How to identify a leaking shower before it reaches the next room
A leaking shower rarely announces itself. By the time water appears in a hallway or a skirting board lifts, it has usually been moving through the building for months. The good news is that the early signs are visible if you know where to look.
1. Grout that stays dark
Grout should dry out within a few hours of the shower being used. Patches that remain dark a day later are holding water, which means water is getting behind the tile rather than draining away.
2. Loose or drummy tiles
Tap across the shower floor and walls. A hollow sound means the tile has lost its bond, usually because moisture has been sitting in the adhesive bed.
3. Damage on the other side of the wall
Bubbling paint, lifting skirting or a musty smell in the adjoining room or hallway is the clearest sign the membrane has failed. This is the point where delay gets expensive: the repair bill shifts from tiling to carpentry and plaster.
Most of the showers we repair didn't fail at the tile. They failed at a junction — the floor-to-wall corner, the waste, or the hob.
4. Silicone pulling away
Silicone in the internal corners and around the waste is a wearing part. Once it shrinks or lifts, water has a direct path into the substrate. Replacing it is a short job and often prevents the larger one.
5. Water sitting after the shower drains
Puddles that remain in a corner mean the floor falls are wrong. Standing water finds every weakness in the waterproofing, so this is worth correcting even when nothing has leaked yet.
Does a leaking shower always mean a full re-tile? No. Where the membrane is largely intact and the fault is at a junction, targeted repairs are often enough. Where the membrane itself has failed under the floor, removal is the only honest answer. A proper inspection tells you which situation you're in before any tiles come off.
We’ll take a look and quote the job free of charge, across Melbourne + Geelong.