Help!: Tiles changing colour

[MIKETILER]

Have been tiling for a few years and have never come accross this problem before.I laid glazed tiles in a bath/shower and over the last 6-8 weeks some of them have changed to a darker colour.I immediately thought that there was some sort of water ingress at the back and this was soaking into the biscuit.After inspection everything is bone dry.The customer bought the tiles from topps and they were fairly cheap £9.00 a box.One of their staff had heard of this before and said it could be the adhesive that has reacted with the biscuit.The customer has steeped a spare tile in water for about 4 weeks and it hasnt changed colour at all.Customer phoned me today to say that another tile was changing colour.Anybody else out there that has experienced this baffling problem

[Alan.P]

It could be something reacting with the biscuit as you say, I would hazard a guess that the customer is cleaning the tiles with something they shouldn't be. What colour were they and what colour change is happening colour wise ?

[MIKETILER]

Its a tile available in Topps called Valencia Beige its a marbled effect.They are going slightly darker.Its strange that the full tile is changing colour and not ones next to it.

[doug boardley]

it does sound as though there maybe something from the substrate leeching into the tile biscuit and then the grout is preventing it from progressing into the neighbouring tiles. What was the substrate Mike?

[david campbell]

it could also be something in the shampoo/shower gel thats causing it to react like that

[MIKETILER]

the substrate is tanked gyproc and the adhesive BAL whitestar.I dont think its a staining from gel or anything like that as the colour change is exactly a full tile

[MIKETILER]

Here is a photo.Its the 2 tiles by the shower valve which is fully siliconed and the 2 cuts in the corner which sit on the bathP1010032.jpg

[doug boardley]

ouch!! they are very noticeable

[Dave]

I would be checking there is not a leak with the shower..

[doug boardley]

whereabouts is the new one that's changing colour Mike?, (assuming that this photo was taken prior to customer ringing you today)

[MIKETILER]

Dave
Do you not think that if it was a leak ,there would be some sign in the adjoining tiles below.Also as I said the customer has half steeped a tile continously for nearly six weeks now and there is no change at all.

[Alan.P]

How many tiles is it affecting ? I can see the 2 by the shower valve, are the 2 cuts at the bottom also a different shade or is it the picture, any grout discolouration ?

[Dave]

Steeping a tile isn't the same as adhesive getting wet and then bleeding through the biscuit..

You are gunna have to change the tiles if they are stained.. so i would remove those 2 around the showe fitting and investigate the leak and the substrate.. then take it from there..

As for those 2 only and not surrounding.. water can travel in funny ways.. so say for instance not a full bed the it can run through the adhesive lines down over.. but the 2 tiles at the fitting could be from substrate wetting...

[MIKETILER]

No grout dicoulorisation.The 2 tiles at the bottom have changed colour

[MIKETILER]

Point taken Doug

[Alan.P]

As Dave says, the tiles are going to have to come off so some investigative work will be looming, a good puzzle to solve though, no ideas apart from the obvious but then why only a tile here and there and not the grout.

Good luck.

[Dave]

Looking again at the pic.. and i would say the grout is wet.. it certainly looks that way..

[doug boardley]

I'm guessing now that the two obvious ones near the valve are taking the brunt of a leak, and as Dave says, water could then be tracking down the addy ribs, tracking along the bath and then possibly pooling in the corner and creeping back up the cut tiles.

[Stewart]

I would put my money on moisture getting into tile biscuit. With no silicone down the internal corner, and it being the bottom tiles that get most of the water. Around the shower (which looks like a Mira Elements) water most probably getting into back-plate screw holes.

[Colour Republic]

OK just a guess here, is it possible that these tiles are from a different batch? Were the codes checked? Do you remember the order of fixing them? did you place the tiles where the shower mixer is as you went? or left them till the end?

As I say this is just a guess, but is it not possible that the tiles have always been a different colour (if from different batches) and that it was not noticed at the time of installation, as when they were fixed to the wall the wet adhesive made the all the tiles appear uniform in colour but as they have dried they have returned to there original colours?

just a guess???

Also, the tiles in question are the ones most at risk from getting water behind them. shower tails cut through the two full tiles and the two at in the corner which is where water will pool, it also looks like it is traveling up the wall in the corner. But you say they are bone dry so confused

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

and if the wall is tanked then the water can only go into the tile!!, i have seen this when showering in lot's of B&B 'when working around

[react0r]

Hi mate, can't help, but have seen the same problem with cheap tiles, I helped a friend by tiling his bathroom a couple of years ago. He had bought some cheap tiles from Focus, I thought the same as you that it was water getting behind the tile somehow, but have not been able to check it out as he lives a good distance away. The problem he has extends beyond the normal wet areas, but as he lets the walls get and stay very wet from condensation by not using the extractor fan, I still assumed water. Last time I was there for a quick visit. it looked like a chess board. Like you describe, the problem developed over time, there was no sign of it when it was first tiled. Be interested to see if others have seen the problem.

[doug boardley]

It'd be impossible to tell if they were dry behind without taking them off anyway, as the moisture won't permeate the glaze on the face from the biscuit.

[MIKETILER]

I think tomorrow I will remove one of the tiles and check if there is any moisture behind

[Dave]

Good move..