we have one pocket dip in our 4x8' shower, as i leave the shower i "squeegee" it with the side of my foot.

you probably have a low spot. what type of tile is on the floor? I know I had one of those w/my pebble floor. The grout was taken up too much in one spot and water pooled. After a few years, it became permanently discolored due to the constant water. You have two choices, sop it up after each shower or have them come back and fix it. Water should not pool on a shower floor.

My installation was a little different, but I also have a little uneveness in the slope. It's not an issue because I squeegee after every shower. A squeegee is your best friend.

Are you sure the shower isn't dripping? I squeegee also but then I use an old washcloth that I skate around the shower floor to make sure there's no water standing in the grout so it won't get funky.

Yes, I'm sure the shower isn't dripping. The tile is a Carrara Marble basketweave pattern. And yes, when I first noticed it, I also used the side of my foot to push the water to the drain :)

it's beautiful, but it will discolor over time if the water is allowed to sit. make sure you seal that floor every 6 months or so w/an impregnating sealer. You will know when it's ready if the water doesn't bead up and sit on top. If fact, I can already see in that one spot, where the ball is sitting, that it's darker. that's from water absorption

Yes, there is a modern membrane. It was just all done in the past couple of weeks. I know that the tiler, plumber and contractor all did a waterproof test (held water for 24 hours with the membrane there and the drain stopped up), and then did a drain test. The tile came pre-sealed, but I still want to figure out if we should ensure that the installed tile with grout might need a sealer as well. There's a lot of variation in the color of the stone - ranging from a pale gray (nearly white) to nearly black.

I think that they (contractor, plumber, and tile guy) all saw the water drained, but they didn't stick around to see it actually be entirely dry. The amount of water that sits there is very small, but the fact that it would always be sitting there (if we don't remember to shove the water over to the drain) is what concerns me.

I showed it to the general contractor this afternoon about an hour or two ago, and he said he was definitely upset and disappointed, and he'll talk to another tile person to get their opinion. (The wetbed and shower floor tile was done by one tile company, and then that guy was too busy to stay on the project within our timeframe, so when he finished up one day saying he'd be back in a week or two to do the shower walls, the contractor reached out to another tile company to complete the job). The general contractor said he's never seen this tile guy do this - accept more jobs on a tight timeline than he can handle, get them started, and then start bouncing from one to another, thinking that the ones that he's ignoring are just going to sit around waiting for him to show back up. In fact, the general contractor said that the first tile guy hasn't even talked to him about scheduling to finish the job (which we obviously went around him at this point).

Glad you enjoyed the golf ball demonstration - it was the easiest way I could think of to demonstrate (and prove) the point that there was a low area. It's not visible to the eye just by looking, so a visual aid is useful.

So far, I think the shower has been used only 6 or 7 times. It will get heavy use for the next few weeks as this past weekend, the only other shower in the house was demolished. After that, that should get "normal" usage. Ah - and speaking of the drain - I don't see a way to unscrew or remove the drain cover in case of any clogs. I'll have to ask the contractor about that.

hela,,,,,does the water 'bead up' on the tile or does it get absorbed? I've never heard of that tile coming pre-sealed. You still have to apply a sealer for your grout (unless they used the new urethane based grouts).

do your water test to see if it beads or if it stays on top. Try a few tablespoons of water in a small spot. Leave it for 10 mins or so. If it's still there after 10 mins fine. If not, seal. and before you apply the sealer, let that tile dry out for a few days. You don't want to trap moisture underneath the sealer.

use an impregnating/penetrating quality stone sealer (511 or aqua mix )

@helaurin - I have a similar drain and wondered the same thing. If you find out how you can remove (if ever needed) please let me know, as I've wondered the same thing.

@Beth H. - thank you, I'll test it in the morning (if I try to do it now, I'll wake up my boyfriend and he'll be grumpy.) If we have to seal the entire floor and tile, and not use the shower for "a few days", we're going to have some rather stinky people in the house by the end of the week, because there's nowhere else to wash up at this point. But I will definitely check it and also question the tile store and the tile contractor.

Your tile does look discolored in the area around the low spot. I would be concerned about the water not draining. If it is still wet after all day remember there was more but some evaporated too during the course of the day. I don't have any suggestions but I wouldn't let this go without some further investigation.

Tundra Finish is spot on. I was only mentioning the sealing issue, not as a fix, but rather as evidence that you do have water leakage and your "pre-sealed" tiles is bogus. This will only get worse. Have them fix it while they still are liable.

I've heard that there are odd breaks in the space/time continuum where the laws of physics don't apply. Either that or your installer screwed up.

