What's wrong with my shower floor?


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Old 10-29-06, 01:58 PM
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What's wrong with my shower floor?

I have a shower stall with a (I guess) molded plastic floor made by Mustee. The sides of the stall are tiled. Last year, the floor developed a crack and I had it replaced with the exact same one. After about 9-10 months, I noticed light gray blotches on one section. Over time, some of these blotches got darker, and now some of them appear to have a reddish/brown cast.

I've had both the Mustee rep and my plumber look at it. Both agreed it is not a surface stain. The mustee rep thought it might be mold, but he said he had never seen this before. The old one never did this. The plumber agreed it's a problem, but didn't offer anything.

My question is this. Do you think it can be mold? Since it is solid plastic, how likely is it that mold underneath can seep into it? Also, who is responsible for this? The rep offered me $200 (which I turned down), but the job cost me $1600 including the tile work. I don't think I should pay for this job twice. Is the plumber responsible for re-doing it?

Thanks for your advice.
 
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Old 10-29-06, 04:36 PM
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i don't know. but since the rep offered $200, i would say its a defect. despite that he "said" he had never(yeah right) seen it before. does it clean off ?

post up a pic
 
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Old 10-29-06, 07:42 PM
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When they where replacing the shower did you get to see the subfloor or walk on it? What condition was it in? What is the shower sitting on? Concrete slab, basement, crawl space, etc.
 
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Old 10-30-06, 05:22 AM
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The stain does not rub off. The rep tried pouring bleach on it (after he told me I shouldn't ever use Tilex) but that didn't have any effect. It definitely did not come from the top.

I didn't see the subfloor when installed. The shower is upstairs in the house. I cannot recall what the plumber called the stuff he used underneath, but he said it's white and fills in all the gaps between the shower floor and the surface. I know it was not concrete.

But if it is a defect, the $200 offered does not begin to cover the cost of replacement. Who pays?
 
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Old 10-30-06, 10:03 AM
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If it is a defect then Mustee is obligated to replace the defective part. If it was improperly installed then the plumber has to foot the bill.

Do you have hard water or iron in the water?
 
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Old 10-30-06, 10:12 AM
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I don't have problems with hard water...I assume I would see other signs like stains in the toilets, right?

If Mustee is responsible, who pays the labor to replace it?
 
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Old 10-30-06, 08:44 PM
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If you had hard water you'd know it.

I'm still baffled as to what the stain is. If it is mold then it would need water. If the shower was leaking you would see it in the ceiling below it. If it was a defect it would be more of a crack I'd think.

First step to figuring out whose to blame would be figuring out what happened. Other then ripping it out I’m not sure how to do that.
 
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Old 10-31-06, 05:44 PM
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Did the installer set the base in any material? Sometimes, fibreglass pans are set in a base of gypcrete or structolite for rigidity. If the used any solvent based product, like liquid nails, to bed or secure the pan, those things will bleed through and cause a stain. I would be interested to see what is under it when you take it up.
 
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Old 11-01-06, 05:20 AM
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I think he said it was structolite. I couldn't remember it until I saw the post. He said it was initially soft and molded itself to fill in the space as it dried. He also said it was white, so it shouldn't turn color or stain. I don't know about any solvents, though.
 
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Old 11-01-06, 07:36 AM
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It looks like your shower pan is fiberglass. As a chemist, it sounds like you had moisture seep through the top or bottom at some point, deposit iron and it slowly oxidized over time. This could have been caused by a manufacturing defect or inappropraite exposure to chemicals or cleaners at some point in time. I doubt you'll ever know the true cause.

According to your warranty, the best you could hope for is full refund of purchase price, no labor costs.

We warrant to the original consumer user of the products of E.L. Mustee & Sons, Inc. for a period of one(1) year from the date of the sale to the consumer that our products will be free of defects in material and workmanship.
Our liability under this Warranty shall be to either repair or replace the product with an identical or reasonably equivalent product. In the alternative, we may refund, in full, the actual purchase price if the repair is not commercially reasonable or possible within a reasonable time and we are unable to supply a replacement product. We shall not be responsible for any labor, damages or installation costs.

It would also seem diffcult to assign blame to the plumber for an installation error. So, I think in the end you'll end up paying again for the replacement minus the purchase price.
 
 

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