slow leak from en-suite to celing below

Ciarrai76

we appear to have some sort of slow leak from the en-suite to the kitchen below, which is causing water stains on the ceiling. There is no water dripping, but two areas not too far apart have stains. I have noticed on has got bigger, and it appears to be where our en-suite shower is above. I don't know what to do about it and don't want to leave it in case we get a full blown leak & damage to the ceiling.
What can we do to check where the leak is coming from? the seal around the shower base appears to be fine. There are cracks in a few tiles, a sort of decorative strip around the middle is cracked, but they are much higher up the wall...but could this be a problem?
I did have a plumber have a look about 2 months ago, when the first stain appeared, but he said if it wasn't damp & not getting worse, to leave it for now & keep an eye on it. It hadn't got worse since until I noticed it this morning, and feels slightly damp, but not bad. Will I need to have the entire shower base removed to see where the leak is or how will they figure it out?
Money is very very tight so very nervous about all this & what it will cost. Obviously shouldn't leave it or it could result in it being very costly!

Whatever_fools

Happened to us this year as well. Turns out the trap under the shower plug hole wasn't fitted correctly, but it was easy to remove and replace. Apparently our neighbours also had a similar issue but only in the Summer time. Their shower trap / plug hole wasn't attached to the outside pipe properly and on a sunny day the heat would cause the outside pipe to move a bit and then the plug hole would leak. I'm no expert, that's just what they told me.

aujopimur

Let the shower unused for a day or two, run the water into the tray only, keeping the tiled area dry.
If the leak shows, you have a trap or waste problem.
If it remains dry you have a tiling or sealing problem around the tray.
If the tiles seem ok, go down on your knees and look for gaps between the tray and the tiles, and around the door frame.
Water will find its way through the tiniest hole, so check carefully.

cardwizzard

First thing i would do is monitor it. Make pencil marks around the stain and check it in a week or two to see if the damage has gotten bigger.

Id reseal the shower tray and tiles, even with a tube of caulk for now. It wont be a permanent fix, but it will help if its getting through here.

If that doesnt sort it, could be a small plumbing job. In fairness it doesnt sound a big job now, maybe a seal or connection dripping. However down the line it could become worse( not trying to frighten you).

Insurance may cover the cost to replaster and repaint if it gets to that.

daver123

Ciarrai76 wrote: »

we appear to have some sort of slow leak from the en-suite to the kitchen below, which is causing water stains on the ceiling. There is no water dripping, but two areas not too far apart have stains. I have noticed on has got bigger, and it appears to be where our en-suite shower is above. I don't know what to do about it and don't want to leave it in case we get a full blown leak & damage to the ceiling.
What can we do to check where the leak is coming from? the seal around the shower base appears to be fine. There are cracks in a few tiles, a sort of decorative strip around the middle is cracked, but they are much higher up the wall...but could this be a problem?
I did have a plumber have a look about 2 months ago, when the first stain appeared, but he said if it wasn't damp & not getting worse, to leave it for now & keep an eye on it. It hadn't got worse since until I noticed it this morning, and feels slightly damp, but not bad. Will I need to have the entire shower base removed to see where the leak is or how will they figure it out?
Money is very very tight so very nervous about all this & what it will cost. Obviously shouldn't leave it or it could result in it being very costly!

I had a similar problem and the cause was the water was weeping down the back of the tiles, i think it was through one of those pockets that is cut in to the shower tiles for putting shower gel on, it wasn't done right. If you can stop using the shower for 2 days and let it dry out, then check the grout to see if it is loose.

gaelicyoda

cardwizzard wrote: »

First thing i would do is monitor it. Make pencil marks around the stain and check it in a week or too to see if the damage has gotten bigger.

Second that.

I had a similar issue in the middle of last year - it turned out that the silicone bead where the bottom of the wall meets the top of the shower tray was not fully done.

To the eye it looked intact, but actually behind where the frame of the shower door met the wall had not been done. It required the removal of the shower door and frame to find the problem.

Ciarrai76

thanks for the advice!

