I've been noticing this issue in my kids' bathroom. The drywall is getting rough/bubbly against the edge of the shower/tub tile between the toilet and the tub. The tub is cast iron. It also appears that the drywall is slightly bowing inward, leaving a gap between the drywall surface and the baseboard.

I've also included construction photos, so you can see what is inside the wall. The house was finished in early 2020, so it isn't very old. The tile isn't directly on drywall; they installed that gray waterproof backer board (see last image below).

Do I have a leak? Is it just water migrating through the cracked grout and seeping along the edge of the tub to the edge of the backer and into the drywall? I'm leaning towards the latter. I've considered just cutting out a decent size rectangle with an oscillating tool where I'm seeing the deformation.

Even with a shower door system, water often seems to get out. With a shower curtain, good luck!

It's hard to tell, it looks like the floor tile is damaged also. It might just be leaking from the corner of the tub from, splashing. It looks like it's leaking in the cracked grout between the tub and the tile on the left side. They make grout in a caulking tube that you can redo that, or could just use white caulk.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jimmy123x,

I'd say that water is getting past the curtain. I'd recommend a pair of splash guards for the intersection of the tub/wall - they're about $20/pair.

The fourth picture clearly shows the joint between the tub and tile is not sealed.

The third picture shows where water is going from the crack between the tub and tile.

The second picture appears to show the baseboard bowing out from the wall.

Looking at the roughed in plumbing pictures, I don’t see how a leak in the plumbing causes the damage in your pictures.

The water meters I’ve looked at have a little spinning thing that indicates very small leaks. If it’s spinning at all, water is flowing.

Used to have the same thing. Could be water escaping the curtain or, in my case...

hot shower + cold tile = condensation. Could see it dripping down the tile after a shower. Yanked the tile and installed one of those pre-fab tub enclosures. Problem went away.

Shower curtain and kids? Yeah they’re messy..

But I see two things. The first is that the joint between the tub and tile needs to be resealed with a good 100% silicon caulking. Secondly some sort of barrier or shower door will be needed to keep the splashes contained.

You probably have some drywall damage which could possibly lead to mold issues since it is a high humidity environment,

All you need. Caulk it in place after you position them. WHanson is correct:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ma...VfCBTL40IuKa73c3XwLM

Glad to see the consensus it toward it being the obivous/easy to fix problem.

EDIT: I see what kind of guards we are talking about; thanks, sunburn.

I can grab one of these and also reseal the grout all around the corner of the tub. The floor isn't damaged; the porcelain tiles are the distressed wood style. If it wasn't always super dry around here, I'd be more worried about mold building up. Once shower time is over, the humidity in the bathroom drops pretty fast.

Should I just apply clear caulk over the existing cracked grout, or should I remove and reapply new grout? I still have leftover grout from construction. I'm assuming that, so long as silicone caulk is applied, that would just be a cosmetic change, albeit a small one.

I do have to repeatedly bitch at the kids about FULLY closing the shower curtain and to keep the curtain liner on the inside of the tub. Hell, it took weeks of training to get them to use the vent fan regularly while showering. I'd have to sneak up to the door after they were in there getting ready. If I heard the water turn on before the fan, "TURN ON THE FAN!!".

I get this type of damage all the time in my rentals, but especially when there are kids. The only fix I’ve found is to install doors or splash guards. I like the large ones. They come with double sided tape to install, but I always caulk them in as well.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
They come with double sided tape to install, but I always caulk them in as well.

Good to know; I will definitely add caulk.

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
If I heard the water turn on before the fan, "TURN ON THE FAN!!".

Followed 10 minutes later if boy or 30 minutes later if girl, “TURN OFF THE FAN, THE LIGHT, AND THE WATER!”

Perhaps time to re-educate on keeping the shower curtain pressed to the wall. In addition to the barriers mentioned. Check immediately after they shower for water splashed out on the wall or the floor. That’s what I’d do anyway.

Re-educating them children is a constant process.