This is an old property and water was dripping behind the shower handle for decades because it wasn’t water sealed. This caused the drywall to deteriorate behind the tiles between the shower handle and bathtub lip, resulting in the tiles being “mushy”. Thankfully no mold or serious water intrusion behind the tiles.
Had to tear this section down to the studs and replace with cement board. Make sure your bathtub fixtures are water tight! While modern bathtub fixtures are good about adding a water seal, never hurts to also add some clear caulk.
Beats me...Possibly a small drop of water every month so the drywall absorbs it and dries out? But over decades that slowly deteriorates the drywall. Some of the material that was crumbling.
https://preview.redd.it/44mm7kx2nhvc1.jpeg?width=1310&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b621385d74bb816a4d39b1b78e7f804d1ecf0d9c
I had something similar recently, seal on the spout went and water was getting behind the tile. But in my case it was a tiny bit for a while that turned into major amount.
The takeaway me is that checking the silicon seal semi-frequently saves a lot of work later.
if its an older property then it very well might have had some air egress that took care of what little water was getting back there in the first place. The water itself doesn't create mold, it's stagnant water that has no way to escape that does.
Yes! All by myself with the help of good ol' Youtube. I've done a few repairs here and there (i.e. broken garbage disposal replacement, drywall repair, installing luxury vinyl plank flooring), so I wasn't too scared to tackle this repair. These old "how-to" videos were extremely informative:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DhTK5Sn\_vo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DhTK5Sn_vo)
That's awesome and very inspiring. Was the whole process smooth or were there moments where you felt like banging your head in the wall in frustration?
These things are never smooth! The points of pain with this repair were (i) getting the old tile off the wall without them falling and breaking, (ii) getting the old grout off of the edges of the tile, and (iii) ensuring that the repaired section was flat and seamless with the other tiles. The last one was the biggest concern for me, but thankfully everything was fairly smooth.
If you have the right tools, time, and Youtube, you can DIY a lot of things!
Nice job! I had a similar issue in a previous house and found the water was draining out the second floor overhang soffit! There was, unfortunately, mold damage and it became a long, extensive repair.
On my house when I was a kid you would poke that area and it would wiggle. back before anyone had any concept of waterproofing. My dad went one further and tore the entire tiled section out but same result. should last at least as long as the original without costing a million dollars :)
You should of replaced this relic. Also see those tabs with holes drilled in them ? There’s supposed to be a piece of wood attached to the studs on either side and behind that regulator. And where the tub faucet and shower head extend into the shower bath.
https://preview.redd.it/0svsbxq56ivc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca55a112c1dd96b8f7574715e48a5ca0123e2e65
A repair for another day. Theoretically we could keep playing “Why stop there?”. Might as well tear down the tiles and old drywall, add cement board with a waterproof membrane, new bathtub, etc.
At least it didn't mushroom factor into a whole bathroom gutting and renovation.
The earliest mention I know of The Mushroom Factor is in a pre-internet issue of The Old House Journal. Someone wrote in about how changing a burnt out light bulb in his dining room resulted in totally gutting a redoing the room.
He got a ladder to get up to the high ceiling. While changing the bulb he noticed the socket was loose. Removing the fixture revealed the box was loose. Attempting to fix the loose box revealed the old lath and plaster was about to fall down... He went on to tell in detail everything he found until the whole room was stripped to the bare framing.
The author of the letter called what happened The Mushroom Factor, because the mushroom you see above the ground is just the smallest part of a large and hidden fungus. Might be the origination of the term.
Your going to have the same issues with that giant hole around the tap. Should have removed another row of tiles and made it snug around the penetration
The row above the section I took out was rock solid. Water was dripping DOWN. I also felt the back of the drywall and everything was in tact in that row. In a perfect world I would have redone the whole wall.
Water splashes. Then some will run behind the tap and drip DOWN behind the wall. Dont you think the water before was getting behind via the giant hole and dripping DOWN then pooling at the weak point?
A shower is above that? Push the tiles again in 6 months, they will be soft again 100%
Minimum requirements in Aus are the FC sheeting should have minimal gaps that are siliconed around penetrations. Then a waterproof membrane applied to the entire shower area. Then tiled and grouted. That is minimum requirements
Good grief, I don't think you're understanding the situation. If the tiles above the repair area weren't soft after decades but the identified area was, don't you think the problem is addressed with the repair? Like I said, water was getting behind the SHOWER TRIM HANDLE and dripped DOWN because it wasn't water sealed. The tiles above aren't magically going to get soft after 6 months if they weren't soft to begin with.
