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Seepage through ceramic tile grout and pin holes
QUESTION
Water seepage in Tile Installation Problem - I have seepage through my ceramic floor tile and grout through pin holes. I would like to know what causes this problem in a very localized area, the dining room and living room only.ANSWER
ANSWER - Not sure what you mean by seepage through ceramic tile grout and pin holes. I assume you mean that water or efflorescence is coming up through those areas. Moisture is the driving force for whitish efflorescence precipitant. It would suggest that you either have a high water table or you don't have a vapor retarder under your concrete slab, if you have a concrete slab, and that water is migrating from the outside to the inside of the home. Water always does take the path of least resistance so for some reason those areas are those least resistant spots. If that is the situation then you can dig French drains (trench drains) around the perimeter of the house to divert the water.4 thoughts on “Seepage through ceramic tile grout and pin holes”
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I had a burst pipe in roof a few months ago and my ceramic floor tiles were soaked. Now they’re covered in holes,could it be due to the excess water?
Not sure what you mean by holes. Ceramic tile whether unglazed or glazed normally don’t spall. Spalling is where there is a deterioration of the tile surface due to minerals or substances precipitate or expand at the tile surface.
There are some types of unglazed Mexican clay pavers that can have lime clumps embedded in the clay just below the surface of the tile, which when subjected to water will expand and cause spalling. We call the lime pops.
It is more common to have natural stone that will develop spalling when subjected to excessive moisture for a prolong time due to moisture and mineral migration.
I just hired a “grout tech” company to re grout a shower floor on the 2nd floor in the master bedroom. After 3 days of drying several areas of the grout dried a dark putty color while the rest of the grout on the floor dried white. Most of the dark colored grout lines are on the floor and a few are going up the wall on the bottom row of wall tile. The dark spots are sporadic and all over the shower floor but most of them are in one area to the right of the drain closet to the wall. My new grout floor has a dark zig zag pattern. Is the discoloration from installation error or possible leak under tile? Looking for advice while searching and came across your site. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you. Donna
Cementitious grouts can have color variations or shading issues. In those cases it can be caused by using too much water in the grout or over washing the grout pulling out the pigment.
Although in your case it sounds more like you might have a moisture problem in your shower pan. Around most shower drains, below the tile at the waterproof membrane, there are weep holes to allow water to escape that gets below the tile through the grout joints. Often we find those weep holes are plugged with mortar. They should be protected with gravel or small tile pieces or with a plastic weep hole protector. If they get plugged then the water gets trapped. This can cause the grout joints near the drain screen to have a dark wet look and in worst cases the water can migrate up the walls depending on how the shower pan to wall transition was constructed.
To fix it you normally need to remove the tile around the drain to get to the weep holes. It is possible to try to get the week holes from the drain to see if you can push something up through it to free the hole.