The General contractor is bringing the tile company out tomorrow to have a conversation. The issue now though is that the first tile guy (who used the expensive pre-slope product, built the wet bed, and tiled the shower floor in question) seems to be going "off the grid" for awhile because he's in the midst of a divorce or something, and may even be "getting out of the business" to work on his "personal issues". In short, I don't think he's going to be honoring any quality of work guarantee. And the second tile company had nothing to do with the shower floor; they tiled the walls.

Ok, so some things were clarified, and some things... not so much. 1 - turns out the wall tile (which is ceramic) doesn't need to be sealed. 2- the grout was apparently mixed with an additive to reduce permeability and prevent staining, so it was a "you can seal it if you want to, but it's not necessary" from the tiling company. 3- the shower floor - which is the marble basketweave - DOES need to be sealed. The tile installer thought the GC would have mentioned it to me. The GC wasn't aware of it, and thought that if it was something important, that the tiling company would have mentioned it to me. So, everyone in my household had their last showers for a couple days as of this morning; the tile store sold me a box of penetrating sealer for stone and grout. Once the floor and grout has been dry for 24 hours, I can apply the sealer, and then wait another 24 hours before we can use the shower. So the plan is for me to apply the sealer sometime on Friday, either before work or on my lunch break. 4 - regarding the slight dip, the tile company said we're better off just ensuring we squeegee (or use the side of a foot) the bit of pooled water on over to the drain, rather than ripping everything apart from the bottom up. He feels if the grout and stone floor is sealed (and he said to reseal every 6 months or so), it won't be a problem. But if we insist on ripping up everything and starting over from scratch, we're looking at a couple months waiting in the schedule, as he has other committed jobs coming up; not to mention that he's not warranting the wet bed that the previous tiler did, and the previous tiler has definitely gone off the grid. Like he's not living at home anymore where his wife and kids are. GC isn't willing to pay for redoing the shower floor, since there's no "real problem"; if we see evidence that the shower is becoming moldy/mildewy, or leaking water to the floor below, then he will address it at that time, and not before. Otherwise, if I insist on having them rip out the shower floor, I'll need to pay for the addition cost of re-demolishing the floor, rebuilding another wet bed, buy additional flooring material, and then re-tiling the floor. Oh, as a helpful tip, the tile guy suggested that I might use the same sealer on the marble vanity, backsplash and sidesplash that was also just installed; chances are that the granite fabricator polished, but did not seal them. also, the GC pointed out that while I may have seen water sitting on the floor for 12+ hours, there's also minimal ventilation currently in the bathroom. He hasn't yet installed the bathroom fan/vent, which has a humidity sensor as well. He feels once that is installed, the room will dry out much quicker. Basically - until I can prove there's an IMPACT to the installation error beyond a minor annoyance of having a small bit of water pooling on the floor, I'm stuck. I'll say that this bathroom renovation process has been a learning experience. Thankfully, the second bathroom which is underway does not have a tiled shower floor, and is much more straightforward than this one was.

I'd want it, and expect it fixed. Sounds like g c is giving you the run around. Shower floors are meant to drain to grate. Only you can decide if it's worth the trouble, but I sure wouldn't pay anyone till its fixed.

I am installing that same floor with marble tile on the walls and I promise you it's not sealed. What I know about the product, it is not all that level to begin with. Then you have to set it which only contributes to variation in tile depth. So it does not surprise me that you might have a puddle. I am not sure though that the slope of the floor would not take care of it. One other solution might be to add a bit of grout to the floor. I personally do not think it is worth ripping the floor up.

Use something as a straight edge and see where the low spot is. That is a mosaic tile so most likely it is the bed not the guy who tiled as the mosaic will follow the defects in the floor more then larger tiles.

Those are polished marble and probably bead up without any sealer. You have a slope issue that isn't going away. Marble tile absorbs moisture from behind and on top so if it is wet on top it is wet on the opposite side. Honestly redoing the slope will correct another issue of using marble tile on the floor of a shower. WHY??? with all the choices in ceramic and porcelain these days.

Sealing the tile without allowing it to dry first will trap the moisture and then create a finish issue. Sealing polished marble is kind of impossible if it already beads water as the sealer can't be absorbed. I say it all the time marble is the worst product to use in a wet area. It will always discolor and create issues. I wouldn't be surprised if you signed a disclosure without knowing it.

Have someone that knows marble advise about sealing. Also sealers dry within hours so why you are waiting days is another question? It will take longer for the tile to dry from moisture then the sealer to dry.

Good luck!!

I installed a linear drain, but mine is not ready to test out yet.

File under : fell on deaf ears.

Im sorry to hear you are deciding to accept that and settle. -best

What part of water running downhill does this GC not understand? He is responsible for his subs, end of story. Do not pay, he'll understand that.

It has to be fixed, plain and simple. Just the thought of remembering to squeegee or use your foot to kick a puddle of water out so it won't sit there and cause a stain can drive you crazy.