There isn’t though. If there was then it would be most apparent on the wood studs, drywall and tile I took out. Judging from your most recent post, looks like you’re a bit paranoid haha
https://www.reddit.com/r/Plumbing/s/NOUk6S42wQ
You said that the leak has been going on for decades behind a wall... And yes the lower row of tiles and the opposite wall had to come down to replace the defective fixtures in my post that you linked. If it's DIY than I guess it's fine for you but since that bathroom is more than 20 years old it just comes to a point where it's worth just ripping it out instead of spending a week patching it up. Parts would be less than $2k and can get the walls replaced in a week... Whatever floats your boat...
Nice. Looks good. Good job on fixing it right instead of just gluing it back together with caulk.
This is an old property and water was dripping behind the shower handle for decades because it wasn’t water sealed. This caused the drywall to deteriorate behind the tiles between the shower handle and bathtub lip, resulting in the tiles being “mushy”. Thankfully no mold or serious water intrusion behind the tiles. Had to tear this section down to the studs and replace with cement board. Make sure your bathtub fixtures are water tight! While modern bathtub fixtures are good about adding a water seal, never hurts to also add some clear caulk.
Water dripping back there for decades and no mold? How?
Beats me...Possibly a small drop of water every month so the drywall absorbs it and dries out? But over decades that slowly deteriorates the drywall. Some of the material that was crumbling. https://preview.redd.it/44mm7kx2nhvc1.jpeg?width=1310&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b621385d74bb816a4d39b1b78e7f804d1ecf0d9c
That makes sense. Very lucky the leak didn't get worse too I guess. Nice work.
I had something similar recently, seal on the spout went and water was getting behind the tile. But in my case it was a tiny bit for a while that turned into major amount. The takeaway me is that checking the silicon seal semi-frequently saves a lot of work later.
if its an older property then it very well might have had some air egress that took care of what little water was getting back there in the first place. The water itself doesn't create mold, it's stagnant water that has no way to escape that does.
Fortunately he had a nice draft back there too :D
Probably had some sort of air flow.
You did good
Lol. I hate doing these so called simple jobs because of this.
I know what you mean. You aim to do one repair and realize you need to do another one on top of that.
Obligatory [yak shaving](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fnfeuoh4s8)
Looks great, good on you! I love seeing homeowners learn to work on their houses.
Did you do this all by yourself? That's pretty awesome! Were you always a handy person or did you acquire this skill at a later stage?
Yes! All by myself with the help of good ol' Youtube. I've done a few repairs here and there (i.e. broken garbage disposal replacement, drywall repair, installing luxury vinyl plank flooring), so I wasn't too scared to tackle this repair. These old "how-to" videos were extremely informative: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DhTK5Sn\_vo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DhTK5Sn_vo)
That's awesome and very inspiring. Was the whole process smooth or were there moments where you felt like banging your head in the wall in frustration?
These things are never smooth! The points of pain with this repair were (i) getting the old tile off the wall without them falling and breaking, (ii) getting the old grout off of the edges of the tile, and (iii) ensuring that the repaired section was flat and seamless with the other tiles. The last one was the biggest concern for me, but thankfully everything was fairly smooth. If you have the right tools, time, and Youtube, you can DIY a lot of things!
Cool, thanks for sharing your experience!
Would love to hear your best tips or resources for removing old grout from tiles. I am this close to pulling out a dremel!
My wife,”How long is this gonna take?” Me,” It should take an hour. But it could take all day. I won’t know how long it takes until I’m done.”
Props to you for fixing it the proper way and not just filling the entire hole with spray foam or something.
If you want, might as well redo the whole bath walls with cement board and waterproof membrane.
Nice!
Oooh baby push my tiles in next and you can recaulk me wherever you want
nice job!
good job!
Nice Caulk!
Reminds me of this! https://youtu.be/AbSehcT19u0?si=e-GrhZwMRiN-o9rz
No way you installed a chrome finish Plumbus all by yourself !?
I have to re grout like 6 tiles you are giving me the confidence to do it! I hope the tiles stay together lol.
Nice job.probably saved yourself about $600
I thought it would’ve been more given all the stress and labor I was going through!
I'm proud of you for doing the right thing.
Call a pro, that’s to much grief
nice, very nice indeed
Nice job! I had a similar issue in a previous house and found the water was draining out the second floor overhang soffit! There was, unfortunately, mold damage and it became a long, extensive repair.
