Leaking Shower? Could This Be The Problem?

Roger visits a £500,000 newbuild to solve a leaking shower issue that is so common it’s almost a national epidemic.

It’s a familiar scenario. A homeowner finds a wet patch on the ceiling of the room below a tiled bath or shower room so, assuming there is a leak under the shower or bath, they have a go at solving the problem themselves with some silicone sealant. This solves the problem temporarily but signs of the leak under shower keep returning.

More often than not the problem is that what’s behind the tiles – plasterboard – simply isn’t up to the job.

Leaking Shower Woe

Modern housebuilders often lay tiles on to plasterboard because it’s the cheapest material available and it looks fine initially but at some point, it is more than likely to let the homeowner down when the grouting starts to fail and water seeps in through the cracks.

Plasterboard is like paper and once the water finds its way in it will swell and degrade and give way to leaks and sometimes rot can even set in before there are any outward signs of the problem.

Abacus bathrooms
A leaking shower can be avoided if done right.

It’s much better to lay onto a decent board designed for tiles or to use a system such as the Elements board from Abacus Bathrooms demonstrated by Roger in this video.

It’s unfortunately not uncommon for people to replace plasterboard with more plasterboard so the whole sorry cycle is destined to be repeated.

See the modern solution to a waterproof bathroom with Abacus.

More on bathroom repairs from Skill Builder.

About Roger Bisby

Roger Bisby is an English television presenter and journalist, known for his expertise in the British building industry.

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