How long should deck mud dry before tiling?

13 years ago

We are having a shower pan built (deck mud, preslope,membrane, more mud to slope) and putting on a layer of Redgard for water proofing. Then tile and grout.

Can the pros please give me a time line of how long we need to wait in between each step, so tha the mud cures completly and we dont have issues later with tile popping up?

In another bath upstairs, the floor was tiled (over backerboard) and grouted (using grout Admix according to directions) the day after. A few tiles popped up and grout cracked. They were removed and replaced. Now the neighboring tiles are poping up a little. What could be causing this?

Bill, mongoct..please advice :)

Featured Answer

MongoCT

13 years ago

Same reply as Bill. I usually tile over deck mud the next day.

With the failed floor, popping tiles can indicate a poor bond (dirty cement board, dirty tiles, skinned over thinset, etc, or floor flexing. Cracked grout usually indicates a poor grout mix, the wrong grout used (unsanded instead of sanded, etc), or too much flexing in the floor.

Poor workmanship and floor movement are the potential common denominators. The cement board was thinsetted to the subfloor AND screwed/fastened every 8" on center?

Do you know how thick and what material (wood planking, plywood, OSB, etc) the subfloor that the cement board went over was made up of?

You used grout admix, was the grout already modified in the bag in addition to you adding a liquid admix?

Was the thinset modified (in the bag or by you with liquid admix) too?

Was the thinset used powdered in a bag or premixed in a plastic bucket?

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Comments (6)

bill_vincent
13 years ago
Overnight is fine.

As for the upstairs bath, I'm wondering if it has something to do with the subfloor under the cement board. The pic you showed me-- I couldn't quite tell what it was. I KNOW not having thinset under the cement board is a bigtime no-no, and would sooner or later cause you problems, but I've never heard of it causing problems this quickly. That's not to say it's NOT that, but I'd look for other reasons first, before settling on that. I'm wondering if there's any kind of severe movement going on in that floor.
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terezosa / terriks
13 years ago
We are having a shower pan built (deck mud, preslope,membrane, more mud to slope) and putting on a layer of Redgard for water proofing.

A question for Bill or Mongo - Isn't it a bad idea to have two vapor/water barriers? ie., the membrane AND Redguard.
mrao77
Original Author
13 years ago
Terriks,
I guess I was not clear when I said membrane - I meant the pastic/vinyl(??) thing that goes down on the deckmud pre slope. Not a vapor barrier as in kerdi.

Mongo and Bill, the upstairs flooring is pretty sturdy as far as I can tell (I am no expert, as you can tell :)
no creaking when walked on, it is a 10 year old house.

I believe what I saw when the carpet was ripped off, was plywood. I could be wrong, again. The wood was about 1 1/2 to 2" thick. I made him pull out a small portion to check for water damage, if any, which we did not find.

The cement board was only screwed in, not thinsetted. So I know better, they should both be done? How about on the walls? Just screwed in to the wall studs?
We are starting on the Master bath tomorrow, and want to incorporate all the changes that I have now realized are required, except for the kerdi, which I dont have access to readily. We are going to use Redgard (topical) on the walls.

One more questions- as for water proofing the shower floor when builing a deck mud pan, do we use redgard on the cured floor before tiling (pebbles in my case)?

My handyman has never used epoxy grout and I am not willing to experiemnt, as clean up can be a pain and if there are any problems, I am told that it can be pretty hard to get the stuff out once hardened.
So I am going the tradtional route - sanded grout,(no admix) and then seal with a penetrating solvent based sealer. Is there anything that I need to do differently for a better result?

Thank you all so very much,
mrao77
terezosa / terriks
13 years ago
It is my understanding that you do not want two moisture barriers, because you can create a "moisture sandwich" between. That is why I asked the question of Bill and Mongo.
mrao77
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks Terriks, for bringing that to my attention.

Mongo, the thinset we used was "Econoflex Mortar grey" polymer thinset, from North American Adhesives. We did not use any liquid additives. The grout we used (1/8" grout line) was polymer-modified unsanded Portland-cement tile grout from the same company, with grout admix from "Tile Doctor" co.
We have decided not to use grout admix for the next project, as they are from two different companies, and may be causing all the grout cracking we are experiencing.

How long should deck mud dry before tiling?

MongoCT

Comments (6)

bill_vincent

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How long should deck mud dry before tiling?

MongoCT

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bill_vincent

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