Leaking shower after regrout - wait and watch or rip in now?

KelpieMum

Trying to work out when a leaking shower after regrouting is something to monitor versus when it points at failed waterproofing membrane work, bad falls, or another path water is taking.

Not asking for internet diagnosis, just real examples of what the cause ended up being after someone competent looked at it.

Shower age, tiled wall versus floor suspicion, whether silicone was replaced, whether grout or membrane work was touched, where the damp patch appears, how long after showering it shows, whether a plumber or leak detection crew inspected, and what the final fix involved.

papercrane-oz

I would stop using that shower now. We tried to monitor one and the moisture line kept creeping.

Take photos morning and night for two days and get someone with a meter in before you patch over anything.

tileandtea

Regrouting can tidy surface paths, but it will not fix failed waterproofing behind tiles.

If damp keeps showing outside the shower after normal use I would stop using it until someone competent checks it.

davefrom-2009

Silicone joints, screen seals, mixer penetrations, and waste plumbing are all worth ruling out before you blame grout only.

Water tracks along a wall in ways that look like membrane failure from the hallway.

KelpieMum

We chased grout first too. Turned out to be a combo of tired silicone at the hob and water tracking along the frame.

Annoying because we mentally blamed the tiler for a week.

tileandtea

We tried wait and watch for about six weeks. Grout looked fine, water still tracked to the hall carpet.

Ripped the hob and lower tiles, found the waterproofing was patched not continuous. Wish we had gone straight to a proper bathroom bloke instead of hoping the regrout guy fixed the root cause.