New Shower Tiles Stay Wet & Water leaking into floor below

[designerkg]

Hello I hope that the pros can help determine action to take. I had an experienced tile pro install a new shower. I will attach all the pics of the process. I already had the plumber come out and take a peek. He did not see any leaks in the new plumbing fixtures. My Tile Pro came and looked and said he hadn't seen this in 20 years. His plan to fix is to take grout out and epoxy grout in. He's cool and is sick about this happening. There are so many great insights on this board that I thought why not share.

[Davy]

You might explain to us the exact order that things were done. I'll guess and say that the mud was put down right over the plywood and then Redgard put down directly to the mud and then tiled. My questions are,

1. Is it leaking down below around the drain? How did he tie the Redgard into the drain? You can't just paint Redgard up to the drain grate and it be water tight. A divot type method would have done this.
2. Not that it would have prevented a leak but did he use any fabric with the Redgard?
3. Did he slope the top of the curb towards the shower? The water proofing should have slope, not just the material on the curb top.

[jadnashua]

While RedGard can make a successful shower, it's hard to do while keeping the pan surface from getting damaged while installing the walls first...you're going to be walking all over it. RedGard, applied with the specified thickness, tends to look darker red when done properly, but color rendition on a photo is hard to get an accurate assessment from.

It looks like you used a clamping drain, and RedGard alone could easily leave some holes for water to escape. The instructions call for the use of their mesh tape embedded in the RedGard, then another layer of RedGard on top, then silicone caulk when applying the clamping ring.

[cx]

Welcome, KG.

I'm only surprised that your tile contractor is surprised that the shower is leaking. Some pretty important steps appear to have been left out, as has been mentioned.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[Kman]

Originally Posted by KG

His plan to fix is to take grout out and epoxy grout in.

I don't think his plan will be any more successful than the original.

What kind of wall board is that?

And I suspect the drain construction is the problem, based on what we know so far.

[jgleason]

That looks like regular drywall as the wall substrate with RedGard painted over it.

[Kman]

For some reason I was thinking it's Densshield. Which isn't much better.