By Country
America Tile Forum
UK Tiling Forum
Canada Tile Forum
Ireland Tiling Forum
Australia Tiling Forum
Forums
Navigation
By Country
GB Tiling Forum
USA Tile Forum
Australia Tile Forum
DIY Tiling
Tiling Courses
Tiling Tools
Tiling News
Pro Tilers Only
Tile Adhesive / Tile Mud
Cutting / Cutters
Tiling on Underfloor Heating
Tanking And Wetrooms
Find Discontinued Tiles
Specialist Tile Advice
Tile Restoration
New posts
Advice Leaflet
Blog
News
Add Your News
What's new
New posts
New media
New media comments
New resources
New profile posts
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Resources
Latest reviews
Search resources
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Words:
Navigation
By Country
GB Tiling Forum
USA Tile Forum
Australia Tile Forum
DIY Tiling
Tiling Courses
Tiling Tools
Tiling News
Pro Tilers Only
Tile Adhesive / Tile Mud
Cutting / Cutters
Tiling on Underfloor Heating
Tanking And Wetrooms
Find Discontinued Tiles
Specialist Tile Advice
Tile Restoration
New posts
Advice Leaflet
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
Advice by Country
Australia Tiling Forum
Help! Tiled wetroom floor looks perfect but grout doesn't dry out!
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Search the forum,
Message
[QUOTE="Paula, post: 782010"] Goodness, we seem to have opened up a can of worms here! It does seem that there is an awful lot of confusion about the roles played by tiles, grout, adhesive and tanking, even among professionals with many years of experience in the industry, so I'm not surprised that it is taking me so long to sort this problem out! I just thought I would try and recap where I think we have got to..... I had sort of resigned myself to accepting that some water would always get under the tiles while showering, as I had gathered from literature/the BAL rep/forum discussions that cementitious grout is only water-resistant, not water-proof. I would imagine that porcelain tiles are pretty waterproof, so can't imagine much water would be getting through them. However, if this is the case, then why are there not more complaints on the forum of grout never drying out in tiled shower trays? It would seem that there is something different going on in our tray, which could be any of or a combination of these situations: - more water entering behind the tiles from a leak in plumbing pipework to the shower heads - large gaps in the grout in the tray leading to excessive ingress of water - large gaps in the adhesive under the tiles so that water can 'pool' here, without falling down the drain It seems unlikely that water is getting in from the drain, as this would eventually get through the membrane and on to the ceiling below, which is not happening. What has been odd is that, having taken out the cementitious grout in the tray, and replaced it with epoxy, which is far more water-resistant, we now have dampness appearing away from the areas which get wet. WE HAVE NOT USED THE SHOWER FOR 4 WEEKS NOW AND THE GROUT OUTSIDE THE TRAY IS STILL DAMP IN PATCHES! Thanks to all the useful discussion on this thread, it seems that this could either be because water is STILL getting through the tiling in the tray, even when the shower is not in use (from constantly leaking plumbing) OR perhaps because there is water trapped under the tiles and new epoxy grout in the tray, and this is now trying to escape through evaporation across the rest of the floor. Having seen the results of pressure tests on the shower pipework, and never having seen any dampness on the walls (or, more likely,the ceilings below as our walls are only tanked at the bottom) I would be inclined to discount plumbing issues. So, that leaves us with the possibility that there is still water under the tray tiles, even after 4 weeks. It could even be possible that this water dates back to the pre-epoxy days, even though we did not use the shower then for about 12 weeks, as even at this stage, we still had damp patches in the shower tray. I am told that it could take up to 6 months for dampness behind tiles to dry out! Now that we have re-grouted with epoxy, this is not helping to disperse any remaining dampness as it cannot escape easily through the epoxy, so it may be trying to escape through the adhesive bed and up through the cementitious grout on the rest of the floor. We're sort of in limbo, as we feel that we can't do any more testing until we have a completely dry floor. Underfloor heating last week helped to dry the patches a bit, but they reappeared as soon as we switched it off, although they are diminishing slightly overall. If it gets to the stage that they are almost gone, then perhaps we should try re-using the shower, and if they return, we know that water is definitely getting in through the top of the tiling, through the epoxy. I don't think we can do anything else at this stage. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Please visit our sponsor websites, they keep the forum free to use!
Advertisement
Share This Page
Facebook
Twitter
Reddit
Pinterest
Tumblr
WhatsApp
Email
Share
Link
Forums
Advice by Country
Australia Tiling Forum
Help! Tiled wetroom floor looks perfect but grout doesn't dry out!
Top