Leak between shower cultured marble floor and liner

[nv11101]

I have a gap between the drain and the cultured marble flooring hole that is allowing water to get between the floor and the liner. I tore everything out (the drain and the silicone and everything else to get to the problem. There was standing water between the cultured marble and the rubber liner. I vacuumed it all out and now I don't know how to fix the problem. There is a couple inch gap between the liner, but they didn't concrete all the way to the drain and I can pretty much fit my whole hand in the gap. I am wondering if I could use a concrete product to finish filling in the gap to give it more of a barrier and then silicone the top, but as of right now, there is too big of a gap and there is no way to keep the silicone from just shrinking and the problem to continue. I put the picture of the drain to show the gap between the cultured marble hole and the standard 4 inch drain.

 

[frodo]

the rubber shower pan and shower drain you have is for tile application

not a marble application

the first picture is what you have.

the second picture is what you should have

who put that marble in ? it looks like the hole is cut to big also

it needs to be removed and the drain installed correctly

to answer your question, no, silicone, concrete, caulk, or red balloons will fix it

 

[CT18]

That is jacked up. At least you know the liner is water tight. You should get a professional in to make corrections

 

[frodo]

i would be looking to put a thump on who ever did that to you.

 

[nv11101]

The Marble Factory installed it over 7 or 8 years ago and it is no surprise that none of their phone numbers work So, essentially all the Marble needs to be torn out and I'm sure that can't be done in one piece, and new needs to be installed? There is no way to install a new drain from the ceiling below without ripping out the shower?

 

[frodo]

you major problem, is going to be finding a shower drain that will fit that hole.
that hole is not a standard hole. the drains will not fit it, plus it is not recessed for the lip




i have a fix, you might not like it.

cut a square out of the marble, 18''x18'' build up a mud bed in the square and tile the sq to match the marble

the trick, and the time consuming part, is going to cut the marble, with out cutting the liner under neith

after the marble is cut.. INSIST DEMAND the pan be filled with water and leak tested

proceed from that point in what ever direction the test sends you.

 

[nv11101]

It is a walk in shower, how would you water test the pan? Is there a way to make sure that it isn't leaking between the pan and the liner after installing the tile?

 

[nv11101]

Would you worry about water damage up the walls or in the floor joists? I really don't want to tear anything out, I would rather wait a while and just let it all dry up. If there is mold growing and I don't get rid of it in our dry desert climate of Las Vegas, will it go away if I let it dry out?

 

[frodo]

do you see the flange on top of the body of the drain ?

this flange seals the membrane to the drain body.

your shower stall, you said has a liner/membrane is water proof 4'' up the wall IF installed correctly.

to test the pan, you plug the drain and fill with 2'' of water...and wait for a drip. LOL

no drip in a 24 hour period your pan is good.

 

[frodo]

mold you can kill using bleach, some say use 1 cup per gallon, i use pure bleach in a bug/ lawn sprayer

wearing a mask, then leave the house <<<< immediately >>>> for a few hours...restaurant

 

[nv11101]

What about any mold that I can't see? Would you worry about it in the subfloor? This shower is located on top of a basement with no damage to the bedroom ceiling below so obviously the water has been fairly contained for 8 years. I'm just concerned because it obviously has leached out to the tile floor on the outside of the shower which is where I noticed water bubbles coming out of the grout

 

[nv11101]

Frodo: You mean once finished with the tile, just plug the drain cover and fill the shower up and see if anything drips or do you mean after the mud floor has been finished up and before the tile is installed?

 

[frodo]

i mean, after the marble has been cut, before anything else is done.

the 2nd picture is the membrane , you need to test it to make sure it is not leaking

if not, anything you do is for naught

 

[nv11101]

Okay I think I've already established that the liner leaks a little so basically even if I fix the drain issue and stop the water getting to the liner, I am still going to have a problem later down the road. I've attached pictures of the tile outside the shower that had water bubbles coming up.out of the grout when stepped on. I'm pretty sure the water over time was escaping the liner and finding it's way between the hardibacker and tile on the outside of the shower. I really don't want to spend a bunch redoing the whole shower right now and thought I just might be able to fix the leak