Water leaking into the pan from the weep holes

[marmen]

In the shower the granite around the drain is always dark unless the shower hasn't been used for a week or so. I don't see any cracks or openning that water or moisture can get thru from the top. However, after some testing, i found that the water gets under the slab from the weep holes shown in the photo. When I turn the water off there is a little stream of water coming out from the weep holes.

The drain connections that stores carry have a different design where the weep holes are blocked from the draining water.

I'm wondering if there is some kind of a fitting or a funnel I can use to divert the water from going in thru the weep holes without removing the large granite slabs and replacing the floor drain.

The shower is about 8 years old. It is on the second floor (there is another shower with the same condition on the first floor). The opening on top is 3" & the drain pipe is probably 2".

Please help.

[johnfrwhipple]

The water is getting out the weep holes not in under the slab.

It looks like and excessive amount of silicone was used connecting this drain and most likely you have only 3 of the many weep holes working. Weep holes need to be protected from blockage while installing the mortar bed and finished tile. I use Candle Wick and Noble Company's positive weep hole protectors for this step. There are many ways to do this this but sadly now available to you at this time.

What type of shower liner was used?


Did you document the process?

Was the installer a NTCA member or a "Handy Andy"?

JW

[marmen]

JW, I see 3 weep holes (about 1/2" in diameter) and they are doing their job of getting water out of the pan or liner. So I don't think they are blocked. However, they are also letting the water in.

We purchased the house couple of months ago. So I don't know what kind of liner was used, the process or who installed it. Just been told that the bathroom was remodeled about 8 years ago.

The silicone or caulk looks clean. So maybe the lady living in the house either did not use this shower or someone worked on it recently.

[johnfrwhipple]

It appears that the shower was worked on recently like you mention. I do not know why so much silicone was used. When we work with standard clamping drains I use a product from Schluter called Kerdi Fix to fix my membranes to the drain. This creates a water tight connection without the use of the clamping collar. I take care to use a scrap pf plastic to prevent this Kerdi Fix from fixing the top collar to the bottom collar and remove the following day. We make sure all weep holes are the proper size =< 3mm and often use a small screw driver to clean and slightly enlarge the holes. Once installed the entire assembly gets water tested by flooding it out fro a period of 24- 72 hours.

Once the test is completed we pull the plug and ensure all the water drains away. Then some candle wick will keep the weep holes free from blockage and we set the drain and prepare the tile mortar bed.

All these steps need to be done to net a functional shower. If the process is not followed it can take weeks and weeks to dry out - if ever. The silicone inside your shower's drain serves no purpose. If that is the primary waterproofing system there you have bigger problems. Perhaps call in a plumber and ask him to clean it up a bit. Removing those ridges created by the silicone could improve the draining of the weep holes and help your shower dry out faster.

Good Luck.

JW

[marmen]

Thanks, that is very informative but at this time I'd like to know how to fix (if possible) the existing problem without tearing everything apart.

[jadnashua]

A common problem some make when building a liner (traditional) shower pan is to install the liner flat on the floor, thinking that the tile is the waterproof layer. If yours is installed that way, the only fix it to tear it out and rebuild. Water WILL get beneath the tile, and the only way it can get out is if the liner is installed properly and that means it must be sloped. The layers would normally be something like this: preslope, liner, setting bed, thinset, tile. If the floor is wooden, then there'd be a couple of more things in the mix (decoupling layer - tar paper, and metal lath). If the liner and preslope are done properly, no water should accumulate underneath as it is hard to get beneath the tile, and because the waterproof layer is sloped, any that did would immediately drain out. The fact you are seeing a lot come out, to me anyway, seems like it is acting like a reservoir, and it would only do that if it was NOT sloped properly. Again, I'm not talking about the top layer of tile being sloped - it must be, but it gets that slope from the preslope. The liner then sits on it, again sloped because of the preslope, then the setting bed is installed as a parallel layer to the liner, and because all of that is sloped, it is too.

