What would cause the inside wall in a tile shower to become wet if there is no plumbing in this wall?

Answer 1

AnswerIf there is no Plumbing in the wall it has to be either a leak from upstairs that's running down the wall or the grout or caulk has gone bad and every time you take a shower you make it worse. Grout is cheap and easy. Try scraping out the old grout between the tiles and then regrout between them to seal them.

If any tiles fall off when you scrape out the old grout, that means the tile cement as well as the grout or caulk has gone bad. In that case you would have to scrape away all the old tile cement as well as the grout or caulk. Let the wall dry out really well for a few days - a week would be better. Then re-fix the tiles with new tile cement and re-grout between the tiles to seal them.

AnswerI the tile is set onto wallboard - including greenboard, the wall will act as a sponge and self destruct. You may end up needed to tear it out and start over. It could be because the tiles were set on regular all purpose drywall without any durarock and moisture repelling drywall and without moisture repelling adhesive-- and so the water seeps through the sand-grout and wets the all purpose drywall causing it to loosen and fall after some time.

Honest Contractors are found when you can talk their language.

If you can speak to them like you know what you're talking about they will be less likely to take advantage of your're intelligence. I myself use a vinyl adhesive which plasticizes and does not absorb water like the sandgrout that many contractors try to get away with using-- I only use sand grout to fill my seems -- not to mount the tile on the wall,-- and I make sure I trowel vertically to ensure that seepage water does not catch and build up on any ridges behind the tile. When you trowel horizontally you create ridges and give seem seepage water a chance to settle on the troweled adhesive ridges which eventually soak through the drywall and loosen its integrity.