Shower leaking into wall...

[Andy in Germany]

@newts: sorry, I forgot to update this: the Landlady took out a section of tile under the shower basin and they pumped out 10 litres of water: the basin has settled while I used it and the leakage seems to be the source. I've been in the apartment for about three months now so that was the accumulated drips from that time.

The floor is tiled under the shower, but the wall is only tiled to just below the silicon join which is probably why the wall came off worse: there's nowhere else for the water/moisture to go.

We have a fairly beefy dehumidifier in there at night to try and dry things off gradually. The wall will be taken out and replaced and while they are at it, hopefully the basin will be better supported...

 

[newts]

10 lts is alot of accumalated water, re-bedding the tray to firm things up should cure it & then reseal the joint.
I've inspected alot of failed showers over the years & not seen that much water retained around the tray.
A recent job i had to inspect where the builder had fitted new tray/tiling 2 months previously. Adjacent cracked grout joints were letting water in. They left a 10mm gap between the bottom of tile & tray (set the tiles at wrong height in the room). They covered the gap with pvc window trims & silicone, trapping the water behind & it was soaking up into the plasterboard (poor substrate for wet area tiling). Alot of black mildew within the wall, very unhealthy

Picture from within the stud wall

 

[Beebo]

Your best And cheapest option is to remove the plaster board from the bedroom side to expose the inner side of the bathroom wall.
you can then see what is going on behind the tiles.
Any leaks or gaps will be immediately obvious.
the timber studs may be soaking wet or even rotten. Wet wood can be dried, rotten wood needs to be removed.

 

[sheddy]

Be prepared for everything to be replaced.

 

[alicat]

What has the person who installed the shower got to say about it? He/she would be my first point of call given how recently the work was done.

 

[Pale Rider]

Sorry to hear about this @Andy in Germany - a chew on when you've plenty else on your plate.

At least your landlady appears to be showing more interest in fixing it than the average British one would.

Strange to relate, my bath replacement shower was completed yesterday.

All shiny and new, and no leaks - fingers firmly crossed, etc.

 

[snorri]

Get a man in

To do the rough work of preparing the site for the woman who will come in to fix it?
Hey it's 2020 !

 

[Andy in Germany]

Thanks for the kind thoughts and suggestions. Currently the shower looks like this:

The shower curtain is to theoretically stop water running into the gap in the corner. As you can see there's plenty of space there for the water to build up, and with the tiles running to the wall, the floor is largely waterproof.

Underneath the shower, looking toward the wall with the mildew. The purple looks like paint, and probably isn't waterproof. I don't think the corner between tiles and wall is either, which is how the water managed to get to the plasterboard.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Your best And cheapest option is to remove the plaster board from the bedroom side to expose the inner side of the bathroom wall.
you can then see what is going on behind the tiles.

Apparently that's the plan over the weekend. Replacing rotten wood is no problem.

Sorry to hear about this @Andy in Germany - a chew on when you've plenty else on your plate.

At least your landlady appears to be showing more interest in fixing it than the average British one would.

Many thanks @Pale Rider: Thankfully the landlady is a good friend and is happy to have a tenant who doesn't pretend to be staying for two weeks for a holiday, change the locks, trash the apartment, and require several months in court to evict again like the last one did...

 

[Andy in Germany]

What has the person who installed the shower got to say about it? He/she would be my first point of call given how recently the work was done.

That's the Landlord who is now seriously ill, and his son-in law who is a good friend of mine, sadly. The family needed this even less than I do right now.

 

[alicat]

^^^ Fair dos.

 

[newts]

Good to see that the issue is identified & hope all goes well.
A support timber under edge of the tray against the wall helps to reduce over flexing of the silicone joint.