Yeah, those were often pretty pathetic. Too many people wanted to just run a
bead, instead of being willing to waste some by pressing out the excess.
Couple of extra tubes of silicone, big deal.
A wall I did over 20 years ago is still lovely, and when they were doing a
bathroom remodel, that part got left alone.
Suppose the main thing is thinking like an owner, and excluding every
prospect of water entry.

"LBaker" wrote in message
...
I helped do a job many moons ago where we used the master set system. What
this was(note past tense) was a sheet of 9 4x4" tile mounted with 100%
silicone caulk. The sheets were then caulked together which supposedly
made
a water tight system. This was in a food processing plant. I happened to
be
back a year later when they were expanding and you'll never guess what the
wall looked like? The green board was rotted all to h*ll...

A properly installed ceramic shower will last many decades as long as it
is
taken care of. Most mildue issues are due to improper ventilation. Keep
some
air moving and your shower will dry and you'll have no issues...