moesture has gotten innew showerlower grout joints on walls and wont dry out can someone help?

Question

Put in a new tileshower Waited almost a month before I used it After I use it the lower 18" of grout joints wont dry out The worst part is under a window that has tile jambs and a 1 pc marble sill There is no plumbing in this wall but the plumbing wall does share the problem 2 to 8"up It was a about a week after I used the shower for the first time that I noticed the problem now it looks to be getting mildew or something on the grout I have put in alot of showers and never noticed this problem before The wall tile is over 1/2" durarock backer board with floor and wall mastic for an adhesive the shower pan is drypacked custom blend floor and wall mud that I have used before w/ a pvc liner that goes 10 to 12" up the walls and wraps the triple stacked pt 2x4" curb wraped w/ durarock w/ a 6x60x.75" marble top the wall tile is 8x10" the floor is 2x2" all porclein The joint size is 1/4" w/ sanded grout I didn't seal it but did a similar shower 2 yrs ago w/ no problems help jimmymon1@yahoo.c

could the weep holes where the drain fastens to the shower linerbe clogged and cause water that has saturated the drypack to move up the wall behind the tile and weep out the grout joints? Could moisture be comming from the outside wall and wheeping out the grout joints? I have built dozens of showers and never had this problem. I dont think it is a ventaliation problem because we didnt have a door on the bathroom untill recentlyand no problem anywhere else.I hope these extra details help

Answer 1

Sounds like the weep holes to me. You probably need to remove the tiles immediately around the drain and clean out the weep holes. It is keeping your shower base wet and the walls are wicking the moisture. Also, are you sure you put enough grade on the shower floor to channel the water to the drain? You may want to set a small space heater in that bathroom with door shut for a few days to accelerate the drying process. It is going to take a couple of weeks minimum to dry up completely. After you get it all repaired and the tile and grout is all dry, you should really seal the grout joints as well.

Answer 2

First off I would say that a 1/4" joint is to big of a gap in a shower wall. I would say clean up the grout & seal the joints.

Other than that it sure seems like you did a good job.

Secound though that comes to mind is that the air movement in the shower is such that it stays to damp in the shower to long.

Is there a fan or window in the room. That would sure help that part of the problem.

Try leaving the shower door open more. Use a small fan to see if that the problem is with the air flow.

It is my guess that the air flow problem is at the heart of this.

If you can't solve the air flow issue you will have to just use one of those spray on tub & tile cleaners more often.

Answer 3

I think you may have another problem. Is it possible you have a small leak in the plumbing? If you think about it there could be water slowly dripping behind the durarock at the mixing valve and keeping the lower parts of the durarock wet. This condition would explain the mold on more than one wall.The shower has a flange around the top edge that the durarock sits on and if water is leaking in the wall it could ride along the shower flange. Look for new water sitting at the grout line, on the shower edge. Wipe it dry and see if new water appears later.

Answer 4

Use a hairdryer then bleach where mole use to be.