Help troubleshoot leaking shower

[lemerv]

Hi all, having some trouble with water leaking from our shower. I'm trying to get someone in to look at it but having a bit of trouble. I called a tiler, who said to call a plumber to rule out pipe issues. The plumber said to call a moister checker to get a better diagnosis. Still trying to find a moister checker! Everyone is b busy at the moment.

In the meantime, I wanted to ask if anyone can suggest a cause for the leak just to help me work out who to actually get in to have a look.

The shower was renovated about 4 years ago (before we bought the house).Shower is on the second floor, with mixture of timber framing and brick wall under the floor. Main concern is that is impacting the timber framing in the floor. The shower has an aggressive slope inwards towards the drain, so I would think that any water managing to leak is from spray while showering, not necessarily "pooling" water? The leak is in one corner (as far as I can tell anyway).

I've got a moisture meter I use for woodworking and I've put it up against the drywall on the other side of wall from the shower (see image below) and I get fine readings (around 16-17% with meter on "drywall" mode). Not sure if that is good or it just is the wrong spot to measure.

I've tried putting a bit of silicon along the inside but that either hasn't lasted or didn't work.

Anyway, while I wait for someone to be able to come and have a look, any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. Cheers



Shower area:
IMG_0452.jpeg

Corner that is leaking:
IMG_0453.jpeg

Damage to moulding and bit of mould in the carpet:
IMG_0454.jpeg

IMG_0455.jpeg

IMG_0456.jpeg

Moisture Check:
IMG_0457.jpeg

[droog]

Well can see a few issues in the picture.

With the timber profile section up against join of the glass to the wall there could well be a leak behind there and you will never know, remove the profile section and see if there is any evidence.
Next the profile section looks to sit on the tile, thats a good start but there does not appear to be any sealant, so water will be drawn into the endgrain unless it is sealed, if your leak is as per above then its irrelevant anyway.
Cannot see from the pictures but is the door jamb installed on top of the tile or recessed into the tile bed ?

The biggest issue I see is the sloped tile section at the door, assuming that the waterstop angle is installed and tanked correctly to stop water escaping the area its location being below the tile level in the rest of the room means that water build up under the tiles is above the height of the waterstop and will overflow it out to the carpet area..
A waterstop angle needs to be install at or above the tile height in the room, and tanked to prevent water escaping the room or getting to any of the timberwork.

[havabeer69]

depending on what your plastering skills are like you can try tacking a large patch of plaster off the other side of the shower wall and have a look in.

will help show you if there's any damage to the bottom plate etc. normally patching up a bit of plaster won't cost you an arm and a leg if it turns out to be nothing.



I had a similar issue in a shower and it was the water proofing that had failed, in the end it was bad enough that you could see the water dripping through with the shower spraying on the wall.

[mic-d]

Yes get rid of that architrave and look at the sealing hidden by it. Not bad idea to cut a hole on the other side and see how far it goes although make sure it is plaster and not cement sheet which might contain asbestos. It worries me that it looks like that's an original architrave and not even removed perhaps. So how could the sheeting be properly waterproof if it wasn't removed and replaced. I wonder if they've just tiled over tile and not really done a thorough job

[lemerv]

Well can see a few issues in the picture.

With the timber profile section up against join of the glass to the wall there could well be a leak behind there and you will never know, remove the profile section and see if there is any evidence.
Next the profile section looks to sit on the tile, thats a good start but there does not appear to be any sealant, so water will be drawn into the endgrain unless it is sealed, if your leak is as per above then its irrelevant anyway.
Cannot see from the pictures but is the door jamb installed on top of the tile or recessed into the tile bed ?

The biggest issue I see is the sloped tile section at the door, assuming that the waterstop angle is installed and tanked correctly to stop water escaping the area its location being below the tile level in the rest of the room means that water build up under the tiles is above the height of the waterstop and will overflow it out to the carpet area..
A waterstop angle needs to be install at or above the tile height in the room, and tanked to prevent water escaping the room or getting to any of the timberwork.

Yep good idea. I think I’ll remove the profile section to get a better look. As you can see from the pictures the bottom of the profile is indeed drawing up water and has a whole section rotted away.

The sloped tile section is an obvious problem! I never even noticed that. Since I know this place was renovated about 4 years ago I’m guessing they tiled over the old tiles or something like that? Maybe that’s why it is raised so much higher than the carpeted area?

[lemerv]

depending on what your plastering skills are like you can try tacking a large patch of plaster off the other side of the shower wall and have a look in.

will help show you if there's any damage to the bottom plate etc. normally patching up a bit of plaster won't cost you an arm and a leg if it turns out to be nothing.



I had a similar issue in a shower and it was the water proofing that had failed, in the end it was bad enough that you could see the water dripping through with the shower spraying on the wall.

Not a bad idea. I’ve got the tools to do it. Never plastered before so…

I assume if waterproofing is failing then all the tiles have to come out and waterproofing redone from scratch?

[lemerv]

Yes get rid of that architrave and look at the sealing hidden by it. Not bad idea to cut a hole on the other side and see how far it goes although make sure it is plaster and not cement sheet which might contain asbestos. It worries me that it looks like that's an original architrave and not even removed perhaps. So how could the sheeting be properly waterproof if it wasn't removed and replaced. I wonder if they've just tiled over tile and not really done a thorough job

Sorry what’s the architrave? Is that the rounded moulding?

Yes the extra height of the floor relative to the carpeted area makes me think they tiled over the original tile.