Showers leak through the floor and the wall junctions far more often than through the pipework behind them.
Which one it is decides whether you need a reseal or a rebuild. Detection methods at Leak Detection Cape Town.
Tell us the age of the bathroom and where the damp shows on the other side.
Get a Shower Leak QuoteFour Things That Fail
- Failed waterproofing under the tiles - the tray membrane has perished or was never installed. The most common and most expensive.
- Perished grout and silicone - at the wall-to-floor junction, where movement cracks the seal.
- The waste and trap connection - leaking under the tray or bath, usually onto the slab.
- Concealed mixer body or feed pipe - inside the wall, the least common but the worst to reach.
Testing Which One
A flood test on the tray with the waste plugged isolates the floor membrane. Running only the mixer with the tray dry tests the pipework. A moisture meter on the far side of the wall shows where the water actually arrives. That sequence tells you whether a reseal will hold or whether the bathroom needs stripping.
Shower Leak Prices in Cape Town
| Job | Indicative range | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Shower leak detection | R1,450 – R3,000 | Call-out plus first hour, non-invasive. |
| Flood test and moisture mapping | R950 – R2,200 | Isolates membrane from pipework. |
| Regrout and reseal a shower | R1,800 – R4,500 | Where the membrane is still sound. |
| Waste and trap repair | R950 – R2,800 | Access dependent. |
| Concealed mixer or feed repair | R1,750 – R2,500 | Excludes tiling and making good. |
| Strip and re-waterproof a shower | R4,500 – R12,000 | Includes membrane, excludes new tiles. |
| Full shower rebuild with tiling | R12,000 – R32,000 | Where the substrate has failed too. |
These are indicative market ranges, not a quotation. They are compiled from published South African leak detection and plumbing pricing to give you a starting point for budgeting. They are not the rate card of any company on this platform.
Sealant and grout are not waterproofing. They are the finish over it. Where the membrane below has failed, resealing the surface buys months, not years.
Related Services
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a leaking shower be fixed without retiling?
Sometimes. If the failure is at the grout and silicone junction and the membrane below is intact, a regrout and reseal will hold. If the membrane has failed, the tiles have to come up.
Why is the damp on the other side of the wall?
Water finds the lowest path through the screed and along the slab, so it emerges wherever that path lets it. The wet patch is where the water arrives, not where it enters.
How long should shower waterproofing last?
A properly installed membrane should last the life of the bathroom. Early failure normally means the membrane was skipped, taken to the wrong height up the wall, or laid over a substrate that moves.
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