# Forum Home Renovation Waterproofing  Water stop issue

## JB1

I have an issue with my water stop     
Water is escaping outside the shower area (under the tile). The tile right of the shower screen has a line of grout that has gone icky. 
I think the water stop in the shower was set too low.   
The shower area itself dries quickly (as indicated by grout colour) so water seems to be draining under the tile (100mm Bermuda smart tile)  The shower fall is more than required so water doesn't pool at all. 
But water that has gone outside the shower area seemed stay wet for a while, as indicated by grout color. Now the grout has is soft. 
I also notice that the internal shower wall on the right doesn't dry quickly as it remains wet hours after showering. 
What is the best fix? 
I'm thinking of pulling out the shower screen and taking up the tiles. Remove water stop and replace with a larger one. It won't matter if it sticks out from the tiles as the shower screen will but up against it. 
How successful have people been with waterproofing when  replacing only some wall and floor tiles?  
I've used wet area plasterboard. 
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## Wotname

Hmm... I'm not the best person by far to be able to help but a few questions come to mind. 
Is it possible the water on the floor grout is coming from the internal shower wall rather than via the floor waterstop. If there is a 50/50 that it is from the internal wall, that may be easier to inspect / repair before pulling the floor tiles 
Did you do all (or part) of the sheeting, waterproofing or tiling etc? If so, you will have the best idea of all the possible sources. 
If you had tradespeople in, can you ask them? 
How old is the shower / floor?

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## Uncle Bob

Ohoh, 
That sounds sounds like the waterproofing system has failed. 
Could be a big job (expensive if not under warranty).

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## JB1

> Ohoh, 
> That sounds sounds like the waterproofing system has failed. 
> Could be a big job (expensive if not under warranty).

  
Hopefully not  :Frown:     

> Hmm... I'm not the best person by far to be able to help but a few questions come to mind. 
> Is it possible the water on the floor grout is coming from the internal shower wall rather than via the floor waterstop. If there is a 50/50 that it is from the internal wall, that may be easier to inspect / repair before pulling the floor tiles 
> Did you do all (or part) of the sheeting, waterproofing or tiling etc? If so, you will have the best idea of all the possible sources. 
> If you had tradespeople in, can you ask them? 
> How old is the shower / floor?

  Shower is 6 months old. 
Owner builder. 
The waterproofing membrane was applied correctly by the tilers.  I checked it myself . 
That's why the only thing I can think of is the waterstop is too low.  
You could be right, I checked again and appears the grout in the internal shower (right), wall appear to have water behind it- almost like the water behind that wall can't drain and flow down the shower floor and hence is draining to the external shower wall/floor (around the corner) 
If so the question is where is the water coming from? 
It's very annoying as some water (not a huge amount) is not draining and damaging the grout. 
Apply 600mm of new grout and no one will over know if I sold the place! lol 
Some more info, the slower area was recessed by 40mm when I poured the slab. Tilers screeded the shower area and then waterproofed it. 
The only photos I took was this     
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## Random Username

I would be almost certain that the problem is that the waterstop does not come up above the level of the tiles at the shower screen.  Water is leaking over the top of the waterstop angle (which I again would be almost certain the tilers have used to set the level of the screed from). 
The waterstop angle should finish flush with the top of the tiles, or above them if hidden by the shower frame.

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## JB1

Yeah the water stop is below the  top of the tile.  
Thats.why I wanted to replace the waterstop. 
My concern is 
- its not the wsterstop
- damaging the existing waterproof membrane on the plasterboard. 
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## Wotname

> I would be almost certain that the problem is that the waterstop does not come up above the level of the tiles at the shower screen.  Water is leaking over the top of the waterstop angle (which I again would be almost certain the tilers have used to set the level of the screed from). 
> The waterstop angle should finish flush with the top of the tiles, or above them if hidden by the shower frame.

   

> Yeah the water stop is below the  top of the tile.  
> Thats.why I wanted to replace the waterstop. 
> My concern is 
> - its not the wsterstop
> - damaging the existing waterproof membrane on the plasterboard. 
> Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

  If the waterstop is too low (but at top of screed) *and* if it is along a grout line, would it be possible to carefully remove the grout (and any adhesive) back to the waterstop and inject silicone (or polyurethane)  or perhaps an epoxy grout. 
Or cutting out the grout line underneath the shower door right through into the screed (diamond saw) and again refilling with aluminium strip and polyurethane. This would require "surgical hands" but could be done carefully. If no improvement or if you botched the job, you still have the option of more drastic solutions - pulling up tiles. 
In essence, you want to make a "aftermarket post fit waterstop" directly over the existing one or even replacing the existing one or fitting a sister waterstop adjacent to existing one. A 100 % solids epoxy formulated for timber (like Bote Cote or West) mixed with some suitable thickeners and inject with a syringe could be an idea. The timber epoxies usually allow for some minor movement but it would need to be say 3 or 4 mm wide. Take it almost to the top of the tile and finish with grout to hide the repair. 
Again a disclaimer: I am not a tiler or waterproofer or any other house tradie so these ideas might not work. I am just thinking through the problem from the data presented and approaching the issue from first principles and years of make boats waterproof and rot free. Just like a bathroom really  :Smilie:

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## phild01

Looking at the first photo I don't see any waterproofing carried up the wall lining.  Are the floor tiles already affixed in that photo?

