Our subway tile wall in the kitchen/dining is complete and I can’t wait to share with you how it turned out.
While the tile guy was here I asked him to pop out a tile in our master bathroom shower.
Back in the spring of 2014 I noticed some discoloration happening on on some bottom row marble tiles in our shower. (Past master bathroom: Review 1, Review 2).
In the past two years I have had about 6 tile “experts” over to give me their opinion. Every single one of them had a different scenario. A couple of them said, “Marble does that, I’d just leave it alone.” Others told me I wasn’t keeping up on sealing the tile properly (guilty). But most had really never really encountered it before. So we never were really sure what to do about it. My fear was that water had gotten behind the tile and mold was growing (eek). To my own defense, we take extra precaution with our showers. We squeegee after ever shower and towel down ledges. We decided to stop showering in that shower to see if it eventually would dry out so for the past four months we’ve been showering in the main bathroom. Nothing changed.
The other thing we noticed when the shower had a chance to fully dry was that the grout in the perimeter of the shower at the 90 degree angle had cracked. I don’t know why but this wasn’t as obvious when the shower was wet. Not even one of the six tile experts had noticed the cracked grout either (see, I wasn’t crazy). There are lots of different school of thought as to what kind of grout should be used at a seam or 90 degree angle. Some think it should all be sanded-non-sanded grout (that didn’t work), some say you should use siliconized acrylic grout in a tube (tried that and it eventually dried up and cracked), others will grout then up a layer of clear caulk over the top (I’m favoring that school of thought).
The other thing we discovered…
Natural stone has natural fissures. You have to look really hard because they disguise themselves as the natural gray veining. I literally had to get my face 6 inches from this tile to see that what looked like a vein was actually the tiniest of hairline fissure. Over time, water seeps through through. One reason I will NEVER use natural stone in bath or shower again. I will say that had this been ceramic or porcelain we wouldn’t have ever known there was a water issue happening because those materials don’t discolor. That’s the only silver lining here.
It took the tile guy about 30 minutes to pop that one tile out.
He wanted to be extra careful to not break any of the other surrounding tiles. No easy task.
What he uncovered was this.
Fortunately there was no mold growing however, everything was wet, even the insulation. We’re not sure if things were installed to code but at any rate, it looks like some of the materials were a bit cheap. Right or wrong, we’ve got a bigger problem on our hands that we didn’t anticipate. I believe the problem stemmed from the cracked grout at the 90 degree angles which allowed water to seep through and wick up the back of the wall.
Public Service Announcement Alert: If your grout starts cracking, repair it immediately. I actually wrote a whole post about this here.
Back to the problem…
Option 1:
Remove the bottom layer around the whole perimeter of the shower only and have it replaced.
Problem: We’re still left with taking a gamble on the marble which has proven to not be the best material for a shower.
It’s the best financial option for now but what if we have problems down the road again?
Option 2:
Rip everything out and start over with a different material. Marble is lovely but it’s soft, pourous and has natural fissures. If money were no option I’d do this and choose a shower pan that doesn’t mess around with grout. But who has a few thousand around to throw in to a shower again?
In all likely-hood, the shower will probably stay like this until we make a decision and the money tree in the backyard starts growing again in the spring. Argh. I’m done with being a grown up.
Anyone else have any issues with their marble?
Hey there! I’m Michelle; I’m an Passionate DIY’er and in constant pursuit of how to bring beauty to my house full of men (3 boys + 1 hubby). Stick around and see what I’ve got up my hard-working sleaves!
It’s been my understanding that changes in plane should not be grouted, but caulked. The caulk has some ability to move with the house, so it doesn’t crack.
I’m finding that opinion changes with every Tile “expert”. Having lived through all that…I agree with you. Hard and expensive lesson to learn. 🙁
I’m much too poor to be having anything marble in my house (recovering starting student right here), but I’ve always been puzzled by its appeal as floor tiles and countertops. I suppose I’m the wrong person to ask, though, since I don’t find marble, at least marble tile/countertops, attractive in the least. Couple that with its softness and no thank you! But I hadn’t known that about groutlines at 90-degree angles; I’m definitely going to keep that in mind.
LOL. My love affair for marble has gotten me in trouble. Wish I had your disdain for it. Hopefully I’ve learned my lesson for good this time.
Thanks for sharing your real life experience with marble. I’ve loved the look for so long but knowing I would never even be up on it enough to squeegee it every time, I will back away slowly and choose something else. I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with such a mess.
Yes! Take your hands off the marble and back away slowly with your hands in the air. I will do the same. 🙂
Hello Michele
Podrias colocar sobre el angulo de 90º una baldosa en todo el perimetro de la ducha. Hay baldosas especiales para angulos. eso impediria que el agua se filtrara por las juntas
A tile like this in all the perimeter
http://www.juntasyperfiles.com/shop/3734-large_default/escocia-pvc-37-sanitaria-barras-25-m.jpg
I’ll have to look in to that. Thanks!
What is the tile mounted to? It looks like drywall instead of cement board. When we did a travertine surround, we had some discoloration too, but we used 1/2″ cement board on the walls coated with RedGard, which is a waterproofing membrane for walls. We also caulked changes of plane. If there’s a “The Tile Shop” near you, maybe ask them? Good luck!
I wish they would have installed cement board but the did some kind of board coated with RedGard. Still broke down. 🙁
Because we live with well water everyone has told me to go with porcelain tile versus marble. Because our water goes through a water softer system. We have iron and the iron over time could stain the marble. We are going with a marble floor and I now wonder if we should? Any tips since I have ordered the tile?
