I went to take a shower this morning, and discovered a crack in my shower wall.
I’ve already left a message with my plumber, but his hours are Monday - Friday, so I don’t expect to hear back from him for a couple of days. I’ve also contacted my insurance agent.
I’m looking for opinions on what this might be, as I know nothing about this stuff. When I press on the wall around the crack, I can tell there is something behind the fiberglass causing it to bulge out. Which apparently broke through. I gently pried the crack open a bit, and I can see there’s a stud right behind the crack. There’s also what looks like battery corrosion (the bulge). There’s no way to get a picture of this, though.
My theory is that a nail has worked its way loose. Which means the stud is waterlogged. I’m hoping against hope that someone will tell me I’m wrong, that I’m worrying over nothing…
In case it’s relevant, in the past we’ve had issues with water leaking from the bathroom upstairs. We had the issue fixed, and there hasn’t been any leaks in years. About a year and a half ago, we discovered a bunch of water damage beneath the tub in the downstairs bathroom. We were told by the restoration company that came out that it was a combination of cracks in our bathroom floor tile, and the previous leaks from upstairs. We had the whole bathroom remodeled, and we were assured everything is all good. There’s been no issues with water leaks since, that we’re aware of.
I wonder if it’s expanding foam insulation (ie Great Stuff). They may have filled the stud bays with it to keep the shower walls from flexing. I know it’s done under tubs so they don’t move when you’re standing on them, I’m not sure about the walls though.
Some expanding foams do get turn an ugly orangeish/rustish color after a while.
Can you get in there with a screwdriver or something to pick at it with? You’ll probably be able to get a better idea of what it is, even just based on the feel/sound and what it looks like if you can break the top layer off of it. Or, at least, if it’s foam insulation, it’ll be more obvious.
Interesting! Wonder if something is up with your neighbor’s plumbing? I once lived in an apartment in a building that wasn’t quite level, and there were a couple of times when I found water that had originated from leaks in my neighbor’s apartment.
I don’t know how it would compare to replace the entire thing, if it were me, I might call a place like bathfitter. I assume it’s cheaper than ripping out the current tub, but even if it isn’t, it’s got to be less intrusive.
OTOH, if the OP was looking for a reason to replace the tub or remodel their bathroom, I think this is a sign.
But, even with something like bathfitter, you’re still going to have to open up that area the rest of the way to find out what’s going on back there and fix it.
Duck tape is a good idea, but my younger brother would be more inclined to install a towel bar above it and keep a towel on it…even if it’s in the shower.
Now that I think about it, he also has some rather oddly-placed prints and photos on the walls in his house.
It sounds like the damage is only to the fiberglass shower wall. If that’s not permanently attached to the tub, you might just need to replace the shower wall and you don’t need a company like Bathfitter to do that. The question is what happened; did the neighbor pound something into the wall that poked out the other side? I think they may be responsible for the damage.
I started to suggest that but I got the feeling (based on nothing) that this is a single piece surround type tub/shower that isn’t going to have 90 degree corners such that you could just glue a new panel right over the old one.
If it’s something like this, even without the built-in shelves, a DIYer isn’t going to be able to fix it without it looking like they glued a panel to their shower wall.
And, FWIW, if that was my shower, I’d probably get a piece of acrylic or vinyl or something and caulk/seal it over the hole. Not to ‘fix’ it so much as to keep water out of it. And, actually, covering it with some flex tape might be a better option. Then when you call someone out to look at it, they can just remove/cut it to inspect the damage and retape it when they’re done.
You can buy the one-piece tub/shower surrounds in the big box hardware stores though I am not a fan of them. I prefer a solid surface or tile surround.
