After some great waterproofing products for special use

[ivanptr]

About eleven months ago, we hired a shower repair company to seal the tile floor of our shower stall with epoxy grout.

But now it is leaking again. We are contacting the company for a re-seal but not sure if they will honour the warranty.

Now we have two possible causes:
1) Leaking shower faucet behind the wall (but the plumber already "leaked test" the faucet last year, they found one and fixed the source of leak behind the wall)

2) Tiles moved and created hairline crack

If the company is not willing to reseal our shower, we are thinking to install an acrylic shower pan/base.

To us , It seems much better and simple but effective to have a piece of smooth, slick and solid pan / shower base, than replying on some sticky epoxy grout tiles to "seal all the gaps" between tiles ... is it a better choice?

Currently renting another property and the toilet has a big plastic shower base, preventing all the water from seeping through the tiles. Seems a no-brainer?  and easy to install as well?

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If we go for shower base, it will probably take us several weeks to plan this..  (ask around to get recommendation for good local plumber or handyman, arranging onsite quote when we're home on weekend, comparing quotes, or try to learn about the feasibility of DIY)

Several weeks of planning, would mean we need something to fix the leaking problem first

We are thinking to get some thick , gluey, sticky, durable waterproofing gel to "paint on all tiles" directly, instead of regrouting.

Creating a thick layer Above the tile floor, sealing off all cracks and gap. Appearance wont be an issue since we will install a base on it in future.

Liquid waterproofing product wont be good and durable enough.

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Could anyone share your thought on Shower pan/base vs Tile floor,

and what product you recommend to paint directly on those tiles?

Many thanks.. for any comment. Still have a lot to learn..!

[ivanptr]

Update: Have just bought a mattock , it makes the digging way easier. Should hv bought this earlier. Spade and shovel are difficult to use for compacted clay soil full of rocks.

[Vis-á-vis]

External below-grade waterproofing.

1. You have to dig down to the strip footing.

2. Your membrane should terminate on a horizontal at the strip footing and above your soil level. Ideally you should form a fillet with mortar mixed with a waterproof product (bitumen or similar) at the junction of your wall and strip footing.

3. The membrane should be flashed at the vertical termination.

4. You can't apply that product to a damp surface as it will not withstand negative hydrostatic pressure (it will be pushed off of the wall). The bricks/foundation could take months to dry. The only other option is to install a product first that will resist the damp - a two-part epoxy is what we normally use.

5. You have to flush point your brickwork and make the surface as flat and even as possible. The product you have will not effectively bridge your mortar lines. I would also suggest that even if it could bridge the mortar line, the age of the mortar will likely not give a decent bond of the membrane.

6. Your membrane must continue in every east/west and north/south direction until you find a termination point above ground (aside from horizontal terminations such as on your strip footing.

7. Material next to your wall/foundation should be free draining so scoria or similar.

8. A drain with filter fabric should be installed slightly below and away from your strip footing.

9. If you can effectively drain water away from the wall then the waterproofing is probably not necessary.

[EricL]

Hi @Vis-á-vis

Thank you for that detailed recommendation. Let me tag @ivanptr to make sure they see the steps you've listed down. Hopefully, this will finally solve their water leak issues.

Eric