I remember when we moved into our house, everything is new and beautiful and we have this frameless shower with lots of glass, my wife told me make sure you squeegee the glass after you take a shower and I gave her the" you out of your mind look" and every time I saw her do that, I told her that she was crazy doing that. Finally after a month or so she probably said screw that and stopped doing that because I never seen her do that again LOL.

But in our case, we talking about glass, you can do it or you don't have to, nothing will happen. But when you have an issue which will cause a problem like staining, discoloration,etc and you have no choice in the matter, at one point or another it will drive you nuts and by then it will be too late... so now is the right time to get that fixed while installation is still under the warranty.

Good luck

Squeegee or kick water every time is ridiculous and will be impossible the first time one of you is injured or as you age. I am currently in the habit of squeegeeing our new shower doors and walls to prevent soap scum buildup, but if I miss a time or too the results are that there is soap scum to wipe off, not mold/mildew. My husband and I have both had back issues and when my back is acting up it is quite a challenge to squeegee, if I had to do it as you must with an improper drain it would be quite a strain on me (literally).

I have an issue with a shower I did my self for a client and honestly have no clue what happened there because concrete pan is perfectly pitched and even and everything else is fine except inside corner about 4 small 2x2 tiles slightly drops and water pools there enough to bother the customer thinking about removing about eight tiles and setting them even with rest. These were 2x2 hex tiles Carrera marble. As for the drain in this pic its friction fit grate you should be able to pull it straight up grout will crack those should never be grouted in.

If that is marble on the shower floor the area that stays wet is going to become permanently discolored from the rest of the shower over time from the water. I would ask for this to be remedied.

you answer is,,"slightly drops". you prob didn't put enough thinset on those tiles and now you have a low spot.

post a pic because it's hard to tell. if you can pull up those tiles without too much effort, then reset them.

If there is no damaged grout, cracks around shower floor perimeter. The following may help: have shower pristine cleaned, pure, allow shower floor to dry until dark areas look the same color as the rest of the floor. You can use a small fan to speed the drying process, as this can take days. Buy the porous plus impregnating sealer/by miracle company. Apply sealer evenly with a clean paint brush. Follow the sealer applications instructions on label. Make sure you remove the excess sealer off marble surface using old white towels.

We did our shower ourselves. rolled the ball on the liner and all was good, but once the tile was laid, and grouted it now pools on one side. We put a sealer on floor and have been using shower for about a month. And as the others, we squeegee. Is there a way to apply epoxy that can level those areas to drain?

HU 7039,,,, you did the shower floor yourself? did you allow 1/4" per foot for slope? rolling a ball isn't all that great of a measurement! put a level on your shower floor starting from the outer walls and see how far you're off (in this case, being perfectly level). you can't pour resin over one side of your tiles and hope you get more slope.

Donna G.
I had a man I knew and trusted to put me in a shower that my daughters could drive her wheelchair in, he said he had done many before. Now the water runs out in the floor because the pitch
is not right. The friend is gone and I don’t know where to start to get it usable. What are your ideas please

Update: still no resolution. GC says that the tile guy (not the one who did the work, but the second tile guy) says it's fine and won't cause problems. No one is budging, and so unless I want to take it to court and try to argue that I know better than a tile expert and the GC... not much of an option. Which reminds me, it's probably about that time to reapply the sealer on the tiles.

We have just put in 2 new bathrooms with polished concrete floors which extend into the showers. We installed a shower base, then concrete was poured into the base. It looks great but the water pools in multiple areas and one in particular is starting to go mouldy. It is in the kids bathroom so no way I can get them to mop up after every shower. The concrete guy came back this week and ground one shower again. Yesterday he told me that it is almost fixed but he can’t grind any more and there will be a small pool that I will need to mop up daily. I don’t want to accept this but I am not sure we will have any other option now but to pull it up and start again. In addition he sloped the main bathroom floor away from the shower so that if water spills out it will run towards the bathroom door. We have underfloor heating so digging it up will be a big job. Advice needed.

tg,,,start your own post, with pictures. but the person responsible for fixing it is whomever built it.

Imagine the nerve of some customers expecting their contractors to know that water flows downhill.

wannabath "..most likely it is the bed not the guy who tiled as the mosaic will follow the defects in the floor more then larger tiles..."

