Sounds like they didn't preslope the pan, and it may be holding water now, which would be why you can't get rid of the mildew. Not the fault of the guy who installed the shower-- presloping the pan membrane became code 12 years ago, and there are many-- even inspectors-- who STILL don't know it's now code. But that's most likely the reason you're having problems. Only way I know of to rectify the situation is the tear it out and put the pan together right.

I'm not an expert so keep this in mind I think that you want a membrane on all shower walls. How I understand it is that the special cement board that goes up before the tile, needs to be either placed on top of a vapor barrier which is covering your studs, or have a membrane layer placed top of the board which is affixed directly to the studs. But not both barriers on the same installation. I think otherwise moisture will be trapped. The installation of the membranes will be a crucial factor when installing the tub too. It will be important that the membrane is not allowing water to drain behind the tub flange. I think someone had posted a nice drawing of this detail sometime back but I can't find it in my clippings to refer to. Tile and grout is not a waterproof surface. The reason for the barrier is to protect the wall studs. Evidently the cement board is not effected by water but will transmit water.

numbers... we have a chipper tool with an attachment that is specifically used to chip tile. Professional tile installers use a VERY heavy duty one. Ours was heavy but not quite as heavy as the biggest pro models. It's a bear of a job. Just dusty, heavy, time consuming, and allow me to say dusty again. You will need two people. One for cleaning up the debris and the one using the tool. It took us several days to do about 1000 sq. ft. In the beginning , DH had to do the work alone because I was at work. THat meant stopping every 15 minutes to clean up the broken tile in the way. You'll also need a way/place/trash to dump the debris and get it taken away. It gets very heavy very fast. The tile we removed was at least 20 years old if not older. They are right... it's a huge amount of work. But it's doable, if you have help and just give yourself the time to do it. We are lucky in that we don't have to live there while the job is being done.

This is the most recent thread I have found. Hope I am posting correctly. I am a newbie here. My Fire & Ice arrived today. I hung a couple of squares on the wall. The right side enhanced with only water & the left one without. I ordered some black (cocoon) tiles from Cool Tiles and illusion brown ones from Modern Tile Studio to try out to replace the dreadful peach color that clashes with my tile floor. Please disregard the mess and the mismatched vases in the pic. My cabinet doors have temporarily been removed for color and glass inserts. I guess I am looking for some feedback. My cabinets are cabernet, hardware is pewter, countertops are black pearl granite and floor is ceramic with gray and pink tones. I hope to list pics later when project is complete. I hope to hear from Jodi So Cal, BerryBerry and others who have use Jeffery Court Fire & Ice for their kitchens. I have viewed many. All look great. I know Jodi's kitchen started the buzz but all I have seen pics of look fantastic. Congrats to all of you.