While discussing with my parents & husband, we think it may be due to the crack in the tiles along the middle of the shower, its like a fancy bit of tiling in a different colour to the other tiles, and has quite a long crack going along it, so we are thinking it probably has just got worse and seeping in now. I think we will just replace those tiles, and just replace with plain tiles as its inside shower so I don't care about the fancy design! I'll also get them to reseal along the basin too, just in case!
I noticed also at the very bottom of the wall in the hallway (which is the same wall the shower is behind) and just above the skirting board, the paint went all bubbly, and flaky. Its fine everywhere else, but just there, which makes me think its been getting wet in there for a while now. I hope its not done much damage!

daver123

Ciarrai76 wrote: »

thanks for the advice!

While discussing with my parents & husband, we think it may be due to the crack in the tiles along the middle of the shower, its like a fancy bit of tiling in a different colour to the other tiles, and has quite a long crack going along it, so we are thinking it probably has just got worse and seeping in now. I think we will just replace those tiles, and just replace with plain tiles as its inside shower so I don't care about the fancy design! I'll also get them to reseal along the basin too, just in case!
I noticed also at the very bottom of the wall in the hallway (which is the same wall the shower is behind) and just above the skirting board, the paint went all bubbly, and flaky. Its fine everywhere else, but just there, which makes me think its been getting wet in there for a while now. I hope its not done much damage!

If you start pulling of the tiles you may have to replace the whole lot, it might be worth letting the shower dry out completely for a few days in behind the tiles and then try and scrape away carefully the bad grout and go over it with this stuff Tec 7 it comes in different colours. It might not work it depends on how bad it is in behind the tiles good luck with it.

http://www.contec7.co.uk/tec7-uses.htm

Ciarrai76

daver123 wrote: »

If you start pulling of the tiles you may have to replace the whole lot, it might be worth letting the shower dry out completely for a few days in behind the tiles and then try and scrape away carefully the bad grout and go over it with this stuff Tec 7 it comes in different colours. It might not work it depends on how bad it is in behind the tiles good luck with it.

http://www.contec7.co.uk/tec7-uses.htm

the grout doesn't seem to be bad, its a strip of tiles around the middle, 4 feet from basin, which has a long crack in it. Can that just be sealed do you think? if it is that, then would sealing over the crack help?
I could seal over anything else that looks to be a bit worn.

daver123

Ciarrai76 wrote: »

the grout doesn't seem to be bad, its a strip of tiles around the middle, 4 feet from basin, which has a long crack in it. Can that just be sealed do you think? if it is that, then would sealing over the crack help?
I could seal over anything else that looks to be a bit worn.

Hard to know without seeing it, the main thing you need to do is scrape out / remove the bad grout, let the area dry out really well at least a day or 2, and then re-seal over the areas where the grout was removed. After you put on the sealant leave it for a day before you use the shower, thats what i did and it worked fine. If it doesn't work then you may have to start removing tiles which could be a lot more work.

Ciarrai76

daver123 wrote: »

Hard to know without seeing it, the main thing you need to do is scrape out / remove the bad grout, let the area dry out really well at least a day or 2, and then re-seal over the areas where the grout was removed. After you put on the sealant leave it for a day before you use the shower, thats what i did and it worked fine. If it doesn't work then you may have to start removing tiles which could be a lot more work.

I had another look at the shower, and noticed that the seal along the edge of the basin has come away from the grouting in a few areas. The grouting doesn't look to be bad, but I think we will try using a sealant along it and hopefully that will help. Is it ok to use that sealant along the cracking area of the tiles higher up in the shower? don't want to leave anything to chance now!
I would prefer not to have to take out tiles & have the expense of it when its not really needed. If we can seal up these areas we should be ok! I hope! we have another shower in the bath, so we can use that for now and leave the en-suite to dry out.

Ciarrai76

daver123 wrote: »

Hard to know without seeing it, the main thing you need to do is scrape out / remove the bad grout, let the area dry out really well at least a day or 2, and then re-seal over the areas where the grout was removed. After you put on the sealant leave it for a day before you use the shower, thats what i did and it worked fine. If it doesn't work then you may have to start removing tiles which could be a lot more work.

I forgot to update!
We put some sealant around the base of the shower and a few other areas and left it a few days. There hasn't been any further signs of leaking since, so fingers crossed!
When we can afford to, I want to redecorate the ensuite, so we can do a proper job on it then. Thanks again for the advice!