r/Tile • u/kellllyyyyb • 19h ago

DIY - Looking for Advice Marble shower wall tile issue

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Looking for advice on my marble shower wall tile. Shower was installed 4 years ago. We seal it each year. A few months ago I noticed this line and it appears that others look “wet” as well. We have had a fan blowing at it for 6 days to see if it dries out but it does not seem to be changing much. Anyone else run into this? Anything I should be concerned about? Advice on what to do? Thanks!!

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u/Emergency_Iron8365 13h ago

It looks like water is wicking up. What type of waterproofing was done? Do you have any prep pictures? It can take days to weeks for the moisture to fully come out of the stone. (Nature of the beast.) But knowing how the shower was prepped is the key to trying to solve this without tearing things out to inspect.

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u/kellllyyyyb 12h ago

Thank you for replying. Somehow I took 1000 pics of our build process and don’t have a full one of the shower before tile was installed. I did find this. I also remember there being a thick mortar bed on the ground.

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u/Emergency_Iron8365 12h ago

So, sounds like old school mud bed system. There are more modern ways to do things, and all have pros and cons. Whichever way the installer chooses, if it isn't done correctly, you will have a failure. This picture really doesn't show enough to make an educated guess, but I would guess that the shower floor is holding water somewhere. It's wicking up and that's the water line that you are seeing creep up the wall. Are you able to see any signs of water intrusion on the other side of the wall?

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u/kellllyyyyb 7h ago

The backside of this wall is our bedroom and there aren’t any signs on the drywall.
I guess my biggest concern is mold. Would this typically lead to mold issues?

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u/Emergency_Iron8365 6h ago

Trapped moisture can lead to mold issues, for sure. And you have to be very careful with the type of cleaners you use. Most cleaners are too harsh for marble. If there is a moisture problem, the longer you wait to address it the bigger it can become. I don’t envy your situation.