'd go back to the tradie that did the work in 2011 for you. is there a guarantee period for his/her work?
gag5,
Jul 26, 6:38am
mmm - not sure - will have to check the paperwork.
cagivachick1,
Nov 13, 10:57am
its covered under the Consumers Guarantee Act as far as a warantee goes
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