Thread: Swollen wood at bathroom door

Simple replacement job for a carpenter but that does not fix the cause.
Most likely the waterproofing has not been completed correctly, fixing the issue would probably require removing tiles are installing the waterproofing correctly.

If you are unsure get the advice from a professional experienced in detecting water damage and leaks.

The waterproof membrane may not necessarily be compromised but likely the doorjamb has been installed before the tile bed laid and it is sucking the water up out of the bed.
The best initial course of action is to cut the jamb and architraves off flush with the floor tiles and seal the end grain to stop the water wicking up the timber

What they both said and in my experience of fixing hundreds of these the waterproofing has not been done correctly and the jamb and architrave MUST not be embedded in the tiles

Hi all - many thanks for your thoughts. The house is now over 20 years old and the swell has only increasing marginally over that time. My suspicion has always been water or vapour moisture from showering seeping up from below, rather than an actual leak.

Originally Posted by Voltaire

Hi all - many thanks for your thoughts. The house is now over 20 years old and the swell has only increasing marginally over that time. My suspicion has always been water or vapour moisture from showering seeping up from below, rather than an actual leak.

Vapour will rise up, your issue in both bathrooms is water travelling under the tiles and being absorbed by the timber which has incorrectly been submerged into the layer under the tiles.
I also see signs that in both cases water is travelling outside the aluminium angle placed at the room threshold and progressing further. If a water stop angle was fitted and waterproofed correctly this would not occur and damage would be restricted to within the bathrooms.

I highly recommend getting a professional to inspect in person as slow long term progression of this damage will result in many thousands of damage.

if you have access under your house i'd be going and checking under that area. our rental had a leak that looked like it was just affecting the jamb, but a large section of chipboard under the house had turned to weatbix because of it.

It'll be the waterproofing in the shower has failed some where.

Originally Posted by havabeer69

if you have access under your house i'd be going and checking under that area. our rental had a leak that looked like it was just affecting the jamb, but a large section of chipboard under the house had turned to weatbix because of it.

It'll be the waterproofing in the shower has failed some where.

I used to find a lot of screens/shower doors leaking/not installed correctly

Probably not what you want to hear but having been through this with both bathrooms in our 20yr old home ultimately the only fix is to gut and replace the whole thing. The tiler who did our main bathroom last year said that the product used for the original membrane appeared to have failed, it was like sticky gum when the shower was gutted out. The other 3 houses close to us that are a similar age have all had the same issues with their bathrooms.