MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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Morning...I think I'm going to have to do some DIY in the next few weeks and need some advice.
We have an en-suite shower - very good and gets used every day...the extractor fan in it is really poor and we seem to have a constant battle with 'growth' - not sure what it is, but it's a nice orange colour - I dry the shower down after every use and the wife tends to do it if I complain about it - if it isn't done on a daily basis then the orange stuff appears...the grout is also looking somewhat unclean compared to when it was first done.
In the living room last night we spotted 3 rings on the ceiling that look like damp marks - right below the shower...
I think I'm going to have to remove the grout and possibly retile the en-suite but I also think I'm going to have to remove the shower base to make sure all the pipes are proper tight.
The sealant that has been used appears to be next to useless - where the damp has remained it has gone a nice black colour - I guess my squidgying doesn't get all the moisture away.
Anyway, I think I need to remove shower base and the grouting and then refit everything (after the pipes have been tightened).
Is this do-able by a complete numpty at DIY - if I'm left alone I can do any DIY but being left alone is unlikely - so is it an easy job and could it be done over 2 or 3 days? I'm thinking a day to remove the grouting (actually how do I do that?) - ideally leave the tiles in place; remove the shower base and all the sealant around it. Clean everything up and refit base, use plenty of sealant (what kind?) and then regrout (what do I need for that?).
Thanks.
re: removing grouting - you can get an attachment for a dremel that does this quite well (assuming tiles are reasonably spaced.
Not very hard - just tedious.
Make sure you buy grout for showers and mould resistant mastic. Before applying mastic, make sure you've really cleaned all the surfaces eg scrape off old stuff with knife then use white spirit to remove grease; all to ensure it seals well.
Grouting small gaps is hard so the more you get out the better the new stuff will stick. Best get a tool to smooth the grout over with,
If you have a look in homebase you can see the selection of tiling stuff available, which will give you a good idea.
RE: extractor fan - see if you can clean out the ducting. Ours is full of cobwebs & like so is probably not venting as well as it could.
Sealant going black - as said above, buy a decent anti-mould bathroom sealant. You can buy some stuff (from screwfix/toolstation, etc) to dissolve old sealant, to make sure you get a good adhesion when you replace it.
Cheers...
For grout, use mapei ultracolour and matching silicone. Available in all the big places, do small areas at a time though, it sets pretty quick. As above, get as much grout out as poss. But get every last possible bit of old silicone out, them scrub with anti mould solution or bleach. Dettol mould and mildew remover is excellent. Make sure it's completely dry before applying, get it right into the back of the joint and smooth off with a shaping tool. You don't want a big wedge on show, just a very small bead. When I do it, it's hardly visible and looks like grout.
You have hit on a fundamental concept problem which few builders will accept. It's not simple to seal a shower tray (which sits on the floor) to a wall. The floor is timber which shrinks/expands and moves. In new houses the floor may move several mm as timbers and floorboards shrink. The joint (a couple of mm ) between the tray and the wall can never be sealed with the common method of grout or silicone. Grout has pretty much zero flexibility, and even low-modulus silicone does not have enough stretch if a joint is very narrow and the movement large.
Many builders are (unfortunately) too obstinate to recognise this fundamental problem, and will continue to slap in grout and silicone same as they always have, then convince the unfortunate naive consumer that it works.
What you want is something called "Trimlux". Look it up. It separates the "sealing" from the "weathering" and allows enough space for the silicone to actually stretch within it's compliance and not come away. I installed mine 7 years ago and still 100% watertight. I wouldn't use anything else.
Sell the orange growth to Irn Bru ?
I suspect that you might find that there has been water leaking around the tray for a long while so you will need to dry out the area thoroughly. A mould killer on the mould and a regrout and reseal as well. Could take a while depending how nasty it is when you remove the tray - which could be very tricky in itself as more than likely the tiling was done after the tray was fitted.
Mountaincarrot: Trimlux looks interesting; my first reaction though was that it was one of those trims with a rubber seal against the tray that everyone used 20 years ago before giving up on them. The concealed silicon sticking the trim to the tray might actually work however...
IMO most problems with shower trays are caused by them lacking sufficient support; 3 small bits of 2 by 2 and 9mm ply not uncommon or manky chipboard flooring ontop of rotton joists. However even the best installed tray will cause problems eventually unless you've got concrete walls and floors as used abroad.
Yep, it's the common lack of support as well which doesn't help. I think you need to cure every stage to make it perform properly. I can vouch for the wide hidden gasket on the Trimlux. Seems a good idea, and has worked for me.
By the way, I was told that the orange stuff is run-off from body oils, nice!