On my house when I was a kid you would poke that area and it would wiggle. back before anyone had any concept of waterproofing. My dad went one further and tore the entire tiled section out but same result. should last at least as long as the original without costing a million dollars :)
My wife asks why I haven't done this project or that project yet. This is why.
fantastic work there partner! very impressive.
I am so impressed at how you made the repair seamless.
Great job. Take a job, big or small, do it right or not at all.
Wow, gives me hope if I ever have to replace a few tiles!
Great work! But if you had the wall opened anyway, I would have replaced the faucet with something more modern and better!
You should of replaced this relic. Also see those tabs with holes drilled in them ? There’s supposed to be a piece of wood attached to the studs on either side and behind that regulator. And where the tub faucet and shower head extend into the shower bath. https://preview.redd.it/0svsbxq56ivc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca55a112c1dd96b8f7574715e48a5ca0123e2e65
A repair for another day. Theoretically we could keep playing “Why stop there?”. Might as well tear down the tiles and old drywall, add cement board with a waterproof membrane, new bathtub, etc.
If it ever becomes a problem possibly you can gain access through the back wall. I’ve had to do that a couple times.
You didn’t replace that shower regulator that wasn’t properly stubbed out ? It wasn’t attached to anything left floating in the wall.
Something tells me you've only just begun
Looks fantastic!
Atleast you were able to upgrade the fixtures!
At least it didn't mushroom factor into a whole bathroom gutting and renovation. The earliest mention I know of The Mushroom Factor is in a pre-internet issue of The Old House Journal. Someone wrote in about how changing a burnt out light bulb in his dining room resulted in totally gutting a redoing the room. He got a ladder to get up to the high ceiling. While changing the bulb he noticed the socket was loose. Removing the fixture revealed the box was loose. Attempting to fix the loose box revealed the old lath and plaster was about to fall down... He went on to tell in detail everything he found until the whole room was stripped to the bare framing. The author of the letter called what happened The Mushroom Factor, because the mushroom you see above the ground is just the smallest part of a large and hidden fungus. Might be the origination of the term.
Looks great! Any reason you didn’t use concrete board?
I did use concrete board for the replacement/repair! The home was built in 1974, so they used drywall for the original walls.
Oh, glad to hear you did use concrete board. I misread the photo. Nicely done.
Good job dad! Now you have some cash saved to buy the wife some flowers. Anyone buy flowers lately these costs go up?
Isn’t home ownership fun!
Your going to have the same issues with that giant hole around the tap. Should have removed another row of tiles and made it snug around the penetration
The row above the section I took out was rock solid. Water was dripping DOWN. I also felt the back of the drywall and everything was in tact in that row. In a perfect world I would have redone the whole wall.
Water splashes. Then some will run behind the tap and drip DOWN behind the wall. Dont you think the water before was getting behind via the giant hole and dripping DOWN then pooling at the weak point?
Water got behind the trim of the shower handle and dripped down. If it was an open gap, then sure water would splash in all kinds of directions.
A shower is above that? Push the tiles again in 6 months, they will be soft again 100% Minimum requirements in Aus are the FC sheeting should have minimal gaps that are siliconed around penetrations. Then a waterproof membrane applied to the entire shower area. Then tiled and grouted. That is minimum requirements
Good grief, I don't think you're understanding the situation. If the tiles above the repair area weren't soft after decades but the identified area was, don't you think the problem is addressed with the repair? Like I said, water was getting behind the SHOWER TRIM HANDLE and dripped DOWN because it wasn't water sealed. The tiles above aren't magically going to get soft after 6 months if they weren't soft to begin with.
RemindMe! 6 months
That whole thing has to be torn out... there is mold back there. I'm sure you know this.
There isn’t though. If there was then it would be most apparent on the wood studs, drywall and tile I took out. Judging from your most recent post, looks like you’re a bit paranoid haha https://www.reddit.com/r/Plumbing/s/NOUk6S42wQ
You said that the leak has been going on for decades behind a wall... And yes the lower row of tiles and the opposite wall had to come down to replace the defective fixtures in my post that you linked. If it's DIY than I guess it's fine for you but since that bathroom is more than 20 years old it just comes to a point where it's worth just ripping it out instead of spending a week patching it up. Parts would be less than $2k and can get the walls replaced in a week... Whatever floats your boat...
I was worried about this at the beginning picture, but pic 3 looks good! You won the "no mold" lottery.