On 06/12/2013 10:07, asalcedo wrote:
The shower cubicle in the main bathroom at home needs repair.

It is lined with marble tiles. After a period of several years without
re-grouting the tile joints or re-sealing with silicone the juncture
with the shower bowl, water has leaked through the tiles and silicone
joints and damaged the walls behind and surrounding areas.

I am going to re-do the whole shower repairing the walls so that they
are sound and firm.

Other than a ready-made shower cubicle, is there a better solution than
just re-tiling?

Is there a way to avoid the same problem (leaks through the joints) by
laying a watertight film prior to the tiles or something of that sort?

Using a thin backing board (aqua panel etc) to tile onto might be your
best bet. seal well at the bottom (i.e. seal tray to the wall, then
leave a gap under the panel and fill/seal that, then tile with a gap and
fill/seal that, with a final fillet of seal visible on the outside).

For a belt and braces type solution, you could look for a tray with a
tiling up-stand on it (i.e. a small ledge designed to go behind the
tiles and channel water into the tray).


The house has wooden beams and one has to allow for some movements,
seasonal and others.

So only use grout on flat areas of tiles, and not any of the corners, or
joins to other things like trays etc.

Treating the grout with lithofin grout protector will also help.
(pricey, but a small bottle goes a long way)

Are marble tiles a good solution or should I go for different ones?

I have found that the travatine style ones are somewhat porous, and so
really need to be on a waterproof backing (e.g. a cementious board, or
at least something fully screeded with waterproof adheasive). IME it can
also be difficult to get silicone to bond well to the tiles since water
can get behind it through the tile.


--
Cheers,

John.

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