Bill & Mongo I have a pitch question

14 years ago

Today I am working on putting in the Nobleseal liner. I have the floor in shower pitched towards the drain that is at the threshold/door opening. Reminder... no curb shower. Right now I don't have any pitch going towards the drain on the opposite side (common area). I wonder if I did do a slight pitch on the opposite side of this drain, do you think it will foul up the tile install. I am concerned with lippage. Am I going to have this ridge that is going to mess everything up? I will have both 3/4" mosaics and 24 x 24 large format tile that will be used along the 28" of this drain. I could just run it flat and then have the installer pitch a strip towards the drain, (don't really care for that option) or go out about 12" or 24" and run the pitch towards the drain. I'm just not sure due to how the tile will fall within the bathroom. Am I creating a huge problem? The large format tile is the issue and I assume some of the back side can be ground down. However it is a laminate tile (porcelain grey body back and white glass front) and it helps keep the glass front from distorting ( I don't think we would be taking that much off 1/4" - 3/8"? So what do you think? And can I use this Thinset mixed with the flexible additive make kind of a stiff mix and screet out a nice slope on the plywood for under the nobleseal?

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Comments (5)

bill_vincent
14 years ago
You've completely lost me. Could you take a couple of pictures and post them, so I could see what you're talking about?
jjaazzy thanked bill_vincent
MongoCT
14 years ago
A few Q's:

Does your shower floor slope to the threshold drain...and the threshold drain is at the door...and from the door onward into the bathroom door the floor is flat?

Is the threshold drain at the same elevation as your bathroom floor tile?

So your shower floor tile is essentially at a higher elevation than your bathroom floor tile?

If I covered your threshold drain so it couldn't drain and turned on the shower water, would any water pool to any depth at all in the shower, or would it all flow down the shower floor slope and into the bathroom?

If it did flow into the bathroom, is your bathroom floor a "wet floor" meaning you have waterproofing membrane under the bathroom floor tile?

Is there any curb at all between the bathroom tile floor and the bedroom/bathroom?
jjaazzy thanked MongoCT
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The only ones I've had an issue with were Marazzi, and that was from several years ago but over a period of several years, and Florida Tile, which was from awhile ago too. I can't recall having touched Florida Tile since. Marazzi, I think they have gotten better. The issue with them back in the day was the tiles were just so varied in size. Open a box, stand the tiles on edge (like a deck of cards on edge) and it shows how out of square and varied in size they are across each dimension. I can't say the last time I used Marazzi...maybe last year in 2010? But they were pretty much standard then, I had no out of the ordinary issues. Some tile is only rated for wall use, some wall and floor rated. If the tile has a "glaze pattern", some are applied with screens, like silk screens. Look closely and you can see the screen grid within the glaze. Also, ask how often the pattern repeats in a box. A manufacturer might only have 7 patterns or 15 patterns. In a large room using a tile with a low number of patterns, the repetitive pattern could be apparent after the tiles are set. Through-body versus a surface glaze could be a consideration regarding cut edges. For the most part though, porcelain is porcelain. 2" and 3" squares will both conform to the pitch changes in the shower floor. Most shower drain covers are 4" squares, which nests nicely within a field of 2" tiles. 2" tiles will also give more grout lines, which can aid in foot traction and minimize slips in the shower. There are myriad ways to do a sink backsplash, there's no hard right or wrong. But sure, a tiled wainscot can look lovely, especially with a pedestal sink that shows off more of the wall. If you go that route, take the added wall thickness into consideration when positioning the toilet flange in the floor.
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jjaazzy
Original Author
14 years ago
Sorry Bill, LOL Yes Mongo right on all points. Shower floor slopes to the drain, Shower floor higher then rest of floor. Drain at same elevation as bathroom floor. No, if you covered the drain and turned on the shower the water would just run over and run out into the common area. Yes, we have Ditra for the common area in bathroom (all areas in rest of bathroom) No curb between the bathroom and bedroom but trench is 9 1/2 feet away probably a good idea just to put a threshold curb there like they normally do in bathrooms. I have seen where they talk about pitching the entire floor towards the trench but I really don't want to do that then I would have to hurdle into the bathroom! I am already 3/4 of an inch up then + thinset + Ditra + thinset + 1/2" tile Yikes! In the mean time...I'm going to go figure out how to do pictures!
MongoCT
14 years ago
Welp...

If you or your installer are not aware, code requires that should your shower drain clog, that the "area" that will collect water can hold a minimum water depth of 2" before water flows into a non-protected area.

The 2" difference is normally accomplished by a traditional curb at the shower door.

Now, you can make the entire bathroom a "wet room" that can hold 2" of water. But you'd need to protect the bathrooom floor plus a few other areas; the toilet...the bathroom/bedroom door, etc.

If you Ditra'd the bathroom floor, you can make it watertight by using strips of Kerdi on the Ditra seams. Then you'd need to run the Kerdi up the walls, and as previously mentioned you'd need to protect the vanity, the toilet flange, etc.

In my area, it's against code to have the shower slope to the shower door and to have a trench drain at the shower entry. The trench drain has to be at a back wall with the floor sloping to the trench.

So there are a few things that need to be rectified, depending if you want to be compliant. I'm not certain if what codes apply in your area, but your installer should be familiar with IRC and UPC if they apply.

If you want to wing it you certainly can, but if the work will be inspected, or if you plan on selling your house in the future and don;t want to get dinged at the inspection, then you might want to comply with code even if it's no applicable in your locale.

Time for din-din...I'll check back later.
jjaazzy thanked MongoCT
jjaazzy
Original Author
14 years ago
Well I apologize for my earlier posts of anxiety. Most things are figured out as you go at least that's the way I do things and all went well the shower floor is in! It looks really really good. Thank you both for your help. Well your right on all counts Mongo. But the trusses were in the way in the back and then I would have had to build up the entire floor, that throws everything off. So we will be here a really long time I guess and by the time we move who knows the next guy probably going to hate it. But thanks again. ON - TO - THE - KERDI! Not today!

Bill & Mongo I have a pitch question

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