please help! - tiles going dark / discolouring!

[fransmith]

hello everyone

apologies if I am posting this in the wrong place - my first post!

I had a new bathroom put in about 2 weeks ago with some cream ceramic tiles on the walls

however, around the bath / show - I've noticed that lots of the tiles are discolouring and going from a cream to a dark beige colour - all along the row closest to the bath

any ideas what this could be? - the staining is very neat - covers the entire tile and only affects the tiles on the first level around the bath - almost looks like they are differnt coloured tiles all in one row?

any advise would be much appreciated

thanks

[Sir Ramic]

Hello, do you know the name of these tiles and any pictures ?

[fransmith]

hiya - thank you - they are wickes tiles - florina - very basic and cheap but the only discolouring is occouring in that one area

I've not got any pictures I'm afraid - but they are looking as if they have a permanant shadow on them (the ones that are affected) - all the other tiles are great

[diamondtiling]

It will probably be water ingress that is getting into the biscuit (back) of the tile. Have you checked the grout for small holes or that it is covering the biscuit?
Have you had tanking installed in this wet area?

[Sir Ramic]

Was the bath sealed around the perimeter with silicone and if so is it of a good standard. These cheaper tiles do have a habit of being shady though.

[fransmith]

thanks everyone - the grouting does look a bit like there could be some holes

can I ask a bit of a silly question - if there is water ingress - does this mean that only the affected tiles can be replaced or does it mean the whole lot have to come off?
(am total novice as you can tell!)

not sure if just the affected tiles can be replaced?

[fransmith]

sorry...yes the bath was sealed with silicone although I'm not sure of the standard

[Sir Ramic]

It sounds as if water is getting through the grout. Over time the water could work its way up the wall and affect further tiles. I would be inclined to remove the lower course and replace. When the tiles are removed give the wall time to dry out before retiling.

[fransmith]

thank you for your advise. I had suspected water

when you say remove the lower course and replace - I have the entire wall / room tiled floor to ceiling - do you mean just remove the affected tiles or also remove several levels are up?

[kilty55]

that depends on what the substrate is,is it plasterboard or plaster?

[fransmith]

plaster I believe - not sure if that is good news for me or not?!

(thanks for your fantastic advise too)

[kilty55]

you will need to hack of the affected tiles and check how far up the water has damaged it fran,did you tile this yourself fran?

if it was a tiler who has been paid get him back to look at it pronto

[fransmith]

lol! no - a local builder

[fransmith]

(as you can probably tell I'm somewhat of a novice

[Sir Ramic]

Then 1st port of call is get the person who tiled it back.

[kilty55]

as sir ramic says call the builder sharpish

[diamondtiling]

Builders should leave tiling to the tilers. Was your bath full of water when the silicone was applied?

[GirlRacerRed]

Fran, where abouts in the UK are you? I'm just wondering if any of our members might be local to you and could pop round to see the tiles for themselves and offer up some ideas about what's wrong and what you need to do next.

but yes, get the builder back and tell him you're not happy.

[Stewart]

Get your builder to come back and remove the damaged tiles and to find the cause of the water ingress into the back of the tile.........

[fransmith]

thanks everyone - builder coming round this afternoon as lives local - good guy - will update you with what he says - hope isn't a big problem

thanks for your help so much

[Dave]

Hello and welcome.. Is there a shower above the bath..?

if you have showered within this fiished time scale then maybe water has ingressed.. some grouts do state that 2 weeks be left after grouting before submitting to wetting by showers etc.

[whitebeam]

Hi and welcome

[doug boardley]

How did you get on with the builder??