Rotten floor and leak in upstairs en suite - HELP

Neil_Sedaka

Over the past few years the upstairs shower has leaked and caused a stain on the ceiling below.

I have removed the silicone sealant from around the shower tray and repaired it at least three times. (a good and proper job in my opinion) but still the leak was there, most noticeable after a long shower.

I recently noticed that the skirting underneath the shower door looked in a bad way, so I removed it to get a look under the shower tray and it was totally rotten.
So too is the plywood for a few inches back from the shower enclosure.

I poured water all around the tray and looked for the leak, but didn't see anything. However the worrying part is that the timber support frame for the tray, seems to be discoloured from the bottom up!

To me, it looks like water may have been getting down the inside of the wall tiles and dripping directly onto the plywood floor.

I can't tell what damage has been done to the support frame, but it all looks a bit black, furry and horrible.

I'm thinking that this is going to be a case of tearing the lot out and replacing, but I really hope not!!!


Any advice greatly appreciated.

mad m

Well as you said, you have tried everything to stop leak, it may not have been the tiles maybe the trap? Whats the grouting like up the angle of tiles?

Best thing to do and I know you don't want to hear this, but take out the tray and any damaged wood. Let wall dry out, check joists while you have it out also. Re-do tray and put a new trap onto it. Either take off first layer of tiles and re-tile if you have spares or re-tile.

Neil_Sedaka

Thanks and you're right I don't want to hear that
The trap looks fine, as does the pipework.
I actually put a good bead of sealant up the angle of tiles last time I re-sealed it.

Was thinking that if the joists, tiles and floor need replacing I may go down the insurance route.
Then I read this in the home insurance policy doc:

What is not insured:
Loss or damage to tiles, walls, floors and ceilings caused
by the gradual leakage or seepage of
water from all fixed sanitary ware units
including baths and shower units

I'm going to have a lie down!

sullzz

You will be better off ripping the whole lot out and replace the enclosure plasterboarded area with marine ply and tank it before retiling , if the existing floor has ply fitted chances are the joists will be fine but it would be worth lifting the floor to check while your at it.

marky spark

tiles by their nature are porous and over time the material breaks down and they become inadequate for use.

if you have rotting timber due to prolonged exposure to water it may start spreading to the other timber joists in your floor.

a good idea which was mentioned previously is to remove the entire shower enclosure, floor and ceiling and use a dehumidifier for a number of days to dry out the structure and see how bad the damage is.

if your satisfied that it has dried up, then put on your toolbelt and re-install a new shower unit, floor boards, ceiling etc.....

Neil_Sedaka

Thanks for the replies.

The shower unit, tray, tiles, plasterboard and ply floor were all ripped out and left to dry out for a week.
The joists were treated and some were cut and spliced, with extra noggins put in to strengthen the stud wall.

After putting down the new ply floor, the walls and floor were then tanked.

The whole en-suite was then re-tiled and a new shower door and tray were fitted.

Lesson learnt, don't put off investigating a stain on the downstairs ceiling!!

dodzy

Neil_Sedaka wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

The shower unit, tray, tiles, plasterboard and ply floor were all ripped out and left to dry out for a week.
The joists were treated and some were cut and spliced, with extra noggins put in to strengthen the stud wall.

After putting down the new ply floor, the walls and floor were then tanked.

The whole en-suite was then re-tiled and a new shower door and tray were fitted.

Lesson learnt, don't put off investigating a stain on the downstairs ceiling!!

Thats the job alright. I bet your wallet is a good bit lighter now