Shower leaks - help!

[fly]

whenever we use the ensuite shower we have water coming through downstairs....
I have checked two things:

1. waste - I have poured water into the shower tray and no water appears to be coming through downstairs.
2. supply - I have turned the shower on but blocked the water from exiting the shower head, also no water appears downstairs.

Any ideas where the leak could be??

 

[Bahco]

Water could be leaking from the top of the tray due to not being siliconed properly. Try spraying all around the edge of the tray (where it meets the wall) and see if this is the source of your leak.
If so buy a GOOD QUALITY sanitary silicone sealant and reseal ensuring all of the old sealant is removed first.
Any leaks can only come from as above, the waste or the plumbing so investigate thoroughly

 

[fly]

Thanks for the reply.
When we moved into the property <1yr, all the silicone seals were replaced. I've checked them again but seem ok.
I also ran the shower for 20 - 30 mins with no-one in the shower and it seemed ok.
As soon as there's someone in the shower drip, drip!!
The shower tray is solid ie not plastic.

We are thinking of replacing the whole shower unit - larger tray, power shower supplied by tank, re-tiling etc - Am thinking that by ripping everything out and starting from scratch may be an idea and should also find the source of the problem.

 

[Bahco]

It looks like the weight of person using the shower is breaking the seal.
For this reason a bath should be siliconed with it half full of water.
Get somebody to get in while you observe the seal and you will see cracks appear in the seal.
You will have to reseal. Ask the missus if she is prepared to stand in the shower tray overnight while the silicone cures .

 

[ChrisR]

Its very common for people to use inappropriate materials under tiles - plaster, for instance, or even worse, plasterboard! Chipboard is another fave.

So as soon as there's a pinhole in the grout, water has a way through, and down, and often past a shower tray or bath edge. Most things will mark grout so it looks dirty if you scrape at it, one good thing is the Pasplugs tile scorer, which has a wedge shaped carbide bit on the end. If you scrape at the grout you may well find it caves in at various points.
If so get some waterproof grout in there - it'll look new then!


Also check where any fittings are screwed to the walls - like a lower end of a vertical rail.

If you have a bath with a shower in it and aglass screen though, ten to one the water's going under the screen and down the side of the bath!

Try HOT water (bucket of) down the waste - a trickle of cold may not leak where a flood of hot will.

If desperate, remember its quite easy to mend a few small holes in a plasterboard ceiling, so making a few spy-holes to look up into can be a sensible way to go for diagnosis. I use an endoscope which I bought for the purpose.

 

[Archimedes]

Its very common for people to use inappropriate materials under tiles - plaster, for instance, or even worse, plasterboard!

People like Bovis Homes.

 

[JPC]

Consider a common problem. Assuming u have a shower door, where the rail has been screwed onto the tile, at the base of this many times they have not been siliconed properly.
The tray is siliconed on the inside, the shower door frame is silicined fron the outside, but many a times the bit right under the bottom of the vertical frame (thats screwed to the tiles) has not been siliconed. this is not really visible from looking..
Water runs down the side of the shower door, its also get under the bottom rail (the bit u walk over to get in the shower) and then runs down that not siliconed bit.
Sorry..if this is the problem...u'll have to remove shower door..resilicone as described and then refit.
Water with washing up liquid works wonders with silicone management !

 

[DJTRUEMAN]

HI I HAVE A VERY SIMILAR PROBLEM. IT DROVE ME MAD. I INSTALLED A WALK IN SHOWER AND EVERY TIME SOMEONE USED IT, IT LEAKED. I USED ALL TYPES OF SELANT AND NEVER WORKED. IT TURNED OUT THAT BECAUSE I HAVE WOODEN FLOOR BOARDS AND MY HOUSE IS QUITE OLD, AS SOON AS I STEPPED IN THE SHOWER THE FLOORBOARDS WOULD FLEX AND BREAK THE SHOWER SEALANT.
SINCE THEM I HAVE DISCOVERED A SPECIAL SEAL CALLED TELESEAL. IT COSTS AROUND £40. ITS WELL WORTH IT. BASICALLY ITS 3 PLASTIC STRIPS FIXED TOGETHER WHICH ENABLES UP TO 10MM FLEX IN YOUR SHOWER TRAY.
ITS A VERY NEW PRODUCT OUT SO NOT MANY PLACES SELL IT, BUT YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO BUY IT IF YOU TYPE IT IN TO A SEARCH ENGINE


