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Why Do Shower Pans
Leak?
- Separation
between
the wall and floor tiles causes the concrete under the floor
tiles to become saturated with water, rotting older pans and forcing
water to leak out
- Grout
missing around the drain.
- A
poorly constructed pan that has no pre-slope to the drain before it is
put in place. Usually the weep holes to the drain are clogged.
- Loose
floor tiles inside the shower.
- Inside
the upper portion of the drainpipe, excessive hair in the drain can
cause water to backup into certain parts of the drain. Water flows
through where the drain sandwiches the pan and gives the appearance as
if the pipe were leaking.
- Similar
to #5 (without the hair.) The pan disintegrates where the drain
sandwiches the pan due to excessive water buildup in the concrete under
the tile floor. It's also possible on newer showers that the pan is not
properly adhered where the drain sandwiches the pan.
- If the
shower walls are constructed out of sheetrock or concrete backer board,
and the floor is built with traditional wire lath and cement, a setup
like this usually cannot handle the stress of movement. Joints will
crack and water will saturate the concrete under the tile floor.
- Normal
building movement, even the vibration of opening and closing doors can
cause cracking problems.
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Testing For a Leaky Shower Pan Fact Sheet (without using a hammer)
My method of determining a leaky shower is slightly
different than the articles above. Everyone will overlook #7. Almost all leaking problems can be solved
without a destroying the shower. #8 shows
how
you can confirm the leak by actually stopping it, without spending
money.
Topics covered:
- Checking for cracked
or missing grout
- Visually checking
the faucets for plumbing problems
- Physically testing
the faucets for leaks
- Checking for loose
floor tile
- Checking for
movement between the wall and the floor tile
- Testing the drain
for leaks
- Checking a
particular area that 99% of all plumbers never check or will mislead
you into thinking you need a new drain
- Confirming the leak
by applying a very simple temporary way to stop it
Fact sheet may be ordered by clicking on the
PayPal button below. This document is FREE with
every paid Evaluation/Consultation. Once ordered you will be given a
download link within 24 hours via email. This document will be in MS WORD format. Cost
is $5.00
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Leaky Shower Pan Repair: Don't Replace - Repair
I've worked over 18 years to develop a
unique and effective method of repair that seals out water from the
exposed shower floor seams, sparing the expense of replacing the shower
pan. Utilizing a time tested specially formulated multi-part epoxy
resin, I can now get to the core of the problem without destroying your
shower.
Without removing or damaging the tiles
I’m able to inject a high strength resin 2 to 3 inches into the floor
joints with the aid of specialized tools. The injected resin binds to
the underside of the wall tile (wall tiles usually go below the floor
1" to 3 inches) and to the concrete below the floor tile, sealing the
pan area and preventing water from penetrating the floor and/or wall
joints. A similar procedure is used where tiles meet at right angles,
corners where tile walls join together, door track seams, doorstep
seams, and any other area that needs attention.
As a standard procedure, the floor
grout and tiles will either be cleaned, or scraped and/or regrouted if
needed. A white epoxy bead is then applied over the previously injected
resin, creating the appearance of a caulking bead. The white epoxy bead
is completely waterproof, will not change in color, grow mildew, and
will remain structurally solid and clean.
The epoxy's strength far exceeds that
of grout or caulking with a zero amount of water absorption. The water
that is in the concrete below the tile floor will dry on its own within
a 3-8 month period.
The entire repair process for an
average 3’x3’ shower stall takes 4 - 6 hours and is completed in one
day and ready for use 1 - 3 days later. (View the leaky shower pan repair pictures)
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Short Term Solutions:
- Silicone
over
the existing cracked grout. The downside is that silicone will not
stick to anything remotely damp or wet. Silicone can mildew or break
down with cleaning chemicals. Using silicone is an art that most people
haven’t yet mastered.
- Acrylic
based tub & tile caulking is strictly designed for a bathtub, and
is not designed for use on stall showers. Acrylic caulking will
dissolve in hot water and/or become soft and gooey. Other types dry
very hard and tend to shrink, crack, and mildew.
- Apply
grout into the floor joints. Usually the grouting cannot withstand
floor movement, and the result is that the leakage returns.
- Hire an
all purpose handyman or tackle the job yourself. This method always
ends up costing you more in the long run.
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