HELP! New White Ceramic Tile Faded, Rust spots & Rust On New Pebble Tile

[mctaino]

Hello Friends, Newbie home owner here..

Well Long story short after much hardship and months of endless run arounds, My wife and I were able to buy our first home. We decided to gut and re-do kitchen, floors bathrooms etc, dumping most of my savings into remodeling our home. After months of construction we were able to move into our home with our beautiful children about 1 month ago. Recently we have started to notice issues so we think in our bathroom tile.

1st. Our kids bathroom we decided on ceramic white tile with shinny glaze, recently bottom row of tile are starting to fade and look like if they are loosing color, some of them have also developed some type of rust. We have not even cleaned the bathroom yet so we have no idea how this tiles have gotten this way so quick. To top it off in our Master bathroom our pebble floor is also developing heavy rust in the pebble tile. It seams as is coming from the inside of the pebble and or tile.

We have contacted our tile distributor, they came out to the home with tile manufacturer and said they had seen it before but they could not specify a reason till they spoke to tile techs. Spoke to contractor and there answer was that in 20 years of installations they had not seen a tile this bad. They also said they followed code, right pan, pitch to floor etc. Then I got a call from distributor who said they would route me to there vice president. At the end they have said that our contractor failed to install the tile properly reason for tile to have faded witch they claim is moisture. We were told they would only provide us with tiles, grout, tinset to re-do job only 2 lower rows. We would have to pay our contractors to re-do job as they claim is bad tiles. Now we have started to notice this rust points coming from the tile to surface, also our Master bathroom pebble floors are also getting rust now. Im not sure whats going on and would appreciate some feedback. Our water is not from a well is city water. I have placed a tile in a bucket full of water for a couple days and it hasn't faded or gotten rust. So I really have no clue whats going on, please help.. Left pictures for you all to look at

Thanks Again

[cx]

Welcome, Joel.

It'll help if you'll identify the tiles by make and model (no need to be bashful about brand names here) and tell exactly what setting materials were used to install the tiles.

Tell also what sealing or/and cleaning products have been used on the tile surfaces.

[mctaino]

I uploaded the materials, First 2 are for the white ceramic tiles and the rest are for the pebble. We have not used any cleaners in any of the bathrooms. They are only couple weeks old.

white ceramic tiles: Navarti Ceramica (Mosaic Blanco) clase 1pr tono 9g esp 10 from Spain--- More info on picture

Pebble: BO (Bati Orient) From indonesia Code: Gami74

citytile . ca bati-orient-pebbles-2

Multipurpose Tinset from D&B Tile in South Florida

[Higher Standard Tile]

Do you have any pictures of the showers during the prep and waterproofing stage?

What method of waterproofing was used? If it is a conventional pan liner is the liner sloped and the drain weep holes unclogged?

The rust is a strange one, occasionally some stone tiles have iron in them that rust when exposed to moisture. To me the discolored ceramic wall tile on the bottom row is because the waterproofing membrane is not sloped and weep holes clogged. But that is just a guess.

[mctaino]

As far as I know they were slopped and done by code with shower liner, duroc etc. Pictures below

FYI Picture with shower liner is from Master Bathroom the one with pebble issue but uploaded it.

Im lucky to have this pictures, I never thought I would be uploading them to a forum LOL.. Hope it helps

[mctaino]

Weird going over pictures just notice one pebble had rust when installer was finishing bathroom, weird he didn't notice. is above left hand....

[mctaino]

Here is the picture

[Higher Standard Tile]

The good news, they actually installed a waterproof membrane. And used cement board on the walls as opposed to green board and mastic.

The bad news, the curb corners are not waterproofed properly, and the cement board is screwed through the waterproofing on the curb.

No moisture barrier behind the cement board on the walls or surface applied membrane. One or the other should be there.

Looks like they screwed through the waterproofing on the bench too. That's a good place for a surface applied membrane.

I wonder if they also screwed into the liner at the bottom of the walls. How else could they attach that small rip of durock on the back wall?

The screws could be rusting and staining the tile from the back.

There is a lot involved in building a shower properly, there are many tile contractors that provide a fairly attractive finished product but do not get the technical details behind the tile right.

[mctaino]

So bottom line is a bad install and could be the culprit of all our dilemas?

[Higher Standard Tile]

Hard to say the problems I see are the exact cause of your rust and staining problem but may be factors.

Hopefully some others will chime in and share their observations.

Good thing you have pictures of the prep.

Check the worst tile thread in the professionals hangout to see what eventually happens when showers aren't waterproofed properly.

Sad to say many of them happen to be in Florida.

When you talk to the tile contractor be prepared for the "I've been doing it this way for 20 years with no problems"

Here is an example of a shower we ripped out that had some similar problems, but it was 4-5 years before they realized the shower was leaking.

http://higherstandardtile.blogspot.c...r-papakea.html

[Lump]

Some potential errors (besides ones listed above)

1) were the screws used appropriate for the Durock? Or we're they drywall screws?

2) it appears to be treated lumber in the construction of the curb and maybe up the wall. Potentially lots of movement there.

3) doesn't appear to be a pre slope under the liner (as mentioned)

4) was any protection used on the weep holes (as mentioned)

5) was drywall compound used on the Durock joints?

6)what is supporting the Durock at the bottom, the water pipes?

7)

8)

9)

7,8,9 others will fill in.

[Davestone]

7,Even a too wet drypack at the floor can clog the weepholes saturationg the floor tile.
I don't think there is anything wrong with the tile,but in the manuf. process could very well have picked up metal shavings.The manuf. willing to replace the tiles may actually think this happened,don't know though.
Could also be the screws as said.
As said,the bottom piece of board could very well be screwed into the copper pipe.I have done it myself.
IMHO there is no way rust could migrate through ceramic from behind and appear on the face.Through the grout joint it could.
There could have been metal frgments in the setting material or grout,or,as happened to me once an electrician drilling actually got metal in the fresh grout.
The rust in the river rock could actually be inside the rock.

There is also the possibility of any mud,or board used having iron in it...reminds me of Chinese drywall.

[reefone]

8) no waterproofing around the window.

[mctaino]

Distributor coming tomorrow to look at all tiles from both bathrooms. Contractors also used there products for grout, thinset etc.. Now to make matters worse tiles white tiles on wall are developing rust points. Also in the master bathroom they used some type of metal border that is also developing rust. I guess our money was thrown down the toilet, we are in panic mode as things are deteriorating fast.... Why rust! is like getting everywhere in both bathrooms, could it be the thinset material creating this reaction? I have a tile submerged in water for over a week, no signs of color change or rust. We used 1 bathroom for little over 2 weeks and Master Bathroom 1 week.. As you can see in picture below the protective glaze still on the tile.... This is incredible

[StoneTooling]

We sell products that will remove rust stains from such applications, however, this is the cause of a larger problem rather than just some of the metals in the stone reacting to water so it's better to go after the head of the snake first.

You came to the right the place for answers though. These guys are the best!