Just realized my tile guy was right about the waterproofing

I was doing a small bathroom in my old house in Tacoma last fall and decided to save money by skipping the waterproof membrane behind the shower tile. My contractor kept saying it was a bad idea, but I thought the cement board would be enough. Three months later, I noticed a soft spot on the wall in the hallway next to the bathroom. Pulled off the tile and found black mold growing on the studs. It cost me an extra $1,200 to tear it all out, treat the mold, and redo it properly with a Schluter system. Anyone else had a waterproofing fail that taught them a lesson the hard way?

3 comments

3 Comments

lily_cooper10d ago

Totally feel your pain. That soft spot in the hallway is the worst kind of warning sign. It's crazy how water just finds a way, like a tiny drip traveling down a stud into a totally different room. My uncle had the same thing happen, and the mold remediation bill was more than the original tile job. It really makes you respect the science of those waterproofing layers.

phoenix_singh2510d ago

Your uncle's mold bill being bigger than the tile job is wild. Did they have to tear out the drywall in multiple rooms to fix it all?

maxl9310d ago

That story hits home. My neighbor had a leak from a bad toilet seal that went under the vinyl floor. It rotted the subfloor all the way to the kitchen wall before they caught it. The floor just felt spongy one day. They had to replace a huge section of floor and the bottom plate of the wall. All from one tiny, slow leak.