Leak in the en-suite......

B

Bob the slob

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Noticed a small wet patch just outside of the ensuite bathroom. Partner says it could be a faulty waste pipe but I noticed the grout in the en-suite shower is all cracked and fallen away where the shower tray meets the tiles.

Could this be a cause?

How serious a problem is this?

I was going to just regrout the walls and use sealer at the bottom to see if it works. Will I have to worry about the wetness under the shower tray, floor tiles etc?
 
i dont think that there should be line of grout where the tiles meet the shower tray...normally line of white silicon here to allow for ''some'' movement when standing on the tray.. Is it tiled long or just recent?
 
Yeah thats what I thought too. I'm in the place two years. Am gonna seal it later with silicone and see if there is any improvement.

is there any way of easily drying underneath the shower tray though?
 
There's special bathroom grade silicone which includes anti fungal agents and that.. you should use it.. or there might be other specialist products too which might be more suitable.
 
Get a bathroom sealant as suggested, place a weight in shower tray, bag of sand etc. Then cut nossle to the size of bead required, then seal. Try to do it all at once, if you have to go over a part again, spit on finger and rub down. the silicone will not stick to spit. the weight will mimic person in shower and will allow for the silicone to expand when it has set.
 
Bob the slob said:
Noticed a small wet patch just outside of the ensuite bathroom. Partner says it could be a faulty waste pipe but I noticed the grout in the en-suite shower is all cracked and fallen away where the shower tray meets the tiles.

Could this be a cause?

How serious a problem is this?

I was going to just regrout the walls and use sealer at the bottom to see if it works. Will I have to worry about the wetness under the shower tray, floor tiles etc?
Click to expand...

Some questions for clarification purposes; -
  • Is this a house or apartment
  • Are the floors concrete or timber
  • Are you the owner or are you renting
  • Is there habitable space below the level of the en-suite
Whatever is causing the stain may have been going on for some time and even a small leak into an unventilated interstitial space can allow water to build up.

If its a house, and its yours and the en-suite is upstairs and the floor is timber with a plaster ceiling below you should try to establish if any water is resting on the floorboards or in the ceiling void by looking at the ceiling of the room below the en-suite and noting any damp patches.

If this is an apartment and/or you're renting you may have responsibilities under your rental agreement/building management contract to alert others to a possible leak and either take steps to remedy it yourself or ask others to do so.

However, given that you noticed a wet patch and not a damp patch [dark mould staining the wall plaster/floor covering] this may be a relatively recent leak and not caused by the grout.
Leaks seldom solve themselves.
You may need a plumber.

One way to check if its a recent leak leading to water in interstitial flood spaces is to bore or cut a small hole in the ceiling directly under the en-suite in the vicinity of the wet patch you noticed.
This may also prevent any water from reaching the electrical wiring in the ceiling void and shorting it out, if it hasn't already.
That's because any accumulated water should run out.

HTH

ONQ
 
Yes, as DavyJones says.. you have to 'tool down' the silicone to ensure a good bond... if I were you I'd mask both the shower tray and the tiles with masking tape..

so clean the join very well, with a hard brush, something like an oversized toothbrush would be good, or any hard brush, even a wire brush.. set the masking tape about 4mm to 8mm from the join itself.. then lash on the silicone, try to squeeze it nice and deep into the join, so point the center of the nozzle into the join.. then with a wet finger run along the join which smoothes it down and makes it look nice, it removes the excess and it forces it down to stick well ('tooling down')... then remove both pieces of the masking tape, this will pull the silicone away very slightly at the edges, so then lightly run along again with a wet finger, then you'll have a nice job and it will be stuck and sealed well.

You can do it without the masking tape but it's harder than it looks and needs a bit of experience as you might not be able to get a even 'bead' or flow and it'd end up very messy, and the silicone sticks to everything, it's really hard to get it off, so using wide masking tape is best, about 1.5 inches wide, or 2 inches wide...
 
cheers lads. Well have stopped using the shower and the wet patch has dried up. So scraped oout the grout with the cracks in it on the wall, scraped out the grout where the wall meets the shower tray and sealed it with a bathroom sealer.

Will let you know how I get on.

Thanks for all the advice.
 
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