If the liner is flat on the floor, it can only drain when the quantity of water is high enough to get over the lip at the drain AND it will never completely dry out except after a VERY long time.

[Tiger Mountain Tile Inc]

If I had to guess, I think that there is a prefloat in simply for the fact that the water collects around the drain.

When seeing the layout of the weepholes my first thought was that it was a cast iron drain, but it clearly has plastic around the top, ruling that out. I've never seen a plastic 3 piece drain with only three weepholes.

The problem is that water is collecting in the pan faster than it can drain out.

I wonder if the gobs of silicone are actually blocking some of the weepholes? I would clean out the excess silicone and see if you can find some additional weepholes. I would guess that there are at least three more. Cleaning out the silicone doesn't guarantee they will work, but it's a nice and simple first step.

[Tiger Mountain Tile Inc]

I'm staring at the picture and I think it is a cast iron drain. Can you post a photo of the drain cover?

edit: I would also see if you can clean out the shown weepholes. They look like they have a good deal of build-up on them

[marmen]

Top part of the drain that has weep holes is metal not cast iron. Pipe below is ABS. I just poked around and there are no other weep holes under silicone. Also, the other shower on the first floor has the same configuration but there is no silicone. That one is also letting the water in.

I was thinking if there is a funnel or reducer that can be installed above the weep holes, right bellow the drain lip and terminate it below weep holes. That should prevent the water getting into the weep holes.

[jadnashua]

WIth a liner flat on the floor, the clamping drain means there's a lip there...water will drain out if it gets deep enough. If the liner is sloped properly, it is very hard to accumulate any on the liner, so it would be less likely to be flowing out long after the shower was used.

[jadnashua]

Weep holes are CRITICAL to a conventional shower pan with a liner. Water WILL get underneath the tile, and must have a way to exit the pan, or it will eventually become saturated, and start smelling like a swamp. For water to back up in the drain and try to enter into the pan from that way, you'd have to have a very poorly operating drain...clean it out so it flows properly. From the weep holes towards the outsides of the shower, the liner must slope up, away from the drain. Water will NOT go in that way unless the drain is plugged, nor will if flow out of the pan if the liner is flat, except when it is totally full and can get over the lip at the clamping drain.

[Tiger Mountain Tile Inc]

That one is also letting the water in.

I really don't think the weep holes are letting any water in. However, if you wanted to fabricate some sort of funnel, like you are talking about you could at least cross that possibility off your list. I don't know of anything out there that is made for that because water typically doesn't travel up the weepholes.

I would definitely clean out the three weep holes that are there.

[marmen]

Thank you gentleman. After reading & re-reading your posts, I started looking all over & found a hole about 1/8" in the corner between the seals of two glass walls.



I just needed to look an inch higher to see the hole. And here is the photowhere you can see calcium deposits on the other side.



I caulked that one. By the way I stuck a piece of wire into the weep holes & it goes in about an inch. So I guess that's not clogged.

One more question. What is this hole for?



Has this glass been replaced & they drilled a new hole for the screw or is this some kind of drain or vent? I have about 4 of them. Can I seal them?

[johnfrwhipple]

....I would definitely clean out the three weep holes that are there.

I would leave the weep holes alone. You do not want to clean them, poke them or nothing. The weep holes are right at the membrane level so any cleaning measure might damage the membrane.

The silicone should be removed. It looks like it is creating a dam. The water should travel out the weep hole and down the drain. If you have a 1/8" lip of silicone your water level will be 1/8" deep. If you have a 1/4" silicone lip you will have 1/4" of water.

I think someone did this thinking they where helping when in fact they hurt the install.

BUT!!! A plumber will notice any flaws. Call one up and have him check it out.

Do not poke wire up the weep holes!

JW

[marmen]

The silicone came easy in few chunks. Luckily they did not clean the drain before applying it.



So what do I do with holes next to screws?