My tile shower is leaking but the water is not coming from the drain. There are several cracks in the grout on the corners of the floor. If I re-grout the shower to fix these cracks will this stop the leak? Or do I need to rip the floor up and replace the pan?
Redo those corners first. You may find that's all you have to do. Save yourself a ton of time and money.
You must have a rubber film liner, right? Where is the water coming out?
higgledy wrote:
I did not verify that there is a liner but I assume there is one. Water is leaking in a slow trickle from the front edge of the shower wall below the door.
Stubby wrote:
If you are sure that the leak is not passing from under the shower door threshold, you likely have a pan leak. Here's how to check: Somehow "dam" up the drain. I'll often use a folded up wash cloth, set it on the drain and put a heavy round bottle of something on it so the drain is mostly plugged. Fill the shower base with about 2 to 3" of water. Let it sit like this for several hours, possible overnight, and watch for where leaks are. You may or may not see the leaks, but if water is really leaking from the pan where you say it is, you'll see water continually coming out from this spot.
Usually the most telling signs of a shower leak are years of decay around the outside of the shower. Try to access the backside of the shower. This may be a closet in the other room, or an outside wall, or a wall in the bathroom. Pull back carpet and see if the tackstrip has been 'darkened' with water damage/decay. Notice if the bottom of the baseboard appears water damaged. When pans go bad and leak, it fills most of the space under the shower with water, and damage is usually all around.
You can try to re-grout, but this won't solve your problem. The tile and grout don't contain the shower water, the pan does. Re-grouting will only slow the leaking.
thetiler
higgledy wrote:
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