Three Tiles Kept Falling Off My Tub Wall Until I Looked Behind Them

What I Found

Drywall isn’t supposed to feel like that. It should resist, splinter a little, put up a fight when you dig into it with a blade.

This peeled away in damp layers.

I pressed my thumb against the wall six inches to the left of the damaged spot. Firm. Moved right, toward the tub deck. Still solid. Then I worked my way up toward the showerhead, checking every few inches.

About eighteen inches above the tub rim, things got soft again.

So now I had two questions. First: was this contained to the spots I could see, or had water wicked through the entire section behind the tile? Second: if I pulled more tiles to check, was I going to find surface damage or something worse?

I grabbed a flashlight and got down low, shining it along the grout lines at an angle. Hairline cracks ran vertically between two more tiles, almost invisible unless the light hit them just right.

The drywall behind had a faint gray-green tinge in spots where it stayed damp longest—the beginnings of mildew, not the black stuff that means you’re calling someone with a hazmat suit. But it told me the water had been getting in long enough to start growing things.

The only question left was where it was coming from.