Fiberglass Shower bottom and Tile

We are having a problelm with our shower in our new home - they put tile on the walls but used a fiberglass tub. We get water leaking and has been identified behind the wall. The put grout at the place where the fiberglass and tile meet - and it should probably be silicone?

There seem to be conflicting opinions on how to fix this and I want to know what I should expect from the buider.

does anyone have an opinion on whether or not these two products can work together or should I force them to re-do it and put in a tile floor?

Cary,
You should expect your Builder to fix it, NOTHING else is acceptable on a new home !!!

Assuming it is not beyond the written warranty, and if you have complained about it within that period, if the warranty expires before it's fixed, that shouldn't matter, the problem has priority over the deadline !

Personally, I'd have used Silicone, but those materials are dissimilair.

A Tile Floor should have been installed up front !!

Have a good Day !
S.W.

Cary welcome to the forum I hope you will like it here.

I agree 100% with SWHouston.

Thanks! Do you both think that it is feasible to require them to pull it out and replace with tile? Is that evenpossible.

I know they will wnat to do the fastest and cheapest but given how much I paid for this house I don't think it should be done with inadequate products....

Cary,

Sure, it's possible to replace it with Tile, but, have/did you accept the house "as is", and if you did it's up to the generosity of the Builder, to resolve that problem for you. My experience with them, is once you've closed, it's CLOSED, and their responsibility at that point is, to provide that the item is operating as specified, which means they fix the leak only.

Could you have stipulated in your contract, to withhold payment for closing, based on your approval? Were you presented with a “Materials List” up front, where you knew what you were getting? Check your contract again carefully, MAYBE there's something in it, that will help.

But, let's look at it a bit differently here:

Using a FGlass shower basin, is not a cinchy way to do it, regardless of my opinion of which I many have chosen. It will give you many years of service free use, probably well beyond that of a Tile unit. So, you don't have a cheep install there, and will be fairly expensive to change to a Tile unit, for you or them.

Have a good Day !
S.W.

Uoops PS: Welcome to the forum !

Well the good news is it can only be leaking from 2 places. the joint between the wall & base & the drain. If they dont fix it, then scrape out the grout and put in silicone sealant. If that is not the problem, then maybe there is a leak at the drain, a small leak could let the water run along the outside of the drain pipe, and then drip down below. But I think some silicone shoudl work fine. Typically the basins have a flange that the tile board is suppoed to be installed over, basically preventing water getting back there, but maybe that is nto the case with yours.

Bad news - to properly fix this, they will have to remove the tile and reinstall the waterproofing method behind the tile. since grout is porous, water passed through it. the entry point is where the water hits the wall in the shower. there should be overlapped roofing felt or bisqueen as a moisture barrier between the tile backerboard, and the studs, this should run in a continuous sheet or an overlapping layer (think of your roof) and come to an end inside the lip to the fiberglass shower pan. The bottom joint between the tile and the shower pan should be grout (as grout is porous, and allows moisture to pass through due to gravity) NOT silicone (which holds back the moisture forcing it to build up, and cause further problems).

If they did not install this properly, it was not built to code (and no, greenboard is NOT a moisture barrier), so they need to rip it out, and fix it.

Good luck with getting anything out of them though! If they refuse to fix it properly, I'd have it fixed by a reputable pro, and send them the bill. They won't pay, so sue them in small claims court (shouldn't cost more then $1500 for the repair). Just remember, since they didn't install it properly/to code, they are liable for ALL resulting damages (drywall, paint, the Monet you happened to hang there...). You might remind them of that, and they might be more responsive.

It may not be your problem but in general for the joint between your tile and base Silicon will work. However they do make a sanded and un-sanded tile caulk. This should be used instead of grout at any corner to allow for expansion and contraction. Good luck.