MOD

please see item 6

 

[Bahco]

DJ

Thanks .
You have just probably shed some light on my problem that I had a few weeks ago.
I too have tiled over wooden floorboards with flexi adhesive and was infuriatingly getting a leak from somewhere no matter what I tried.
See here for details.

Drove me mad , and your explanation makes sense.

 

[bathjobby]

Not used this product (but it looks good) but have seen it in Tiles-R-Us for those interested.

 

[mullynavarnouge]

I also had a leaking shower and found an easy solution.

I reinstalled my shower tray and used a product called Classi Seal. It's a flexible rubber waterproof strip that stretches 15 mm behing the tiles. It took 2 minutes to fit to the back of the tray, then I tiled over the rubber lip.

I got if from Plumb Center in Belfast and it cost me £20.

The store told me all the big House builders in Ireland have used it successfully for years.

Worked for me.

Address on the box is: http://www.classic-marble.com/classiseal.htm

 

[hannahsdad]

I also had a leaking shower and found an easy solution.

I reinstalled my shower tray and used a product called Classi Seal. It's a flexible rubber waterproof strip that stretches 15 mm behing the tiles. It took 2 minutes to fit to the back of the tray, then I tiled over the rubber lip.

I got if from Plumb Center in Belfast and it cost me £20.

The store told me all the big House builders in Ireland have used it successfully for years.

Worked for me.

Address on the box is: http://www.classic-marble.com/classiseal.htm[/QUOTE]

Having stumbled across this post I did a bit more digging and found a Product Test on Classi Seal. It convinced me and I have to say that this product is absolutely amazing, product test should be here http://www.pro-builder.tv/producttests/classicmarble_classiseal/classicmarble_classiseal.html

 

[Kev F]

Its very common for people to use inappropriate materials under tiles - plaster, for instance, or even worse, plasterboard!

People like Bovis Homes.

or most house builders for that who also never seem to pva anything

 

[breezer]

Archimedes, may have a different opinion now, since he only potsed that comment 4 years ago and also stopped posting back in 2004

may i suggest yoiu check the date a post was made and does the poster still post

 

[jcswright]

Archimedes may have a different opinion by now, but it's interesting to hear of people suffering from similar problems to me.

I have a Bovis home as well, and just began removing the tiles from my bath/shower. They had been fixed onto plasterboard with no evidence of any tanking, and over time there has been a leak down into the garage below which I have only just discovered.

The bath seal (a solid extrusion fixed with sealant) appeared reasonably intact on removal, and the damage to the plasterboard doesn't rule out the possibility of the grout leaking.

I don't want to re-tile the whole bathroom, and so I'm going to replace the two walls by the shower with a product called multiPanel (www.multipanel.co.uk) - to prove I'm not placing an advert for them here are the details of one of their competitors! (www.mermaidpanels.com)

Having done a bit of research in to bath/shower seals, I'm going to try to find a supplier of 'Teleseal10'. There are a number of seals which use the silicone as a flexible 'flap' to accommodate movement, but in this case I want something I can blend into the seal over the tiles of the third wall and Teleseal has the option of being fitted over existing tiles.

None of this was helped by the blockage of the extracter fan by the bodged-up flexible pipe held on with insulating tape, but I don't want this post to appear to be a rant against Bovis Homes - I know people who have moved into other houses of similar ages built by different house-builders and I think you can find examples of shoddy workmanship wherever you look.

So if anyone has any experience of TeleSeal (www.teleseal.co.uk) please let me know!
Thanks.