Grout turned blue???? HELP PLEASE

[tracidomke]

Okay, here is my story. A few months ago we installed a new shower. On the floor we used 1x1 Pineapple Onyx and a light tan grout. Under the tile is the thinset, mortar, black rubber thingy for the liner and then mortar. Slope is perfect. Oh yeah and the tile and grout were sealed using 511. Pretty much right away I noticed that the tiles around the drain were discolored (wet look). My husband told me that it just takes longer for those tiles to dry because they are by the drain. I bought the excuse and ignored it but it kept bothering me so we stopped using the shower to give that area time to dry. 5 weeks went by and the discoloration was still there. Obviously my husband was wrong. I thought maybe it was the weep holes but we protected the weep holes with pebbles. Anyway, today I decided to grind out some of the grout and see what was going on. Under the surface of the discolored grout was blue grout. No blue grout was used, ever.
My question (I have a few)
what would turn the grout blue under the surface?
Is this what caused the tile to appear darker than others?
Is there a way to test the weep holes without removing the tile?
What the heck is going on??

Hopefully my pictures will come through.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[nmlazz]

I should let the experts respond but to me, that looks like it might be coming from your liner....or from underneath anyway.

[Peerless Tile]

Looks to me like no pre slope under the liner and efflorescence beginning to rear it's head.....Basically a cesspool in your mudbed around the drain and mineral deposits leaching up through the grout. Do you have any idea if a preslope was put in under " black rubber thingy" to slope water that saturates the mudbed towards the weep holes in the drain? If yes, then more than likely the weep holes were not protected and are now clogged, not allowing the mudbed to drain properly. Not to be a total party pooper but.....Onyx is about the worst thing to use in a wet enviroment.

[John Bridge]

Hi Traci,

I think I would try removing all the grout from the joints in question and putting in new grout. I won't guarantee that'll it'll work, but it's a fairly easy first try.

[tracidomke]

Thank you Peerless Tile and John Bridge for the advice. I will try to remove the grout and redo it. Hopefully that will work. If not I will be back.

Thank you so much for this forum. It was so nice to be able to go somewhere to ask questions.

[HomeDepotAssociate]

ive said it before and ill say it again -- best forum on the internet, ANY TOPIC. and I've been around to verify that one

[Jim Farrell Tiler]

some people pay a lot of money for blue grout

[Custom Builder]

Looks like gray thinset. Perhaps the grout was just a little thin there.

[tracidomke]

I removed all the grout from around the drain and re-grouted the area. Unfortunately the discoloration is still there. I am starting to think that the weep holes were not protected.

Can I remove the tiles around the drain and dig down to the weep holes, clean out the weep holes, and build it back up? Or would I need to redo the whole floor?

Anyway to test the weep holes without digging anything up?

Your help is always appreciated

[Houston Remodeler]

Testing first is a good idea.

Get one of the plugs shown below. You should need a 2"er. After installing the plug, fill the pan with water. You should be able to hear the water draining through the weep holes. If not, let it sit overnight and see how much lower the water is the next day.

[tracidomke]

Thank you houston remodeler. How long does it take for water to absorb through the grout and go to the weep holes??

[Houston Remodeler]

It starts right away. A shower should drain itself in a few hours at the longest.

[Lump]

The problem may be the thinset. Was it grey or white thinset?

[tracidomke]

White thinset