HawthorneVillager.com

This is a long history of events but in a nutshell this is what has happened

- Bought home around 5 years back (Mattamy)
- Had some mild water damage around shower door
- Mattamy reps said water coming out under shower door and said minor issue. I unfortunately ignored it.
- 2 year warranty got over, however Mattamy reps kept coming for other issues and kept saying this water issue was minor .. just some drywall repair
- Problem grew very very slowly and its near 5 years now and had little mold outside.
- Mattamy said I did not do maintaince caulking, however Mattamy manager said if its an issue from them to fix due to poor house construction they would
- Removing drywall (as directed by Mattamy reps) from various areas showed a lot of mold and problem is not minor. It is possible water may be seeping through the tiles, but why is it coming out of the rubber protective sheet? Also its not drops of water but quite a bit of water (but contained within the drywall wood bars. Hence strongly suspect hole in rubber sheet.
- Mattamy still says they will do nothing about it.

To me this is an issue since house construction, but only it had surfaced as an apprarently minor problem. Now to repair it may requiring removing all the tiles and fixing the rubber sheet. Should I just dig deep into my wallet and fix it or should I keep escalating? The Mattamy manager at Milton does not seem inclined to help further. Who can I escalate this too.

Vid 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DokVFQieM-0
Vid 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW64BgRZZbg

Hope you are wearing protective gear so that you are not breathing in all those spores!

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catherine

We had the same thing. Do you have a glass door on the shower? we tore the whole thing apart before we found were the water was coming from. Ours was the screw where the door attaches to the marble shower ledge. The seal around the screw went. Remove the door and see. Arista was no help either. It was the same answer. Maintenance caulking.

At that time most of the Mattamy homes I inspected were not siliconed properly at the gap under the shower door threshold.

From inside the shower it's easy to check with a small mirror and a flashlight.

Small leaks that go undetected for an extended period of time can cause considerable damage and mould.

Drywall under the entrance of a shower is always a bad idea. When you get around to fixing this consider using ceramic or stone tiles under the threshold and up the sides of the shower.

Please keep us informed with photos and comments.

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For Home Inspection services call Andy Shaw at Halton Home Inspection Service. 905 876 4761

Thanks for the responses. I can fix the caulking but then I still would have not fixed the tear/hole in the plastic sheet. Hence I am reluctant to redo the caulking.

It is a glass shower door and opens to the outside (bad design).

I can come by and give you a professional opinion on this issue as your not the first person to have water damage issues around the shower floor. I've already repaired dozens of shower floors here in Milton. Send me a PM and we'll set up an appointment!

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John
http://s844.photobucket.com/albums/ab9/ ... al%20Tile/

From your videos it looks like I have the exact same shower/door that I finished repairing four weeks ago.

My damage wasn't so severe' small section of bubbling paint and some damaged drywall [12"x5"] in size - which I replaced but, seriously, wtf...

During my inspection I found 5 holes / gaps in the grout (miniscule, one was almost paper thin another one could fit the head of a pin), chewed out door frame screw as mentioned by someone else above (clearly not fully torqued).

Furthermore the previous owner had clearly done a previous repair (different / inconsistent / poor caulking) and the wall I just repaired was re-finished / taped / puttied / painted once before (probably before they sold us the house -- was wondering why the paint looked new in the bathroom only).

Anyway

Welcome the club.

It used to be that bathrooms were good to go for 20 plus years. Even then, they would often only be updated to improve the style of the room.

While the quality of materials and building technology has gone up, some builders simply can't provide consistent workmanship quality.

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For Home Inspection services call Andy Shaw at Halton Home Inspection Service. 905 876 4761

After viewing your videos, combined with my past experiences fixing these problems, there is no doubt in my mind that the problem is your shower floor. The mold accumulation your experiencing is there because the dry pack ( cement base under the tiles ) is getting very wet. That moisture will try and find a way out, usually up the walls. So where would large amounts of water penetrate? Anywhere large amounts of water may pass, and there are only three possibilities.
A: around the drain for various reasons, like insufficient compaction of the dry pack giving water an easy path downwards. Or the tiles were cut to wide around the drain, or the drain is slightly higher than the tiles. B: insufficient slope towards the drain leaving standing puddles of water after a shower. Or C: poor grouting of the shower floor allowing water to seap through everywhere.
I've seen and constructed showers with zero silicone that have zero problems because Steps A,B and C were done properly.

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John
http://s844.photobucket.com/albums/ab9/ ... al%20Tile/

Even if water seeps through the shower floor it should not come out of the plastic sheet. This is what is bothering me. What's is the point of that plastic sheet then.

And really Mattamy should own up to this problem. A bathroom not surviving 5 years!!? If Mattamy had fixed this, my next home would likely have been a Mattamy home .. but now I don't think I ever will consider Mattamy.

Yes, there is a rare possibility that the rubber membrane has a puncture, but when that is the case, water damage can be seen from the first floor ceiling directly beneath the shower. Mattamy, or any builder should fix this, but after your one year list is submitted, it's to late. This may make Mattamy look incompitant, but the truth is all the builders are the same. It comes down to the guy that is doing the work. There are a ton of shoemakers out there and they don't all work for mattamy.

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John
http://s844.photobucket.com/albums/ab9/ ... al%20Tile/

Also let me add that the rubber membrane is installed with the drain by the plumber.
Drywallers often drop screws on the membrane and step on them while installing the drywall which takes place before the tile setter does his work. If water makes it passed the rubber, then both the tiles and rubber were comprimsed.

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John
http://s844.photobucket.com/albums/ab9/ ... al%20Tile/

Right, that would be "drywallers" who work with "some" builders" drop screws on the membrane .......etc. Many builders do not tolerate that kind of crap from the people they work with.

From my perspective, it's pretty obvious that some builders have better quality trades people than others. The differences are that more "care" and skill is put into the work.

John,

You may recall that at one time I contacted you about tiled shower floors. It is much better to tile the shower floor first and the wall second, instead of the other way around. That way, even if the silicon is not perfect around the perimeter of the shower floor, water running down the shower wall will hit the floor and go to the drain. The other way, if the silicon is not perfect, water continues down the wall and under the sides of the floor.

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For Home Inspection services call Andy Shaw at Halton Home Inspection Service. 905 876 4761

What they should have done was to build the shower so it would last, but sanj75, you don't understand.

THE SYSTEM IN PLACE TO PROTECT YOU IS BROKEN. The New Home Warranty Act IS BROKEN. Tarion IS BROKEN. The whole system is FLAWED as it encourages low quality work because so called warranties are so short and full of caveats that work against you.

The builders who are doing a great job do so because they strive to offer a quality product that goes beyond flashy websites. Quality builders are not dependent on minimum standards.

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For Home Inspection services call Andy Shaw at Halton Home Inspection Service. 905 876 4761

Yes Andy, this the correct way to do it, and will hold up better in the long run.
I have done them both ways and have had success both ways. It does come down to the workmanship.
There are guys that are concerned with the money and others like me concerned about the water.
There is usually 2-4 inches of drypack under the tiles, if it begins to absorb to much water it begins to fail. My honest opinion is that they should have a preslope base under the membrane in case the tiles fail the water will still make it down the drain, making it fail safe.
The way they are done currently is basically like those old waterbeds from the 80's. They need to fill right up before the water can trickle down the thread of the drain. And that is obviously too late, moisture finds its way up the walls and mold is your new friend.

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John
http://s844.photobucket.com/albums/ab9/ ... al%20Tile/