Baffeling Shower Leak...help!!

[dannykoos]

Ok, purchased home about six months ago. This is a shower only w/ a plastic (i assume plastic) pre-fab base and tile walls. The first leak was a drain issue, I replaced the rubber gasket (florestone), sealed it good...problem solved. I also put in a brand new door, sealed it up tight. Now, about a month or two later...carpet in closet (next to shower) was wet...pulled up carpet, shower had somehow leaked and the water headed toward the closet. Don't see any obvious cracks in the shower base. I pulled away some drywall in the closet to check out the back of the shower...pipes are not leaking, on/off control is not leaking, shower head is not leaking. The side of the base toward the closet is not leaking. Where I do see water is underneath the FRONT part of the base. By front, I mean the portion of the base that the door "sits" on..the part you have to step over to get into the shower. This front part, when you look back behind the drwall, has an upside down "U" shape. The water is originating under the front part of this "U". That is the weird part...that is where the water STARTS...it does not come from under the main part of the base. So I sealed the hell out of any other place I could imagine water was getting in...to no avail. Also, when I take a shower most times, doesn't seem to leak...but then when my wife does, the leak starts..usually right when she is done....don't know if this is a coincidence, or if the water just takes time to do what it is doing..or if we stand in diff spots and are making whatever crack may be there bigger...just don't know...I am running out of ideas and I am about to pull the sucker out (the base)....any ideas???????? If I do have to pull out the base, how hard of a project is this? Would I have to bust out the tile walls too? Here is a link for the model I believe I have:

http://www.florestone.com/model.php?s=rec&m=rec_model_recess

Thanks!

[Phelps]

Do you have a 4-piece shower stall (3-sides and the base?)? If so, the water could be getting in the *vertical* joint(s) [usually the front one], from bouncing off your body (perhaps hers more than yours because of your differing shapes or where she stands, and it runs down inside the joint and then gets behind the caulk you have at the top of the base pan. Once behind up there, it can run ontop the lip of the shower pan or "curb" and be behind the 'tile', as you call it. Then at the front of the shower where you step over the curb, the water will leak out between there and the sheetrock.

I have had to make *many* a wall repairs due to this scenario. Many shower stalls (and bathtubs) never took into account this scenario. I have only seen a couple brands that have taken this into account and made proper channels ontop the "curb", which allow water to run back into the shower pan if trapped back behind the tile, up on the curb.

Trying to surface cure your problem with caulk is always a tough problem. What usually happens is water gets back there somehow in time, due to expansion/ contraction, cleaning the shower and pulling away the caulk or having it come loose (All it takes is for the bond not to be there.) It may even look sealed, but if the bond is not there it can leak. Usually if it leaks in a caulked joint, you will see black mildew in or behind the caulk and it can't be totally eradicated with bleach when this is the cause.

The proper way is to really not have caulk at all!, and simply create a situation at the top front of the curb which will not allow this water from leaking out, (It can be done.). I have solved the problem by silicone caulking or Household Goop type epoxying the joint formed at the front between the top of the curb and the bottom of the 'tile' so that water cannot continue by and running out of this joint! You have to remove the wallboard at this area to do the job correctly. Then mud it back in with a good setting type mud which then will keep pressure against your caulk and not allow the water to leak out.

The primary source of the leak getting back there could also come from a poor seal around the big chrome trim plate that goes around your single handle mixer valve. Do not simply surface caulk around this (at is will not last). You need to remove the mixer control knob and big chrome trim plate. The back side should contain a foam seal strip that goes about 3/4 of the way around it. You never want to have the bottom sealed in case water does get in there. When I have this stuff off, I clean the hole area good with Easy Off Max blue-can (*not* the yellow can stuff!!!!) oven cleaner (It does not wreck anything and is the best soap scum remover bar none!. I have talked to company representatives about this years back before they came out with their BAM line of products!). Then ,after you rinse and dry, take silicone caulk and apply a thick bead around that hole, 3/4 of the way around it, leaving the bottom under the hole alone, to allow water to weep out *if* it ever got in there. Then replace that which you took off. This will solve this as being any current or future source of the leak, for you. If the water is leaking in there, it would be winding up behind the wall up on that "curb", and leaking out like I explained.

[mindless06795]

now, could another solution be basically putting a one piece wall to tub type unit where there are no joints meeting?

[dannykoos]

Try getting that up the stairs!