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Help; damp getting behind tiles

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Colin r

Hi all just found this forum while trying to sort out the problem I have with my bathroom tiles, so I'm hoping that someone can point me in the right direction.
I have had my bathroom fully re-tiled with Atena Marble Gris tiles from Topps Tiles and then grouted in with swimming pool grout, all the work was done by a private tiler and not Topps Tiles.
The problem I have is with water/damp getting behind the tiles, it first appeared after the shower was used for the first time by the kids (teenagers) and was pointed out to me by the wife that some of the tiles around the top of the bath where going dark, it was obvious that it was water/damp getting behind the tiles and showing through the glaze so I allowed the tiles to dry out and had a shower myself and sprayed all the walls around the bath/shower area and found that almost all of the tile edges discolored in the same way some travelling a good 3” towards the centre of the tile. More evident around the top of the bath but it is all over see pics.
DSCN1953.jpg DSCN1957.jpg
I have had the tiler back to see it and he says he’s not seen this before and was a bit bemused by it and could only come to the conclusion that the tiles where at fault (think I agree with him) and to get the manager from topps tiles in to have a look, this we did.
The manager arrived and asked to see the tiles, after spraying the tiles for a couple of minutes said that there was nothing wrong so the daughter had a shower and this then showed up the problem.
The manager then tried to pick fault with anything apart from the tiles, told me that the grout is not water proof and that the water will soak into the grout and then come back out!!!!!!!!, “if it’s good enough for swimming pools then surly it good enough for a shower”, also grout lines are a bit wide; no they’re not, the silicon runs was not wide enough “this does not explain how it happens in the middle of the wall’s”.
Finally the manager said that she would need to get grout, adhesive, silicon and tile specialists/reps in to have a look, I said fine by me and she went away with a spare tile in hand.
The next I heard was from an adhesive rep saying that the biscuit on the back and sides of the tiles is porous and that the glaze on the front is thin, Topps manager now wants me to pay for some water proofing to paint onto the grout, will this work as a permanent solution or should I stick to my guns and insist on the tiles being replaced at topps expense.
Thanks Colin.
 
P

peckers

looks like the water is getting in between the grout joints, What grout was used? I would check that there are no hairline cracks and that all grout joints are full to the face of the tile. Allow for the tiles to fully dry before using the shower and then in-pregnate the grout with a grout sealer. leave to dry thouroughly before using the shower again.

Also it doesn't look like the bath is sealed between the bath and vanity unit this needs sealing to stop water damage in this area. I know this isn't relevant to your original question just an observation :thumbsup:
 

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