Are you convinced that your shower needs re-grouting?
STOP! You need to read this information before you make any decisions.
Under normal conditions, a shower should NEVER need re-grouting.
Grout is not a maintenance item that needs replacing or maintenance.
Grout is a permanent installation that should never need replacement.
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If your grout displays these characteristics, there is more going on than you may realise.
The missing, mouldy cracked or deterioration of grout are symptoms of an underlying issue.
The grout is NOT the cause of these issues.
You may have heard claims by shower leak repair companies claiming to have the ability to repair leaking showers without removing tiles.
You may have heard about under tile injections to repair waterproof membranes beneath tiles.
We have also seen claims of over tile waterproofing, which again will not provide a waterproof bathroom that will comply with Australian Standards.
Some companies are even offering to tile over existing tiles; this practice is at complete odds with the National Construction Code (NCC), AS3740-2010
Waterproofing of Domestic Wet Areas and AS 3958.1-2007 Guide to Installation of Ceramic Tiles.
25 year guarantees, lifetime warranties littered with terms and conditions which would make a claim close to impossible, and even so, would usually be limited to failed product replacement only.
It is simply impossible to waterproof without removing tiles.
Waterproofing application has a very particular application procedure and can only be installed using a seamless application before tile installation.
There is no physical way to repair failed bathroom waterproofing without re-tiling.
As members and consultants for the Australian Institute of Waterproofing and The Australian Tile Council, we have an excellent understanding of the AS3740-2010
Waterproofing of Domestic Wet Areas.
We understand what is required to ensure a functioning bathroom without leaks.
With our knowledge and years of experience, we have learnt by experience what works and what doesn’t. Sometimes we learnt the hard way.
When we entered the shower repair market in 2010, we wanted to please every customer and have something to offer everyone.
While we knew that rebuilding the showers and bathrooms was the gold-standard treatment for leaking showers, many clients did not have the budget to rebuild their showers or bathrooms and wanted cheap solutions for their leaking showers.
In 2010, Being a young business and young, naive business owners, we were people-pleasers and did not want to turn business away.
We felt that we had to offer re-grouting and epoxy services as our competitors were offering these services.
We attempted to offer ten-year warranties on our epoxy re-grouting and shower re-sealing; however, we found that the product would not stand up in showers and bathrooms that had not been built properly.
We were supplying warranties on our work, only to find ourselves having to return to replace epoxy and sealant products, repair areas outside the bathrooms damaged from the failed seals and having to refund money to clients for work we had completed.
Providing a warranty on a service that was not the appropriate repair remedy was causing us to lose so much money. We were essentially sending our team out for a job that would cover our costs to carry out the initial repair only.
We were then returning a second and sometimes third time to repair the failed product or the damage caused by the failure; it was costing us much more than the original amount we had received for the initial job.
As a sincere family business that values integrity, we would never consider not honouring our warranty. However, this was proving to be a race to the bottom, and we could not afford to continue operating this way.
In 2013, we had to stop providing a warranty on our re-sealing and re-grouting since we could not guarantee the work would hold up.
Instead, we inform clients that re-grouting and re-sealing is not an appropriate repair technique for leaking showers or poorly built showers.
While we still offer re-grouting and re-sealing for clients who only want this service and understand the risks, we do not recommend this service for anything other than cosmetic purposes.
We do not provide any warranty or guarantee on this service.
We also inform clients that removing grout could cause further damage to the waterproof membranes behind the tiles.
We ensure that our clients are informed about the expected result for re-grouting and re-sealing.
In our experience, and from reports from our clients who have attempted re-grouting before coming to us for rebuilding, re-grouting and re-sealing will not provide an effective solution for a leaking shower.
Re-grouting a shower or replacing silicone will not stop a shower from leaking.Re-grouting or re-sealing is not a substitute for rebuilding a shower or bathroom with failed or non-compliant waterproofing or tiling.
Our client’s money would provide more value if used to save towards a permanent repair if they have a leaking shower.
The advice we have for clients with leaking showers who are not in a position to rebuild their shower is to cease using the affected shower until such time that they can afford to carry out proper rectifications. Any money spent on re-grouting and re-sealing is likely to be money literally down the drain.
If you have a leaking bathroom or shower and want an appropriate, permanent solution, the waterproofing and tiling will need a replacement; anything short of this will not work.
About Us
The Shower Man is a family-owned businessbased in Melbourne, with many yearsexperience in the plumbing and tilingindustries.
