Showers leaking any ideas

[harvey4banger]

Whilst prepping my kitchen for decorating, I stripped back some paint to the plaster and found a wet patch on the wall, directly below my upstairs shower. So the following day I re sealed around the tray and a small tiled ledge, the same height as the top of the tray and it now seems to leak even more than before. All of the walls in the shower are tiled and the floor, so I don’t have any access to the underside of the tray.


Any ideas would be greatly appreciated

 

[BTatHome]

Might be the shower unit itself leaking internally.

If you decide to take a look then please ensure you have switched off the power at the consumer unit before taking the cover off.

 

[harvey4banger]

It's fed from the combi boiler, so no electrics

 

[CMAC]

probably a crack in the shower tray, is it plastic or ceramic?

 

[harvey4banger]

probably a crack in the shower tray, is it plastic or ceramic?

Ceramic job, only about a year old

 

[Naybrains]

Funny that I had the same thing the other wk. After hours of tests I eventually discovered it wasn't the tray it was the screen. The screens held in place by a 'U' channel which is fixed to the wall, the shower door assembly then slots into this vertical channel. The silicone seal was non existent in the channel so the water was getting into the channel then seeping through the plasterboard at the bottom where the metal channel meets the tray.
I was quite lucky the wall the shower was mounted on backed onto a wardrobe so I was able to cut a neat square out using a pad saw to investigate.
Tip, use a wet finger to smooth the new silicone line

 

[bigslice]

are you totally convinced its from the shower? is the pressure dropping on the boiler gauge. dont use shower! read your insurance to see if your covered. some insurance companies depending on your cover will deal with it all. have you cover say through your bank account etc. check all that first, then phone them.

 

[bladeplayer]

Is it damaged around the outlet hole in the bottom of the shower by any chance , instead of going into that & away down the outlet pipe it may be getting under your tray .. just a thought

 

[harvey4banger]

Some good ideas there cheers guys. Now there is a bare patch of plaster in the kitchen, you can see the plaster getting darker everytime someone has a shower, then during the day it drys out.

Going to take Friday off work and see if I can get it sorted

 

[bigslice]

who fitted it about a year ago???????????????????? cos thats the problem

 

[harvey4banger]

who fitted it about a year ago???????????????????? cos thats the problem

Mmmm now there's another problem, a mate who hasnt long been in the plumbing game

 

[bigslice]

most insurance dont cover bad workmanship (if its found to be that) but i will prepare you, best thing to do dont use the shower!!!!!! if the floor is tiled upstairs or not easily lifted. best route is up the kithchen ceilng. WORST case is the shower floor lifted shower out and redone.

 

[harvey4banger]

most insurance dont cover bad workmanship (if its found to be that) but i will prepare you, best thing to do dont use the shower!!!!!! if the floor is tiled upstairs or not easily lifted. best route is up the kithchen ceilng. WORST case is the shower floor lifted shower out and redone.

Lets hope it doesnt come to that, the Mrs will have kittens and probably a few puppies too

 

[Qwerty]

It's likely to be, The trap or waste pipe under the tray or the waste connection , The seal around the tray onto the tiles, The hot and cold water connections onto the shower mixing valve, or if cheap grout has been used it could be a fracture or crack in the grout.

Hope you get sorted!

 

[Mick47]

could be any of the above. also check the grouting between the tiles.

 

[viscount17]

My partner's got a similar problem, in her case it,s definitely leaking around the side of the tray. Plumber bodged the job, among others. I suspect a wide gap at that point that wasn't sealed properly. Funny thing he quit soon after this job to teach plumbing - god help anyone needing a plumber in the next few years

 

[GOLFBALL_WHACKER_GUY]

Are you certain its the tray leaking? Get acouple of buckets of water and be careful to wet only the waste area, if its still damp after that you know itsthe waste, and i'l guarantee your numpty mate used the wrong fittings, ie push fit or screwtight from b&q, instead he should have used 50mm plastic pipe and solvent glued all joints. Ask him, then you will know.

If, by chance its not the waste, I have a question - what type of tile have you got on your walls? If its natural, they need sealing every couple of years.

 

[need_my_wedge]

Had a leaky shower for the last 6 months off and on, Drove me crazy trying to find the cause. I had the door off and re-sealed 3 times but couldn't find the leak.........until last week. Cracked grout, the water was seeping through the crack and dripping out the back of the tray. Fortunately, not excessive water, just really bloody annoying until I found out what it was. Had a tiler in to quote me £120 to fix..........went to the tile shop and bought a grout rake for £4, took me an hour to rake out around the four tiles, 30 mins to re-grout......jobs a good 'un no leaks this week

 

[harvey4banger]

Done a bit of investigation last night. Wet it each wall separately, then went down to the kitchen, no wet marks. Sprayed the rear tiled ledge, no leaks. Run water through the trap, no leaks.

When I got in the shower this morning I noticed the end of the tray where the waste is, when you stand on the tray it flexes a bit, which intern flexes the small tiled ledge next to it.

So I’m thinking it’s one of two things:

1: When the trays flexing water is getting underneath the sealant I’ve apply to the tiled ledge
2: When the tray is flexing, one of the joints in the waste pipe under the tray is opening up, waters getting out running along the pipe, which would be angled towards the wall to take the water away and is wetting the wall

Let you know after further investigation

 

[Lawrence22]

Just had an expensive shower replacemant job done at home. Unfortunately our shower is downstairs so we didn't become aware of our problem untill mushrooms started to grow on the outside of the shower tray. Had to rip the shower and all the tiles out and replace a couple of joists under the floor which had rotted. In our case it was the shower itself that hadn't been properly fitted and when we were using it water was leaking from where the water supply was connected to the shower. Water was running down the wall cavity into the founds, no sign of damp till the mushroom. Your tray and tiling could be perfect and this may be the cause of the leak. Thought it was worth mentioning in case.