water damage - how serious?

Hi all,

We've recently moved into one of our IPs with the goal of slowly renoing while we're here.

I've discovered what seems to be water damage in my son's bedroom which backs onto the bathroom.

As you can see from the picture the paint is bubbling and the plaster can be scraped/rubbed away with your finger.

The house is double brick so I'm wondering a) Is it serious? And b) is there an easy fix?

We'd rather not rip out the entire shower just yet.

 

it backs onto the bathroom, i'm assuming it backs onto the shower? is so you would have to figure out if it is leaking from the water service or if the bottom of the base is leaking (drainage)

if it was the drainage that was leaking. and you don't mind it looking bad you could just paint the bottom of the half of the shower base (as in cover the shower base + 200mm up the wall) with mega poxy it'd cost around 50-150 and is a cheap fix but wouldn't look good at all. ideally the shower will have to be re down.

to investigate if it's the water line or the shower base. you would take the shower rose (where the water comes out) off and cap it off. then turn the taps on. allow maybe a day for this as if it was leaking it would then show up as a wet patch on the ground in your sons room. and you would know the problem is the water line and not the shower base.

as for how serious, you wouldn't know until you took the sheets of and had a look at the brick work

 

What is on the opposite wall? The shower recess? Are there any pipes in that wall?

You either have a water leak in the pipes/taps/shower head, or a failing waterproofing membrane. Given the damp is down low, I would expect its the membrane.

First step is a plumber to pressure test the shower for leaks in the pressurised pipes. If all ok on this, then its waterproofing membrane time. If you plan to redo the bathroom its a good time to do that as well. To redo the shower waterproofing and retile is circa $2k.

 

This reminds me of a situation I had with one of my IP's... Let's hope your situation isn't like mine was. I'd recommend doing what Elives and DaveM have said. Hope you figure it out!

 

It wont hurt the bricks to be wet, if there is timber such as flooring etc underneath it wont be good if long term.

Get a shower repair guy out, that is where most leaks occur, he will be able to check for moisture levels and have a good idea of what you need to do.

If you were intending to put in a new bathroom, then just find a temp fix for now & do not bother trying to re paint the wall that is getting wet till problem solved.

I would say it is shower, water through tile joints, corners and floor, modern epoxy sealers do a real good job.

 

Like DaveM said, first step would be to get a plumber out to pressure test the shower and see if it's leaking in the wall, if it's not leaking in the wall then you will need to get a tiler who is also licenced in water proofing out to remove the tiles, re waterproof it and then tile it again.

 

Thanks everyone I was hoping it wasn't an urgent repair - I'm going to keep an eye on it and see if it gets worse. No Carpet or timber around so can afford to watch and wait for a bit

 

Hi Jess, from the small pic it looks like its down low on the wall therefore not a plumbing issue.

This is due to very slack tilers not sealing the wall behind the tiles correctly, + not mixing a sealing product into the grout before applying, frustratingly seen too much of it.
Whilst having a shower the water naturally splashes/runs over the grout cracks, absorbs through to the "single core" internal brick wall, moister causes the white final flushing compound they use when rendering to soften/expand pushing the paint out (looks like blistering).

Bugger of a job, had it too many times in the past, the two at my new IP have the same issue.

Depending if your willing to put up with it, quick fix with it coming back (consider long-term moister on bricks & cement), proper fix.

DIY depending on tiles, small diamonds vs ~100x100mm
The hard way, go to Bunnings and buy grout scrappers, ask for the right sealer grout, spend ages and ages and ages scraping all the very hard/set grout out making sure you get all the fine edges so there's no chance of leakage, then refill.
I did this with my first PPOR and failed.

Simpler
Rough sand all the tile surfaces, using caution give the entire surface a scrub with hydro acid, when dry using an enamel base tile paint (using clear sealer will only end up going coffee brown due to heat etc) paint all the grout cracks only with small enamel roller, allow to set, paint the entire surface, allow to set then do again. However you wont be able to use it until its set properly, paint obviously scratches easy, not so much to the base surface causing issues again but can end up looking like crap.

Easier
Like a caravan shower, buy thin perspects/plastic sheet and trimming, cut holes to suit plumbing, turn water off and remove fittings, silicon sheet to wall covering edges well, easy to replace if needed

Failing that professionals can prep and spray all tiled areas with ceramic paint.

 

Wow thanks for that amazingly comprehensive answer! I think we'll probably just redo the whole thing down the track - it's not getting worse, well not fast anyways, so I'd rather just start fresh than muck about too much - I prefer fun reno's than grout scraping