Help!: Water ingress????

[pistol13]

Hi guys, finished a shower at the end of june and customer called January to say tiles are changing colour. Went to have a look and the bottom row of tiles in the shower area are darker, guessing water ingress. The walls are new pb and are tanked (wp1) and fixed with cement based addy and grout (bal). so what is the fix for this problem. I'm stumped on what to do. Any suggestions? Tiles are matt ceramic.

[Colour Republic]

If it's just the bottom row, the only difference that i can see between those tiles and the rest is 1) it's more than likely a cut. 2) They are siliconed to the tray. My guess whould be the silicone is not sealing it.

saying that the bottom row is going to be in contact with water longer because of the splash back from the tray when in use

[whitebeam]

Your grout is water resistent not water proof, if the shower is getting a lot of use water may ingress, as your,ve stated and wetting the back of the tile especially if it has a biscuit base

[pistol13]

Cheers, so how do i fix the problem? told customer not to use until it has dried buts its been a week and its still the same!

[wetdec]

Wont dry until you take them off you have a trap between glaze and tanking.

Cut bottom row out and leave them dry, will also let you see whats going on.




..

[P'boro tiler]

how do you stop this problem arising? should we be using epoxy instead

[wetdec]

No

Either use a bath trim or I would leave a spacer gap 3mm between bottom tile and tray. when dry and grouted run your silicone well into the space b4 finishing it off.

[CBTC]

No

Either use a bath trim or I would leave a spacer gap 3mm between bottom tile and tray. when dry and grouted run your silicone well into the space b4 finishing it off.

Yes - what he said

[P'boro tiler]

thats what i do! i thought the problem was from water getting stuck

[doug boardley]

is it on all 3 sides (I'm assuming 3 sides and a screen door) The reason I ask is that something similar happened to me once and it was due to a leaky fitting that the plumber had done and was dripping down the inside of the stud work and rising back up the wall with the valve on. It was more noticeable obviously on the valve wall.

[pistol13]

cheers for the replys, so is this a fixing error by me or cheap biscuit tiles soaking up water like a rich tea! i loathe to have to repair for nowt if its not my fault.

[Dave]

The water could have also soaked in through the joints if grout is recessed back...some cheaper tiles do soak water up....and will continue to happen if water can get into the biscuit..these cheaper tiles have no glaze at all around the edges..

You seem to have done all the correct things ...regarding tanking etc.....so hard to say without seeing the job...

[cornish_crofter]

The water could have also soaked in through the joints if grout is recessed back...some cheaper tiles do soak water up....and will continue to happen if water can get into the biscuit..these cheaper tiles have no glaze at all around the edges..

You seem to have done all the correct things ...regarding tanking etc.....so hard to say without seeing the job...

Who supplied the tiles?

[pistol13]

Its 2 walls and my first thought was a leak but after much thought cannot see how it could be with the tanking etc. it's really peed me off, I've done loads of jobs for builders without tanking (dont wanna get into the pros and cons of that!) and had no issues, then do this job for a private customer belt and braces etc and it goes tits up so to speak.

[pistol13]

Local tile shop, not through me thankfully. i'm thinking of getting them involved before i start pulling things to bits. What do you think.

[doug boardley]

I think they'll shrug their shoulders and deny any responsibility

[cornish_crofter]

Local tile shop, not through me thankfully. i'm thinking of getting them involved before i start pulling things to bits. What do you think.

I would be careful here.

If the tiles are at fault and the customer supplied them then you are in the clear. Getting the tile shop involved will just result in a carafully worded denial that anything could possibly be wrong with their tiles. It seems to me that companies involved in the tiling business have a very good way of shifting the blame, it's a kind of black art.

The question to ask is that 'Is it reasonable to expect the tiles not to soak up moisture in a normal shower application?'

If the tiles are at fault then you should IMO explain this to the customer, you cannot be held responsible for tiles you didn't supply. Why should you take these problems on when you haven't even had a hand in supplying them?

I explain to customers that I cannot be held responsible for substandard materials they provide.

[pistol13]

Thanks fellas, been some excellent responses and quick too. I'm going to see the job again later this week, i'll let you know how i get on. cheers one again.

[Dave]

Get some pics.....

[pistol13]

Already got some, should i post them up?

[Dave]

please do..

[pistol13]

I thought i had 2 pics but just the one. This is the only corner with the shower on the left hand wall.

[Dave]

What silicone did you use......or is the customer not the best cleaner..lol..

[pistol13]

lol yeah it looks a bit dirty, I told em to keep it clean from soap and body fats ect. I cannot remember the silicone brand. Only use good quality materials though!

[cornish_crofter]

Is it just me or is anyone else having trouble seeing the problem with the bottom row of tiles?

[pistol13]

Theres not much in it but to be fair to my customer they are definitely are darker in colour. Camera does'nt show it too well.

[Colour Republic]

Just a thought, did you do the cuts at the end of the job and use a different box? on the off chance could the tiles always have been slightly darker and nobody noticed until now? different batch maybe?
i'd have a look around the room and see if any others are darker, a long shot i know but worth a quick look

[cornish_crofter]

Just a thought, did you do the cuts at the end of the job and use a different box? on the off chance could the tiles always have been slightly darker and nobody noticed until now? different batch maybe?
i'd have a look around the room and see if any others are darker, a long shot i know but worth a quick look

Good point, I've had this. I've had about 3 different shades within the same job before now.

Got to say that the shading is not that obvious from the photo. The chances are that the customer's just noticed a problem that's been there all along and is not the fixers fault.

Tiles, you get what you pay for.

[pistol13]

Great point that never crossed my mind. Very possible that i opened a new box for the last row of cuts but cannot remember (it was June!). Thanks for all the top advice guys.