Funky Stall Shower

[Gunnar Alquist]

From yesterday afternoon's inspection. Mid 1980s tract house. Nothing remarkable... until I wandered into the bathroom.

Master bathroom stall shower was odd. Tile surround with a tile pan, LOTS of caulk at the lower corners and a funky (but not necessarily problematic) faucet setup. Then I noticed two drain screens. The interior of the drain looks like the type of drain associated with a fiberglass pan. When I got underneath, there was a square hole in the plywood under the shower, expanded metal lath with some kind of mortar or thinset above the lath, and a plastic drain fitting. The drain fitting is not the type associated with a tile pan (I'm blanking on the name of that fitting), but looks like a fiberglass shower pan drain fitting.

I did fill the pan with water while I was in the bathroom and pulled-back the insulation below the shower when I was in the foundation crawlspace area, but found no leaking at the shower drain or the pan area. There were dry stains on the p-trap though.

My thought is someone tiled over the fiberglass pan (or maybe a terrazzo pan?) and the grout failed at the corners due to flexing of the fiberglass. No loose sounding tile when I tapped, but maybe the mastic held. I let the buyer know this is a nonstandard installation that will likely fail and that's essentially what I will put in the report.

Just wondering if anyone has any additional thoughts.

[Jerry Peck]

Gunnar,

The photo of the drain looks like there is a hair strainer below the hair strainer. I've seen that a few times - it is an indication that the floor (at least the floor) was tiled over by someone who did not know what they were doing.

If they tiled over it to fix a leaking shower pan, which is usually the reason, then it is still leaking. If they tiled over it for some other reason ... then they just did it all wrong.

The photo from below is showing expanded metal lath which was laid across the cut out with either thin set or a mud bed laid down for tile, probably the first layer of tile, the layer without a shower pan liner and which leaked (for obvious reasons - liner).

Looks like a good candidate for complete R&R.

[Gunnar Alquist]

Gunnar,

The photo of the drain looks like there is a hair strainer below the hair strainer. I've seen that a few times - it is an indication that the floor (at least the floor) was tiled over by someone who did not know what they were doing.

If they tiled over it to fix a leaking shower pan, which is usually the reason, then it is still leaking. If they tiled over it for some other reason ... then they just did it all wrong.

The photo from below is showing expanded metal lath which was laid across the cut out with either thin set or a mud bed laid down for tile, probably the first layer of tile, the layer without a shower pan liner and which leaked (for obvious reasons - liner).

Looks like a good candidate for complete R&R.

Jerry,

Thanks for your input. I would agree with your last two paragraphs, except there was no sign of leaking on the subfloor sheathing under this area and no sign of past structural repairs. I had to pull-back insulation, which limited my ability to see, but found no stains.

I agree that it is tile over another shower pan, but am thinking that it is tile over a molded fiberglass pan. This might explain the caulking (to cover the cracked grout because the fiberglass flexes) as well as the plastic drain fitting under the shower.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out the expanded metal lath and mortar under the shower, unless they set a fiberglass pan in mortar to try to prevent the fiberglass from flexing and cracking the tile/grout.

[Rick Cantrell]

Too many question
I would recommend a flooded shower pan test.

[Gunnar Alquist]

Too many question
I would recommend a flooded shower pan test.

Rick,

Did that (see first post). Or, more accurately, I filled the pan and then drained it. Not an extended test as that is typically done by the pest inspector, but if there was a leak, it would likely have showed-up. Pan was holding water for probably 5 minutes. Not a true test, but...

[Rod Butler]

Interesting installation for sure. If it isn't leaking I would call it creative construction (CC) and leave it at that. Unless you know exactly what was going on and the installers thought process you can no more say it will leak in the future (due to the CC) than you can say it will someday catch fire.

Either could happen BTW.

:p

[Lon Henderson]

I think you covered it when you told the buyers that it was a nonstandard installation and likely to fail. Some nonstandard installations are creative and cutting edge, but usually they are done in ignorance or just to cut corners.