View Single Post
  #7   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
aemeijers aemeijers is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,149
Default Repair/Rebuild Tile Shower Stall --- HELP?

infiniteMPG wrote:
Found an odd situation as I was tearing up the wall tile, seems
there's 1/2" to 3/4" gap between the floor/base tile and the wall tile/
concrete board, and I can dig down about 1" below the floor tile and
it appears to be sand or leveling mud or something. It's quite damp,
too. Appears that they didn't put a shower pan or liner around the
base/floor of the shower before they built this shower.

So here's my plan, using floor leveler and level out the grout lines
of the floor tile. Use concrete to fill this gap around the edges of
the floor tile. Rip out all the wall concrete board/sheet rock.
Replace all the sheet rock with new concrete board, then find a way to
seal around the floor and part way up the walls, then re-tile
everything. This would require extending the drain up slightly. Not
planning on removing the existing tile.

Any ideas of sealing before tiling?


See those red flags around you yet? You have found evidence of water
infiltrations already. I presume you have gravity at you house. If water
is in the dead space below the existing tile, it is quite likely to have
infiltrated below the mud bed to the decking and structure underneath,
unless there is a liner underneath. Can you see into the joist bays
below, or is this over finished space? Any evidence of dark spots or
drips under the shower?

Personally, as much work and money as you are putting into this project,
I'd demo it all, and build back with a proper pan or membrane or
whatever, and seriously consider paying a pro to do the wet areas. A
shower is a lot less forgiving than floors in a kitchen or entryway. I'd
rather pay a little extra and never have to think about it or mess with
it again. Houses, and showers, flex with weather and point loads on the
floor. Any kind of seal is likely to fail eventually. That is why shower
pans and membrane underlayments were invented- to make a waterproof bowl
with the only exit via the drain.

--
aem sends....