So we moved into our custom built house by small boutique builder about a year ago. Context being, this was NOT a cheap volume build. Our bathroom has floor to ceiling Italian tiles, double shower with dual shower head options (hand held shower head from wall and ceiling shower rose) and in-wall toilet.
About 7 weeks ago we noticed the carpet outside our upstairs bathroom entry door was wet. Contacted the builder. Multiple visits from the plumber later they still couldn’t identify the source of the leak but they thought it was the toilet. They cut a giant hole in the hallway plaster wall that backs onto the bathroom in order to look inside the toilet (in wall toilet…nightmare) but still could see nothing. They re-installed the toilet, replaced a few washers and eventually the water stopped coming out on the carpet….but then it had moved!
Suddenly it was coming out from under the silicone that joins the wall to the floor near the shower. This is approximately 1.5 meters from the original carpet wet patch.
Every time the shower runs probably 1/4 cup of water coming out.
The grout lines on multiple areas on the floor near the shower and toilet look wet like there is water stuck behind the tiles.
Their plan appears to be that they will re-grout and re-silicone the whole shower.
Does this sound sensible? Obviously they don’t want to take out tiles and re-do tiling given the cost but I’m nervous the leak is from something else and there is going to be water permanently stuck behind my tiles causing rot.
What should I push for here?
UPDATE:
Thanks for all the replies everyone. It’s been really helpful to hear different stories and think about all the points I need to consider.
The latest update is this: we have run the shower non stop straight into the drain and no water came out of the silicon. This makes us think that it probably IS an issue with the grouting/silicone and a hole somewhere in it. There is no water on the roof of the ground floor below which I would expect would occur if the waterproofing membrane was broken. So my thinking is that the water is going through a gap in the grout/silicone, running behind a bunch of tiles and then escaping outside the shower through the silicone at a point of least resistance.
The builder is insisting on going ahead with re-grouting and new silicone and refusing to do anything else at this point.
I am probably going to employ at my own expense an independent leak expert to do a report as I’m nervous about the risk of unseen water damage/mould in the timber behind the tiles. Once I have this report I’m hoping it will give me more leverage with the builder…
Tell them you want to know where this water is coming from. It's coming from somewhere. The cost of fixing bad work shouldn't be your problem to worry about. Are you a plumber, just let them take apart your shower if that's what they want to do. You're worried about rot but you don't want them to take apart your shower so they can access behind the tiles because they will have to pay someone to do it? That doesn't make a lot of sense.