Leaking shower

slim or No chance of matching the existing floor or wall tiles
Usually the first row of wall tiles will be replaced



not sure how good the tile sealers are
Fix Leaking Showers and Balconies Without Removing Tiles

I'm sure there will be people on this forum
who have had it done

 

Forgot to ask... Was what you did fully tax deductible?

If you've only owned this property for about 9 months, will this change anything from a tax perspective?

 

Water usually will be a problem around base and first tile row.

I have spent 700 when quotes were over 7k, you have to decide if you want to fix teh leak or renovate the bathroom, my philosophy is repair and only renovate if at or near sale time.

On second floor water problems are worse, and a lot of people did shonky waterproofing or none at all.

I would probably look at doing base and tiles inside shower after a waterproofing, it is not 5k worth though, 1200 to 1500 with plain tiles IMO.

 

Talking about waterproofing, I am an old cynic, and the world is basically full of idiots who do not give any thought to doing things properly or reasonably careful, just so you know my views

I was doing a job and paid quite a bit to have waterproofing done on a verandah, the waterproofer did an excellent job.

Before the tiler started, I explained to the business owner to talk to everyone working with them, that they have to be very careful with the waterproofing, I intended to watch them, but got called away, when I cam back, the knuckleheads had mixed the bedding straight on the waterproofin, fast forward about a year, leaking from everywhere when decent rain hit the area, all because they would have torn the membrane in one or multiple places with shovels and sand etc.

I knew a good builder a while ago, always had heaps of work, because he used to really watch these type of senseless people and was ruthless with them.

If you have a new build and have no issues, then you really are more lucky IMO than anything else, or had a good builder who was paying attention, it is literally like watching school children at times with many of them.

 

Tax wise, you need to be aware that repairs are fully deductible, doing extra or renos is not, it is treated different over a time period.

 

Thanks. This is a leak repair (i.e. like for like replacement of tiles, nothing more, nothing improved). However, I thought I read somewhere before that bathroom leak repairs are a bit of a grey area with the ATO, particularly when you've just bought the property within the last 12 months.

Any idea about this?

 

No, but if it needs repair, it needs repair, replacing extra tiles etc for cosmetic reasons is not a repair.

They wont knock back a genuine repair, that is my understanding, but that larger quote is not for a repair, see the diff ?

 

Not sure what you mean by larger quote not a repair.

I got a larger quote of 4.5k to pull out tiles, replace rotten timber, re-waterproof, and put on tiles. Would this be a repair?

 

If that is what it actually needs to stop water leaking.

I have had over 7k quotes but only needed 700 to stop the leaking. The 7k+ would have been a reno in many eyes, a chance to update or change colours etc, see what I am saying ?

Think about how someone else who has no concern for the cosmetics of the property may look at it, if it needs 4k+ to return it to service with no leak, then that would prob be seen as a repair.

 

Whoa- never use a plumber who also does tiling! No licensed plumber is a tiler also! and if they are they will not be good at tiling!

 

bottom row replacement does not comply with BCA or AS3740-2010 waterproofing of domestic wet areas. Despite many people offering this as a suitable fix you should never do this. It will leak again it will only be a matter of time- I know from quoting about 8-10 leaking showers each day.

 

if it is leaking from the floor, doing that and first row will stop it, no one is doing compliance checks on old houses, so whatever is needed to fix the leak is fine, all well and good to hide behind a standard and code to drum up work......

Yeah, I dunno, I have worked in many other areas, people may not believe it, but is true, so maybe this person is good at both as well as qualified etc, for OP and PM to check. He may have someone else subbing to him,

 

The problem is when it all settles, the join between old and new tiles. Grout will crack, and then water will get in from when the person using the shower showers, water hits their head, runs down them and splashes down the walls running straight over the join. The join can never be waterproofed while the old tiles are in place. I would say give it a go if you can do it cheap, however don't spend more than 1k or so as it will likely be money down the drain. If its an old house that is likely to be demo'd for dev or if your selling or something by all means, but otherwise tread carefully. We used to offer "bottom row retiles" however the failure rate was around 50% that we heard back on, hence we just don't offer them anymore. We would rather decline the work, and have them come back to us to do it properly when it fails in the future when we can do it properly for them once and for all. I don't advertise on here nor do I spruik my shower repair business at all, Im just here to help educate you guys so that you can have a good outcome.

 

Yeah, def many times you cannot do it & that is why most will go straight to a 5, 6, 7 etc k job quote.

 

Hopefully before and after pictures would help to justify it...

There is a $700 option, but thats just regrount, reseal, etc. but the damage is beneath the tiles, and that needs to be fixed too.

I've asked my accountant, so hopefully he gives the OK too.

 

It didnt mean the plumber is a tiler... what the PM meant was that the company will manage and undertake the tiling task too.

 

Yeah, best to ask, they will know which way to claim, both ways are claimable, just depends on method.

 

This is the way a lot of companies operate who do bathrooms.