Shower Leaks

This has been an ongoing problem with my shower which consists of tile walls and a fiberglass bottom. Initially I noticed that my hardwood flooring in my bedroom, opposite to the wall where my master bedroom shower stall is located, is decaying and rotting. This rot is slowly propagating. About three months ago, thinking that it may be the faucet (located opposite the wall where there is damage) in the shower leaking inside the wall and traveling under the fiberglass basin and puddeling at the wall where the bedroom floor is damaged. I decided to have a plumber remove and install a new faucet. The faucet was installed by breaking the main bathroom wall, as I did not want to disturb the shower tile. I had to call the plumber back twice in one week because there was still some slow leakage in the fittings. I kept the wall open for a week to observe any water problems and did notice that water was leaking at the floor behind the shower basin when the shower was on and only when someone was showering and standing on the basin. This led me to believe that the tile grout between the basin and the wall was opening and letting water escape behind the shower basin. I called a tile person to regrout the entire shower. He mentioned that the wall behind the tile feels solid and that regrouting should solve my water problem. After careful observation, I did not see any further water seeping behind the shower basin. I closed the wall up in the main bathroom. I caulked the area where the tile meets the fiberglass basin as a precaution. Recently I have been noticing the calking between the shower basin and tile wall disforming. I cut the calking only to have water coming out that smelled like a septic tank. I let the water drain and dried it out with a hair dryer. I applied new caulk. After a few days, I notice that the caulking is bubbling up and I know that there is water behind it. What do you suggest my next step should be? What is the best way to locate the leak? I am inclined to rip out the entire shower, walls and all and install a pre-fabricated stall, put hate to get rid of the tile since they are in such good shape.

Neither tile nor grout is truely totally waterproof. There should be a vapor barrier behind the tile that runs down and laps over the flange of the shower pan. Trapped water will sit trapped and ferment with all sorts of stuff as food - soap, oil, dead skin, hair, drywall paper, etc. Hard to tell without being there, but if there is water trapped behind the walls, there's a leak somewhere that needs to be resolved. Personally, I'm not a fan of fiberglass shower pans, or walls, or tubs. Eventually, they just end up looking ratty. A properly designed tile shower can last decades and be as good as when it was built. A leak from the valve doesn't magically seal itself and stay that way forever. Not very impressive work IMHO. Without being there to see what is actually going on, it is hard to diagnose from afar. Are the corners grouted or caulked? They should be caulked. Water could be leaking behind the walls through cracks in the grout in the corners and building up behind the walls near the bottom.

Maybe the walls behind the tile really were rotted out, and there is residual water and mold left over. Also, has a drain leak been ruled out? Did the plumber replace the riser pipe, shower arm, and shower head? Those could also be sources of leaks when the shower is turned on. Also, check for a crack in the fiberglass shower pan.

You are certain there is water, that will smell bad when it stays there. So remove the caulking.

You are certain that this water is from the shower.

Y/N?

When you had the wall open, did you take any pictures? Post one or two.

When you hired the guy who regrouted everything, did he also regrout the gap that you later put caulking on top of?

david