I inherited a nicely tiled shower which has developed a leak on the threshold where the tile has pulled away slightly creating a crack in the grout. I have the following two questions:
1. Shouldn’t the membrane go up over the threshold to prevent leaks?
2. What’s the best way to repair, replace the grout, use a miracle sealer, or heaven forbid, tear the tile off and rework?
TIA
Replies
Usually the threshold is made up of 2 X 4's, once they get wet they swell up and crack the tile. A showerpan guy who does not waterproof the inside, top AND face should not be touching that kind of job.
Sure, you can remove ALL the grout on the dam and then grout it with GE Silicone II, but can you dry out all the stuff underneath. I will buy you time, but it will have to be ripped out, later.
The membrane should go everywhere that gets wet
No simple fix......rip it out now and save yourself a pile of grief later.
Just do it right once.
Not an exponent of the DILLIGAF system.
It could be just poor adhesion of the tile, or flexing of the house framework, but most likely, as suggested, water has gotten into the wood behind.
If the rest of the tile is in good shape it's probably possible to just have the curb redone, installing rubber membrane over the curb.
In the interim you should try to keep water out of the cracks, using silicone caulk or some such. If the tile's really moving and you're not just seeing minor grout cracks then regrouting won't last very long.
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll open up the threshold see what I'm up against. I haven't used the shower in a couple of weeks so It should be dry, in fact I can't see the cracks now which goes to the wet wood theory...