I'm not a professional just a DIY who's going through the same issue and wannabath has given the BEST reasoning to this issue. In my opinion, the GC is just trying to get out of HIS RESPONSIBILITY to FIX it for it's definitely going to cost him to repair it but on the legal links below he can also file suit against his subs or have them pay him for any cost he now has to pay for to have someone else fix it... If you feel you're at a dead-end because you're not a professional, I would consider finding a few independent professionals, who would leave you free estimates and in writing their evaluations of what's needed to fix the issue and what labor and materials will be included (because all comments here are very reasonable of expecting other long term issues, that you'll be faced with down the road and before having to have to pay someone again to do this, it's best to fix it ASAP before your warranty time is over but if already you were in communication with your GC and you're in good terms, he may be still willing to listen being you already mentioned it to him before the warranty was over). Give the estimates to your GC as for him to then READ a professionals' viewpoints and then either have him reimburse you for that money, so you can have one of these independent professional to do it RIGHT or have somebody of his choice to fix it because you did not pay him to do it wrong and he should be responsible for whatever labor he hires as subs...

It's first best to read the contract that you made with him as to see if he put a clause that he's not liable for subs, if he didn't, then he should be responsible to fix it regardless who he chooses to have it done...

I'm not an attorney either but found these links helpful as to find WHO is the responsible party to be liable: https://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/personal-injury/who-legally-responsible-defects-construction.html and under Examples of Liability for Construction Defects also takes you to another link https://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/personal-injury/lawsuits-based-negligent-construction.html explaining Negligent Construction Lawsuits for Property Damage which In short states, any party involved in a construction project may be liable for any defect, depending on the contracts involved and the nature of the defect.

My suggestion is to send him copies of those estimates along with a dated letter or email that you can keep a track of written documented requests and try to see if civilly he will take care of this but if he keeps giving you a runaround, write a second request being more definite of your concerns and stating a reasonable time frame of execution. For example, if I don't hear from you in a week, I will have to then seek legal action. You certainly don't want to threaten him on your first letters but if you don't get anywhere with him, then feel free to use this tactic, as just that, a tactic, to have him do something about it, it's up to you if you really want to proceed or not with legal action. What do you have to lose? I personally, wouldn't say anything I wouldn't do, to "seek" legal action is different from actually threatening to take him to court. "Seeking" just means you're looking into it as to find out if you have a case or not as we're doing here so it's justifiable to say that you are but if you DO decide to take it to court, these are the written documentation anyways you would need to provide as proof, to the court, that you were in contact with him and if you don't already have it documented, make sure you mention it now that you contacted him "within the warranty time frame and he hasn't been able to follow up on fixing the issue" ...

I hope it goes well because it's really upsetting as to find my own self dealing with this issue and contemplating what can I do to fix this? =(

Same issue here and it is my 2nd contractor - he tiled over the first floor as it wouldn’t drain at all - Rather than ripping it out we just tiled over it and it’s still not completely draining. I am at a loss! I have been renovating three bathrooms and am in my 3rd contractor. It seems no one really cares about the quality of their work anymore.

https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.tile-assn.com/resource/resmgr/pdf_files/Final_13_Qs_Brochure_Handout.pdf

@helaurin93 you'll prb never see this but any update? I was just sealng my grout on a newly installed shower stall and noticed it's pooling. it's an airbnb so ain't no guest gonna foot mop! I'm worried about mold and discoloration. It will be cleaned a lot (btw each stay) but that doesn't help if water is pooled for 3 days during each stay. How did it go for you?

@Jenny Kessler Now it’s six years later and I believe that the first tile contractor who was supposed to have added something to the grout to prevent staining, I don’t think he did. At the time, we just had access to a powder room in the basement, and the other full bathroom was also still being remodeled as well. So my family was very anxious for this project to just get done. I didn't have any contractor, tile experts or anyone on my side to say "this must be fixed". At the end of the day, if it was going to be fixed, it would have been additional time, materials, and it would have been all on me to pay for it to be ripped out, and then replaced. I didn't have any budget to do that, and we ended up having to accept it and finish up the project. The small puddle area actually isn't all that big of a deal at this point - we're pretty good about moving the water along. HOWEVER.... it should have been an indicator that the first tile contractor, who was SUPPOSED to have put in a grout additive to prevent mold/mildew, etc., - most likely did NOT, because in other areas of the shower floor, there is significant discoloration, which makes the shower look OLD. In retrospect, if I hadn't have been on a tight budget, if I'd had other bathroom resources, I might have been willing to just pay to get it all done over again, or to fight it out in court, even if it might have taken months. I didn't have those resources though, and literally EVERYONE around me was telling me to accept and keep going.

Thanks for the reply! Yes, I'm also eager to be done! This is an airbnb and I have a booking TMW!!!!! the project just finished tuesday so i have a million things to do before the guest comes and then anytime I block the calendar I lose money. Hmmm I don't know about a grout additive to prevent mold but that seems like EVERYONE should add that automatically!!! My biggest fear is mold and mildew build up after an almost $20k new bathroom. I need it to stay looking nice!

One of the company owners (it's a tiny 3 guy companies) is my neighbor and having a baby TODAY so I have to maintain a cordial relationship. But I think in a few days I'll reach out to them. YOu are having tile/grout discoloration but no mold?