I would be contacting the building company. Looks like a waterproofing issue before the shower went in. Put your query in writing, and use these photos and much like you have done here, keep emotion out of it. Keep the thread going to monitor progress
docsportello,
Oct 23, 1:22pm
Yep seems pretty obvious what happened. Start the legal ball rolling and try not to worry about it too much.
stevo2,
Oct 23, 1:47pm
^^^ What he said ^^^
cagivachick1,
Oct 23, 6:20pm
if the shower was leaking i would expect more sign especially wet carpet, is there a water pipe in the wall above the wet area? where does the shower rose point? at the wet bit? before you go ripping tiles off cut some of the gib out where its wet and have a look, is there sign of movement in the shower tiles eg cracked grout also is it a wooden floor or on a slab, if there is a crack in the slab it may not be the tilers fault if there is enough movement to rip the waterproofing
cagivachick1,
Oct 23, 6:24pm
looking at the pic if the wet bit is half way along that wall you have the mixer and outlet, lots of plumbing in there to let go, generally if a tiled shower is going to leak it will leak from day one,
atlantis3,
Oct 23, 6:37pm
I would cut a hole in the plaster board (easy to fix and also it is inside a wardrobe) to see what is really going on.
maclad,
Oct 23, 6:47pm
I would not try any DIY as you should still be under warranty. Contact builders/insurance as this should not be on you in such a recent build.
maddie44,
Oct 23, 6:49pm
Agreed, be stupid to touch it .
happychappy50,
Oct 23, 6:56pm
As several have suggested . cut outa section of wall lining opposite the flickmixer & shower rose outletthat should reveal if it is either of those points,if not cut another section 100 mm above the skirting as it could be membrane failure,just a word of warning . contact the builder 1st if they do not wish to respond,elevate it as this should be covered by builders warranty.I did plenty of these in Australia,95% of the time it was one or the other options.Under no circumstance do it yourself,you will leave a gap for the builder to remove his warranty.Good luck
happychappy50,
Oct 23, 7:01pm
On having a 2 nd look I highly suspect membrane failure,it's in the corner & these are the weakest point in a wet floor,could be that the membrane may not have cured before it was tiled as most membranes are water based in NZ & if not cured they turn to mush when water hits it,as I mentioned in my previous post,have seen so many I could write a book
daz59,
Oct 23, 7:34pm
Thanks for the replies. I suspect this is going to be a tricky one. The building inspection did pickup a crack in the grouting on that same wall and the corner of the tile did look like it had slightly moved away from the wall. In the contract before it went to action the owners agreed to have the shower repaired water tight in a tradesman like manner (it appears they had only filled the crack with silicone). When transfering the masterbuilder guarantee over to me I had to inform them of this, they opt out of any prior issues. So I guess it would have to be on the company that built the house or the contractor that did the shower? apparently shower water proofing aswell as blumbing has to last for fourty years? if it doesnt last that long the contractor is responsible?
cagivachick1,
Oct 23, 8:26pm
fourty years i doubt it more like 7 to 10, the tiles, grout are just decoration the waterproofing is doing all the heavy lifting, tiled showers dont just start leaking several years down the track, they either leak or they dont, get in touch with the bldr who built the house and have him get in touch with his tiler, then you hope that the tiler was paid in full or he may be of the opinion that its too bad as far as he is concerned the contract wasnt fulfilled so he has no warranty, you will also find the masterbuild insurance isnt worth a knob of goat poo
gabbysnana,
Oct 24, 6:29pm
Seen a lot of this. Failure to waterproof walls behind tiles. It has a guarantee. Start there.
cagivachick1,
Oct 24, 7:25pm
dont know what industry you are in but if that shower wasnt waterproofed it wouldnt have lasted this long
happychappy50,
Oct 24, 8:25pm
The crack in the joint between the wall & joint union can many things OP,repairing it with silicone is like p. g into the wind.Speak to your builder/tiler & go from there,they may try & spin it out,just stick to your guns,only remedy is to remove the tiles,re waterproof & retile.There was a product yrs ago,like a liquid that was poured over the tiles,that worked for awhile but failed,in the end i just ripped everything out.I presume you have a concrete floor?
happychappy50,
Oct 24, 8:41pm
With the membrane lasting or being warranted for that time . that's b s most membranes carry a 10 yr warranty,however will last longer.I'm more than sure the membrane has torn or the waterproofer/tiler may not have installed a bond breaker or cloth matting to the joints . I have seen that a few times. To give you an idea how lazy some of these guys are yrs ago I had a maintenance contract with a huge developer in Sydney,they had issues with leaking showers in a fairly new apartment (2 yrs old) in a very affluent suburb.I was asked to investigate & I found every shower had no bondbreaker,the tiling company went bust as the developer took them to court,I repaired several then passed it all over to a tiling company to do ALL of them,the majority of the owners were high end executives,it was a s t fight but my mates did very well out of it.
daz59,
Oct 24, 9:40pm
I emaild the company yesterday, if they dont reply by mid day tomorrow ill give them a call. Have read that tile showers may be the next leaky home.
happychappy50,
Oct 24, 9:47pm
Could be,scince being back in NZ 5 yrs,I have repaired several,all of them due to poor workmanship,one had no membrane & was a tiled floor direct fix to floor boards ! Many factors in building these days,mainly trades who if not supervised will try it on,mainly due to being paid crap,just a few who make everyone else look bad,was the same in Aus.As I said,stick to your guns,not sure how warrantys work here,but in Aus was 7 yrs on anything structural. which included waterproofing.
daz59,
Oct 25, 5:13pm
Talked to the company that built the house today, they will be over on Friday to have a look.
4treacy,
Mar 21, 4:58pm
Hi, I see you have had a lot of advice but the one thing no one has spoken about is the mould. You need to place plastic and tape around it to contain it as it looks like black mould and that is incredibly dangerous if not treated properly so do not let the builder just cut that out as it needs treating and the area needs to be sealed off so no spores contaminate the rest of the room.
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