Shower leak help

[Aparker2005]

Hey everyone. First post. Found this forum and thought I'd check with the experts.

We just found out our shower has been leaking at the front corner for a good while. Found out due to a soft floor and water coming from behind the wall.

Tile shower, metal tub installed 5 years ago by my brother in law. Shower door and glass were done locally by a shower door installer.

The water comes behind the tile on the side facing the drain. We turn the shower on, and within 1-2 minutes, water is seeping between the tile and the tub on the edge.

I took all the old silicone out and resealed it. It still does it. Hard to explain really. Had our plumber in today and they think water is getting in somewhere in a small hole in the seal and traveling down and coming out there.

All of our pipes and wood is dry behind the shower except this front corner.

Any ideas other than redoing the silicone again? Should I take all of the recently applied silicone out or try to put fresh on top of the old?

Really trying to avoid taking this entire shower apart, but I feel we're almost close to having to just get a entire new one. Thanks!

Pics below. The light on the first picture shows where the water is coming in behind that tile.

 

[Breplum]

Never put fresh silicone on top of old. In fact any residual silicone will prevent sealing consequently.
I am sorry, but, it certainly seems to be defying physics. The water is migrating. I might suspect the shower door bottom rail at the wall, would be a first and difficult spot to deal with because it requires removing the entire shower system. Ugh.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Aparker2005]

Never put fresh silicone on top of old. In fact any residual silicone will prevent sealing consequently.
I am sorry, but, it certainly seems to be defying physics. The water is migrating. I might suspect the shower door bottom rail at the wall, would be a first and difficult spot to deal with because it requires removing the entire shower system. Ugh.

Our guy that installed the shower definitely can come and take it out/redo it if needed he said. It's a family business, practically my 2nd family. I'm halfway thinking the water is somehow traveling under the track, hitting the silicone at the corner, and traveling to the opening about an inch or two past that corner. That's all anyone can think of.

Gonna rip all the old silicone out and reapply and wait a few days and try again. If it's still leaking after another fresh seal, I'll call the shower door guys. Fingers crossed.

 

[Chucky_ott]

Looks like you have cement board over the studs, then thinset and tile. What appears to be missing is the waterproofing membrane between the cement board and tile. Tile and thinset are NOT waterproof. You should have a waterproofing membrane like Kerdi, RedGuard, HydroDefense, etc. over the cement board. The bottom of that waterproofing layer would be siliconed to the tub. And then tile as the finish surface.

Not sure how to fix what you have but the water could be seeping in from any one of the grout joints.

 

[Aparker2005]

Looks like you have cement board over the studs, then thinset and tile. What appears to be missing is the waterproofing membrane between the cement board and tile. Tile and thinset are NOT waterproof. You should have a waterproofing membrane like Kerdi, RedGuard, HydroDefense, etc. over the cement board. The bottom of that waterproofing layer would be siliconed to the tub. And then tile as the finish surface.

Not sure how to fix what you have but the water could be seeping in from any one of the grout joints.

Brother in law put black plastic behind the cement board it looks like..... Tile over all that.

 

[Nebojsa]

I have never seen it done that way. You do need a waterproofing membrane between the cement board and tile as mentioned .

 

[Aparker2005]

I have never seen it done that way. You do need a waterproofing membrane between the cement board and tile as mentioned .

Well crap. This is sounding more and more like we're getting a new shower.

Is it worth trying to reseal it still and see if it's fixed you think? Really don't wanna tear this shower out, but if that's the answer, then it is what it is. If so we'll definitely be getting it professionally done. Thank you!

 

[Nebojsa]

Are you putting back a shower pan ? If yes make sure it is installed properly. You will need to cut out the bottom of the cement board if that is what you have, to accommodate the new shower pan to slide under the board. You star with the bottom and work your way up.

 

[Aparker2005]

Are you putting back a shower pan ? If yes make sure it is installed properly. You will need to cut out the bottom of the cement board if that is what you have, to accommodate the new shower pan to slide under the board. You star with the bottom and work your way up.

I was just gonna start with taking the old silicone out and reseal it just in case there's a hole somewhere I'm missing. If that fails, I was gonna get the shower door looked at to see if there were any issues there.

I did do a test where I had the shower head in a bucket running. No leaks that way, so it's obviously a hole somewhere where water is getting in.

If those fail, we were just gonna call and get a new regular 3 panel shower installed and be done with the tile. Just trying to preserve this one if possible.

 

[Chucky_ott]

Brother in law put black plastic behind the cement board it looks like..... Tile over all that.

I think that is an accepted waterproofing method but I personally don't like it. You'll puncture the plastic when you screw the cement board. And I'd rather keep the cement board dry.

I'm not a pro though. The folks at the John Bridge tile forum may be of more help.

 

[CENTRALFL]

Does the floor have a pitch to the drain of 1/4"? Does the drain have weep holes or else where would that water go?

I'm guessing the water is getting behind the tile and either going down the black plastic. From there it might be going to the floor, or maybe part of it is getting into the shower pan lip and traveling to the corner.

Just to rule out a possible leaky drain, if you pour water with a bucket only in the shower pan, do you get a leak? Or if you pour water on the wall with a bucket in certain areas, you might be able to see where your are leaking. But ultimately, that doesn't look loke water has a way to go anywhere but out.

 

[John Gayewski]

I suspect the door track.

 

[Weekend Handyman]

If you point the shower head on the back wall, so no water gets in the shower door track, do you still get water where it should not be?

 

[Aparker2005]

Does the floor have a pitch to the drain of 1/4"? Does the drain have weep holes or else where would that water go?

I'm guessing the water is getting behind the tile and either going down the black plastic. From there it might be going to the floor, or maybe part of it is getting into the shower pan lip and traveling to the corner.

Just to rule out a possible leaky drain, if you pour water with a bucket only in the shower pan, do you get a leak? Or if you pour water on the wall with a bucket in certain areas, you might be able to see where your are leaking. But ultimately, that doesn't look loke water has a way to go anywhere but out.

So we did a test. When I put the shower head directly into a bucket and run it, no leaks, so that ruled out a leaking shower head or anything we think.

Pouring water along the edges gets the leak, hence me taking all the old sealant off and reapplying it correctly and hoping it fixes this time. There seems to be a leak in a couple of places of throwing water, but it only comes out of this corner.

 

[Aparker2005]

If you point the shower head on the back wall, so no water gets in the shower door track, do you still get water where it should not be?

Yep, we do. Currently taking the last bit of sealant off and gonna redo the entire shower and let it sit for a day before running the shower again

 

[Aparker2005]

Also at the base of our trek we have these oval shaped holes along the bottom. Should these be siliconed over, or left open? I'm assuming they're there for a reason but seems odd

 

[Weekend Handyman]

I would imagine they are to allow water to exit the channel.

 

[John Gayewski]

The ovals I think are for fastening.

 

[Aparker2005]

Alright spent the week getting all the old silicone out. Wiped with alcohol and dried everything and did the sealant what I think is correctly.

I let it sit about 14 hours and tried the shower this morning. So far, NO LEAKS!

I didn't realize the process was so specific with silicone and I think I screwed up the first application. Hopefully this was the fix. Thanks guys!

 

[Aparker2005]

And back to full leaking in the same spot tonight. It's impossible to figure out where this is coming from. I'm tired of messing with it so we're getting an estimate on a brand new one. Not going tile this time. Normal white plastic one.

Hopefully it won't be too crazy expensive