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## JB1

There is definitely waterproofing on the wall. 
I've taken that photo when I painted extra layers of membrane in the corners. The next photo show corners and wall the same color when the membrane dries. 
Wotname interesting concept. I like it except that its going to be difficult to remove grout and adhesive on the corners.  
The other issue is scraping back too much near the corner may damage the membrane on the wall. 
The tilers are pretty good, they will take up and relay the tiles at no charge. This time I will install a larger waterstop.  
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## Wotname

> There is definitely waterproofing on the wall. 
> I've taken that photo when I painted extra layers of membrane in the corners. The next photo show corners and wall the same color when the membrane dries. 
> Wotname interesting concept. *I like it except that its going to be difficult to remove grout and adhesive on the corners. *  
> The other issue is scraping back too much near the corner may damage the membrane on the wall.  *The tilers are pretty good, they will take up and relay the tiles at no charge.* This time I will install a larger waterstop.  
> Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

   Yes, the corners in any job are difficult to rework; in this instance I would use a 2 mm masonry bit or a Dremel with a 1 or 2 mm diamond tip; sometimes hard to find outside of speciality toolshops. 
But if your tilers are willing to retile at no charge then that is by far the best way to go IMHO. The old "rip it out and redo properly" approach is always the best style of repair! 
Good luck  :Smilie:

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## JB1

I should have updated this a while ago. 
I spoke to my builder relative and he said try to silicone the shower screen again. 
So that's what I did. I cut out the silicone where floor tiles meet the wall tiles and also silicone where the bottom of the inner shower screen meets the tiles (previously only siliconed on the outside). 
It seems to help the problem. I won't say fixed, but has masked the problem. 
I must note when cutting out the silicone where the floor tiles meet the wall tiles, there were sections where the silicone would easily come off, so it appears there wasn't a great bond (done by a professional caulker).  It was also a bit damp, so I wanted a week after cutting it out before reapplying the silicone. 
The silicone job doesn't look professional, but at least there is a good bond. 
 I re-grouted a section of grout and you would never know there was ever a problem. 
Fingers cross it was just water trapped under the shower frame frame and by siliconing it, it was has permanently fixed the problem. 
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## wozzzzza

I have found an issue with the waterstops if you are not careful. where the corners go and meet the wall, if you do not silicone around the walls and floor BEFORE installing the shower screen then there is a 1cm gap in each corner where there is no silicone where water can get in behind the screen that you cannot see and can leak to other places. when it gets silicone after shower screen install it looks perfect but theres that small gap water can get into from behind the shower screen if you know what I mean. I had this issue once on the first waterstop I did.
from then on I will silicone around the walls and floor BEFORE shower screen is fitted and that way perfect seal no issues.

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## JB1

That's a good point wozza, I got the caulking guy to caulk all the bathrooms before the shower screen was installed.  
So I'm not sure where the issue was, but it seems that caulking between the inside of the shower screen and the floor tiles has fixed the problem, well at least appear to fix the problem of wet grout outside the shower area.  
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## Oldsaltoz

Before you rip things apart. 
Cover the waste with some glad wrap, use a hose or bucket to fill the shower.DO NOT Turn the shower taps at all. 
Lay a strip of toilet tissue along the outside of the screen. 
Fill to the point that the water is just above the bottom of the screen. 
The paper will indicate the point of the leak above the tiles. 
Note, if this is close to the end walls the upright seals, screen to wall are suspect. 
If no leak, the plumbing is suspect. 
To check the plumbing, remove the shower head at the spigot in the wall, screw on a cap (available in any plumbing outlet) and turn both taps on, wait at least 20 minutes for a result. 
By the way, the taps seem to be a long way out from the wall, could the leak be via the tap cut out? 
Note. Do Not test the plumbing till after the shower flood test, the results could be compromised. 
Good luck and fair winds.   :Smilie:

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## JB1

Thanks oldsaltz, 
I'm not sure if by caulking the shower screen where it meets the floor has fixed or masked the problem, but at this stage I'm happy as I haven't seen the problem of wet grout  
resurface (pun intended) or even drops of water outside the screen. 
I'm sure it now isn't the tap cut out as I've caulked it sealed (see my recent rant! lol). 
It's now one of those things, out of sight, out of mind.  Even after 30 min showers (not me) and my 2yo spraying water everywhere it doesn't seem to leak or be damp outside the shower (with the exception of the small gaps of the shower screen door). 
Thanks again for your insight.  
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## bricks

Did the shower screen fixings penetrate the water proofing?

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## JB1

Pretty sure it didn't on the floor, but they put a few screws into the wall.   
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## bricks

If they penetrated the waterproofing without revealing the holes it could be your problem.

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