New Marble Shower Floor Looks Wet!

[Rocknfire21]

All,

I just finished a bathroom remodel and I am looking for some advice. There is discoloration occurring due to retained moisture beneath the tile surface. I am going to attach multiple photographs of the Schluter Kerdi system install coupled with the way the shower looks after heavy usage. The last time I used the shower was Wednesday evening. I have been letting the floor evaporate the moisture from the pan since. A photograph of the floor as of today is attached as well.

It is my understanding that the Kerdi drain system does not have weep holes. Therefore, it acts as a dam to water that penetrates and tries to escape.

I checked beneath the house to ensure no leakage was occurring. I am pretty confident the system is water tight. I just don't know how to address the water resting beneath the tiles when the topside drains well.

Any advice is much appreciated!

Thanks,
Daniel

[PC7060]

Hi Daniel, welcome to the world of marble in showers. Unfortunately, this is a typical situation that occurs due to the porous nature of marble.
Open the chrome browser and search using the following search terms. You’ll see a wide variety of examples of this type of discoloration.

“www.johnbridge.com: marble shower floor”

[Rocknfire21]

Thank you for replying PC. Do you believe this will cause a bigger failure? Is there any way to affect the porosity to mitigate moisture collection? Do you recommend ripping the floor out and redoing it?

Thanks,
Daniel

[PC7060]

The condition you see is a normal cosmetic occurrence with marble and is not a indication of leaks in your shower. Learning to live with the “wet” look is best option unless you want to replace with porcelain marble look alike.

In situation is like these I found it’s best to wait 30 days to see if the subject still bothers me like it did on day 1. Often times it is just migrated into the background noise of “that’s just the way it is”.

[Rocknfire21]

I put two coats of Aqua Mix Sealer's Choice Gold on the floor grout lines when the shower was finished. Do you recommend sealing the stone as well? Or do you feel I may exacerbate the issue?

[Davy]

It won't do any good to seal it and may cause it to dry out even slower. As installers, we often advise folks not to use marble in showers but we haven't been able to get designers and tile store employees on board. They continue to recommend it.

[jadnashua]

If you've installed the Kerdi pan properly, there's no need for weep holes in the drain. Weep holes in a conventional liner shower are required since some moisture WILL get beneath the tile, and the mudbed is porous, so gravity will cause it to keep falling down to the liner, and then weep out towards the drain so if there was no way out, it would build up. Grout and thinset are denser than a mud bed, so while water will still penetrate, it tends to not get very far, and usually evaporates...but, that doesn't help with the stone which is also porous...maybe more so than the grout.

What you may find is that your best choice would be an enhancing sealer which would darken all of the tile on the pan, so it will be more even. That, or replacement is problematic as, if you've set the tile properly, you'll pull all of the fleece off of the Kerdi, and thus, have no good way to adhere new tile back onto it without replacing, and that means problems with the seams to the walls, too.

[Rocknfire21]

Jadnashua,

Thank you for the enhancing sealer recommendation. I applied some caulk at the base of the floor where the walls meet the floor and also evaluated the drain thoroughly. I caulked around a few compromised areas there as well. The next step I will explore is a enhancing sealer. I would rather not rip up a perfectly functional floor if discoloration is the only issue. I may just have to mitigate and learn to live with it.

[PC7060]

I may just have to mitigate and learn to live with it.