I’m pretty certain my weep holes are blocked with mortar, here’s the scenario:
Our shower is complete (new construction) with a hot-mopped pan and cast iron flange. I cleared the weep holes free of excess tar and gunk and verified that all three holes flowed clearly when we did the holding water test. (prior to tile base mud)
I wasn’t present when the tile guy floated the walls and pan, but I’m pretty certain he didn’t take the step of piling pebbles or broken tile pieces over the holes. The shower floor was finished with 2″ hex marble pieces, grouted and sealed.
The shower’s been in use for approximately one month now and since day one, there’s always been a circle of darkened tiles around the drain that never seem to dry out. Remember, it’s real marble, so water absorption shows right through until it’s completely dry. The circle started out to be about 10″ in diameter. Now, it’s about 16-18″ in diameter and not showing any signs of getting smaller. In fact, after two consecutive days of none-use, the damp circle did not decrease appreciably.
Now for the fix. My approach was going to be to try and drill out the holes with some sort of small right angle attachment and maybe wiggle the drill about to get a wider path open. How deep would I need to go? If you think about it, If they screened the holes to begin with, the pebbles, or broken tiles would only give you about 1 to 1.5″ of opening anyway. After that, it’s all packed mortar. So, will drilling it out 1-2 inches deep do the trick? I really don’t want to break up the surface at this point. My rationale is that it’s only been a month and since the dampened tiles formed an almost perfect circle, that tells me my slope is working.
Thanks!
Replies
OK, I picked up a little right-angle attachment and a couple of carbide tipped bits and I'm going to try it out.
Can a person go too deep, or is deeper better in this case. Also, if I remember correctly, there's plenty of the cast iron flange covering the hot mop so i don't think that a small drill bit can even come close to damaging the tar seal. Can anyone help to confirm this before I go drilling into my shower pan?
Thanks!!!!!!
I think you are playing with fire. And considering your choice of material, and method of install; I would think you might be a bit less surprised by the results.
Marble is quite porous and will absorb a lot of moisture. I would have put Kerdi over the mud job, thus not allowing the water to absorb into the slab creating the problem you have currently.
Truth be told, I'm not convince of the effectiveness of the pebbles, but I always do it. I would guess that the water will find it's way through the mud.........You did create a preslope under the hot mopped pan; correct?
I might try really thoroughly drying it out. Weeks if need be, ans sealing the tile and grout to the max. Be careful, it may be slippery.
Thanks, but that's definately not what I wanted to hear. By the way, there's plently of slope- the hot-mop guy established the slope with dry pack and the tile mud followed it, plus it's pretty evident just standing in the shower.
Anyway, I think I'll try to drill out the holes and see what happens.
If you really think about it, though, what difference does it make if the holes are blocked with the deck mortar or not? Now, if the weep holes were not drilled out in the casting that's a different story, or if they were blocked by something non-porous like excess tar. But if it's just mortar, it's the same mortar that would've been packed around your pile of pebbles- right???
Thanks again!
The "preslope" I was referring to is what should be UNDER your liner. Now I am not too familiar with a hot mop ( I am Eastern) but here we do a preslope on the subfloor, install the pvc or (old school) lead or copper liner then do the sloped mud job ontop of that. This causes any water that may seep into the mud job base to find it's way (hopefully) to the weep holes.
Without that preslope as I have explained it, the water will more than likely pool, and cause problems much as you are experiencing.
I can remember years ago (20-30) pulling up and still putting in lead pans. We never did a preslope beneath them. The flanges did NOT have weep holes. We would turn the strainer upside down and cross cut four slots about 3/8" wide (90deg opposing) up the threaded neck of the strainer. These were our "weep" holes.
Talk to me.............
Eric,
In regards to the pre-slope, the hot mop guy establishes that with the drypack mortar which is the first step before his tar and paper. When he left, the shower was sloped fine and the tile guy placed his wire and deck mud directly over it, again, following the slope.
If you read my first post, I describe how the damp mable tiles create a "damp circle". If there was no slope under there then it would not show as a circle, but rather the whole flat surface, or some free-form shape. I really don't think the issue is with slope.
Thanks!
Ok, I just needed a refresher on the hot mop.
Can you plug your drain with a diaghram (sp) type plug (looks like a swollen hot dog) below the weep holes.
Fill your floor with a couple of inches of water and see if it goes down through the weep holes.
I'm not convinced that your weep holes are clogged so much as I believe you are dealing with the nature of the marble and mud base as installed. Not having a water proof membrane OVER the mud pack leaves it open to absorb and hold water.
I'm lost. Why are you doing this and not the original installers?