Leaking Shower

dlcj

hey guys. I have a customer who ive done alot of misc. work for over the last couple years (some ive mentioned on CT). Now he just had a tile shower built in one of his houses and it is leaking under the door. I think the guys who done it owed him money and he got them to do this and about 3 months worth of other work on his property (some of witch they f...ed up too) as payment. He does not want them back and wants me to fix it.
My first look at it i found that the door was not completly caulked so i did it thinking i had it fixed. Nope it still leaked. Next time i just poured cups of water slowley on the inside of the door and curb till it leaked. I found the water is wicking through the grout lines from the inside of the curb under the door and caulk and to the outside on to the floor. Im not a pro tile guy but the one shower me and a friend did for his house we tilted the curb slightly inward and his does not leak.
Short of taking the door out, ripping up the tile and rebuilding the curb is there something that can be applied to stop it? Does tile and grout sealer stop water? I didnt think it did.

kevjob

I would check to see if there is a liner in the pan, if not tear it out and start over.

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Kevin
Basement Finishing Highlands Ranch Colorado
Littleton Colorado, Basement Remodeling
Kitchen Remodeling Denver

dlcj

yeah i was wondering about that too. However even if there is this leak will still be happening.
The owner does not live here. Its a hunting lodge. I asked the guy that lives on the property and oversees the hunting land if he saw anything that resembled a liner under the tile during construction. He was in and out occasionaly but he dont remember seeing a liner but he knows nothing about building anything and would'nt have known what was wrong anyway.

send_it_all

Doesn't seem like too much work to remove the tile from the top of the curb and replace it with a piece of granite or marble to get rid of the grout joint and in the process, tilt it slightly into the shower as you mentioned. Maybe after the tiles are removed, you will see whether there is a liner or not.

dlcj

may have to do that. Just hoped there was something that i could try and seal the grout with first.
I kinda hope there is not a liner. Will make a weeks pay and add to the assurance those other a-holes dont get anymore my work. Woops, did i say (type) that out loud? Was that wrong?

R&D Tile

Grout and sealers aren't waterproof, rip out the curb and rebuild it and hope that's all that's wrong here.

PrecisionFloors

I'd be willing to bet that, if the curb is done wrong, the rest of the shower is too....curb is the easy part

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JDS

I like to do the job right the first time, if you mask the problem, you will look crappy in the customers eyes.

Tear it up and do it right. If you insist on hacking the job, look up epoxies, but that is not the answer here for a quality job.

onenia

I had a problem with a leaking shower. Turns out the shower pan liner was defective and had a hole that was causing the leak. If we didn't tear everything out we would have never known it because it was a new liner.
So I agree the best way to fix the problem is to start from scratch.

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Floordude

Sounds like a total tear out and actually putting a liners and done right, instead of the handyman special.

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dlcj

Thanks for the imput. Ill run it by the owner and see if he will let me take up the curb top and slope it inward. There should be a membrane under it. If not the whole floor and 12" up the walls has to come out. Hope i can find the tile to match.

JDS

Glad to hear you are going to do it the right way. Content Customers make Paydays Possible.

dlcj

any suggestions on how to see if the liner is there without damaging it if it is? If i take a tile off the curb the membrane still wont be visable. It should be under the backer board or a layer of cement. correct? Carefully drill a hole and caulk it up if its there?

Jerry T

Have you checked to see if the bottom track is screw mounted instead of using silicone?

kevjob

look under the subfloor belwo the shower might be able to see it around the drain.

__________________
Kevin
Basement Finishing Highlands Ranch Colorado
Littleton Colorado, Basement Remodeling
Kitchen Remodeling Denver

dlcj

Jerry- I dont think there any screws in the bottom track. Its only a 24" wide swinging door. The other guys caulked it but left some gaps in the corners so i originally thought i had fix the problem when i siliconed the hell out of it inside and out. No i did not plug up the drain back channel from the bottom track.
Kev- The floor is concrete. They had to cut and dig a trench over to the toilet area to connect the drain for this new shower.

Im going out there today to do some other work. Ill see if i can look down the drain or something to see the liner. They will be there this week end and dont want to tear into it on thursday.

Jerry T

It's refreshing to see a guy so conscientious about his work..... carry on partner

dlcj

Heres a pic but it dont tell you anything.

JazMan

DLCJ, how about a name to call you?

You said; "It should be under the backer board or a layer of cement."

If backer board was installed over the liner and no waterproffing membrane applied over the board, it is NOT watertight.

Jaz

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