Has it already shipped or can you cancel? I’m assuming the marble will be going on the floor of your shower? Here’s the thing…lots and lots of people put marble in their showers and are happy. When I bought it I was warned it was really high maintenance. It’s a natural stone with natural imperfections. AND you have to seal it regularly and not use harsh cleaners or scrubbing. I understood the warnings and figured I could live with the maintenance issues. Fast forward a few years and I’m eating my words. You may be fine so long as you understand that it really is high maintenance. Otherwise I would do whatever I could to return it. Good luck. Let me know what you decide!
When we build tile showers we have the tile installer use a Schluter system behind the tile. It is a completely sealed/waterproof system so even if your grout cracks you are protected. The Schluter brand warranties their product so should something like this happen they cover the repairs. I highly recommend it for anyone installing a tile shower!
I’m going to have to check in to that. Thanks for the tip Natalie!
I second the Schluter system. We used that in our shower with marble and have had no issues what so ever. You need a waterproofing system that is bullet proof and I don’t see it in the picture, in addition to the green board or whatever product was used for wall sheathing. It concerns me you didn’t hit a waterproofing membrane at the bottom course of tile, as the shower pan system should wrap up the wall and create a “bathtub” at least 6″ in height in case your shower ever has standing water!
I’m going to have to study up on this Schluter system. They actually have a water membrane there (the green thing) but for some reason, water still got behind. Should have used the Schluter!
Schluter is the way to go. But it would require a complete gut of your current shower :(. This Old House has a few good articles or stop by a large stone supplier and they should sell the system.
Thanks for the tip! Off to check it out.
We had slate in the master bath of the house we just sold. Nightmare. We inherited it from the previous owners. The shower was leaking water into the crawlspace like crazy and once we figured out that the grout and hadn’t failed and that the plumbing hadn’t failed, we figured out that the tiles themselves were letting the water seep down. We sealed it several time with he appropriate sealer but if we’d been staying, we would have quit using it and ripped it out eventually. I was wondering if marble had similar issues and now I know. Next bathroom reno will be all about porcelain. And Mike’s Holmes-esque bathroom waterproofing so it’ll definitely be above code where we live.
What a nightmare. I thank my lucky stars we’re not having that kind of leaking. Boy! Me too with the porcelain next time around.
Sorry you haven’t had a great experience w marble 🙁 we live in ut and I think our houses are about the same age (1979). I love marble as well so when we renovated last year, we did marble kitchen countertops, master bath full shower (12 x24)w bench, hex marble floor and countertop as well as hall bath marble subway tile in herringbone pattern and countertop. Our tile setter specialized in natural stone and used a shower tray. We do not use a squeedgie (sp). I only clean the marble with 409 natural stone. We had a small amount of grout crack along the base of the shower from settling and our installer came back and replaced it. Other than that, marble has been good. With countertops, I had to be ok with scratches and consider it patina. We will have them buffed every 5 years ($125 total). The counters are polished marble, the floors and showers are honed. We have kids and pets and a large extended family. So, marble is doable! I don’t know if it was the installer or if we just got lucky. I learned after having travertine, that the less product the better. I mop with a steam mop and only have to clean the shower every 3 weeks. I just wanted to share because I was so hesitant to use marble, but am so glad I did.
Hi Camille, I’m glad to hear you’re marble is holding up so well. I’d love to get the name of tiler if you’re willing to share. As much as I love the look of marble, I think my personality is not a good fit. We also have marble counters and I did a review about them here: https://4men1lady.com/reviewing-my-own-house-kitchen-counters/. Thanks gal!
I can’t even imagine having to re-do a fairly new shower. But if you have to…I saw on Bath Crashers (have you seen that show?) they used porcelain wall panels in the shower. Full wall panels & no grout!
They seem perfect. But I’m sure they’re pricey.
I’ve been in the design industry for years & Schluter absolutely the way to go! I’ve worked with it before & its the best product for water proofing your shower! All my contractors use it & never have had an issue after installation, use them on all my commercial jobs too! From your photos it doesn’t look like there is a membrane barrier & that’s where you get water behind the tile into the structure & discoloration- also cement board isn’t water proof, that still needs to be sealed on the whole shower & at the corners typically with a roll on sealant like TEC’s HydraFlex. Although it’s good to seal your marble, the grout also needs to be sealed as well. Also harsh chemicals that you can use on ceramic/porcelain tiles are terrible for natural products, like marble, they need a low voc water solvent cleaner which won’t errode the surface/finish. Like any natural product there will be always be some maintenance & that’s just part of the deal! Sorry for the long message, hate to see a homeowner go thru a tough experience, it’ll get better! Love the marble (don’t shy away from it just yet!) & your shower looks beautiful sans the bad experience! Wishing you all the luck!!!
Gah! They need to have homeowner’s go through a contractors course before hiring anyone. Things I wished I would have known…now paying for these expensive lessons. :(. Thanks Leah.
I am so sorry you are having this problem. Have you ever heard of stonepeak? I just put stonepeak’s statuarietto porcelain 12×24 tiles on my bathroom floor. I did put real statuary white marble on the countertop vanity. I’ll try to post a pic.
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RfiyiMqQgXg/VrTblPQskvI/AAAAAAAADkw/N1UUSUwDRUE/s320/hall%2Bbathroom2.jpg
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fAwBsUimn_Q/VrTbu400M_I/AAAAAAAADk0/V1OxzS-A-r8/s1600/hall%2Bbathroom1.jpg
I’ve seen some porcelain versions of marble but I’ve always felt they look like fakes. Yours however, look just like the real thing. I might have to give them a try. Beautiful bathroom!!! Thanks Karen!