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Home & Garden Articles
Why My Shower Leaks - And What To Do
Thu 04 Jan 2007 - 08:33
Why My Shower Leaks - And What To Do
By Anthony Ventura
Why my shower leaks and what to do. Have you ever had a shower pan that leaks? This can be a nightmare for a homeowner! This can ruin walls and floors and cause mildew and fungus, which can be a health hazard.
Some background information:
Some older homes, built 20 years ago,or more had "composition" shower pans. They were made of kind of a tar paper. When a shower base filled up with water from a leak the cement work under the tile got wet and so did the shower pan, after a while it deteriorated and the pan no longer was a receptor to hold the leaking water. The water just ran out of the bottom and onto your bathroom floor.
Newer bathrooms use a vinyl shower pan material that does not deteriorate. So unless there is a serious hole in the vinyl pan from construction nails or screws the pan does it's job, which is to retain water from a shower floor leak from flooding your bathroom. So with the new vinyl pans, or if you had a soldered copper pan, you have a great receptor to hold leaking water.
But...Even with a good shower pan you can still have problems! When the cement in the shower pan is completely saturated there is no place for the water to go except, through capillary action, up the wall and down into the bathroom. If you have cementatious sub walls it's not to bad if fixed in time. The walls will dry out and loose tile or marble , can be replaced.
If you have green board (treated drywall) your walls if not fixed will rot out and
then its time for a major overhaul.
Why do showers leak?
The biggest cause of shower floor that leaks is a bad installation:
1. Which could be the tile or marble not cut tight to the wall.
2. Low areas in the cement work under the tile. Water sits in the depression and does not
flow to the drain. On some materials it can migrate into the pan.
3. Tile not cut tight to the drain itself that can crack and open up an entrance for water.
4. The most common reason is the shower floor was installed after the finish walls were!
In this case when the shower moves from expansion and contraction due to
temperature changes, or the house settling. A crack or separation occurs between the
finished shower wall and finished shower floor. "This is the entrance for water".
The shower floor should be built the other way around that is the wall material lands
On top of the finished shower floor and forms kind of a water barrier and it is much harder for water to get in. There is a second set of holes in the drain where water is suppose to go if the cement under the floor gets wet, but this, in my experience seldom works.
5. Sometimes it is not the shower floor letting the water in, it is the diverter leaking behind the wall. This is easy to determine.Take off the faucet handles and eschucheon (cover plate) Put the handles back on and turn on the water .Look in the open hole with a flashlight if necesary and see if there is water leaking out of the diverter, once in awhile that's the problem. If it is you need a new divereter.
More next article : How to keep your shower from leaking and preventive maintenance
Anthony J. Ventura has been in the marble and tile business for 30 years as a contractor and advisor. He is also a manufacturer and importer of natural stone products.
http://www.naturalstonesinksusa.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anthony_Ventura
http://EzineArticles.com/?Why-My-Shower-Leaks---And-What-To-Do&id=399685
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