Tile Guy
 

So my step mother had this house built 7 years ago. Over the past few months, a leak developed under her bathroom. What we think happened is that the builder didn't put a liner under her tile shower, the grout has all come off, and all the water is leaking through the flooring.
Insurance won't cover anything, and the builder has been sued several times and keeps winning, plus has filed bankruptcy. So there's no barking up that tree. What I'm afraid is going to have to happen is that we're gonna have to rip out the entire floor of her bathroom (hardwood and tile).
The other part to the story is that my step mother is flat broke. My dad died ten years ago, and she's flown through the money (partially out of stupidity, mainly out of helping people she had no responsibility for, which is also stupid).
So I guess I'm asking...
1) can anyone recommend a decent, but least expensive floor guy?
And
2) any other advice?

I'll post pics in subsequent posts...

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These are of the bathroom.

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I opened up the ceiling in the basement, and here's what I'm seeing. Most of the water is coming down in the shower area, as well as where registers are. The water is just sitting under the tiles and wood upstairs (you can hear/feel it when you walk on them.

This probably doesn't help you, but I like that glass brick.

I'm thinking that a call to Phobia is in order!

Oh yeah, it's a great shower. What we've found is that the builder did a lot that looked great, but was shoddy. This house has been like the house in Money Pit ever since she moved in.

That is why every will should be set up to pay out an annuity. She should be getting monthly checks the rest of her days on Earth, not a lump sum to burn.

Tile Guy
 

I would. Phobia helped her with a job a few years back, and as far as I can tell did a GREAT job. For some reason, though, she doesn't want to use him again.
Keep in mind that (though I love her to the ends of the earth), my step mom isn't the most intelligent. She's 98% emotion and 2% brains.

I'd imagine they didn't use a waterproofing membrane or a prefab shower pan. The water might just be working through the grout b/c it's porous and needs sealed every 6 months. I'd maybe rip the top off of that bench seat and look inside. That thing could be holding some water and give you an idea of what's going on without forcing you to re-tile the entire shower.

Either that, or seal the grout and see if that helps.

I'd check with Phobia for sure.

It would certainly have helped in this case.

Everything I've heard is to not reseal it because there's already so much water underneath

I would suspect that you wouldn't have to replace to entire bathroom floor. Stop using the shower though would be the first word of advice until it is repaired. I would suspect that the grout around your tile has failed and allowed water to get into the area that you believe doesn't have the liner. If a liner is present then the drain area could be clogged preventing the water from leaving the basin in the bottom of the shower.

At the very least your are most likely going to have to tear out the shower floor and repair the drain area and/or the liner. The water that is seeping under the floor tile will eventually dry out as long as you STOP using the shower and compounding the problem.

aturnis offered some good advice to open up the seat in the shower and look down inside. It should give you an unobstructed view of the shower basin to see if there is a liner or not.

Also, if they did use a floor pan system and a waterproofing membrane, they couldn't extend that waterproofing membrane up the glass wall.

I'd imagine where the tile and glass wall meet would be the least water tight spot in the shower.

Yeah, she stopped using the shower, or anything in the bathroom, several days ago.
Water is still leaking downstairs like crazy. That's why I wanted to open the ceiling. It looks to this moron like its not coming from any pipes. Like I said, when you walk on that floor, it squishes... So there's tons of water that has seeped through.

The grout on the shower floor is almost all gone. I don't know if you can see that from the pics.