Hello; If you do a Hydro Ban shower, note that Laticrete Instructions say that Hydro Ban "bonds to metal and PVC plumbing fixtures only". So, since the Kedri drain also comes in ABS, don't get that one. Kerdi drain also comes in metal and PVC. At least that's how I interpreted the Laticrete instructions. (I ordered the ABS drain before I realized this and had to return it and re-order a PVC drain, so I'm giving a heads up to others.) If I'm wrong and the ABS drain will work with Hydro Ban, maybe one of the pros, (Bill V.), will correct me. Bill

I'd prefer that more grout had been left in the joints. They look dished out a bit too much, where too much grout was removed during the cleanup phase. I'd have preferred the grout to be more flush with the face of the tile. Looking closely at the first two photos, the darkened grout lines are all parallel to one another. In the first photo you can see the wet grout lines are all parallel to the edge of the drain. That leads me to believe that the "uphill" edges of the tiles are acting like mini dams and holding water, they are preventing water from easily flowing downhill to the drain. The second closeup photo, you see the same effect. All the damp grout lines are again parallel to one another. Again, to me that reflects a drainage issue. Not necessarily with the amount of floor pitch, but with the grout lines being so dished out that they hold water and slow drainage. Marble is porous and can absorb water. With the grout lines being a bit too raked out, the edges of the marble hexes are exposed. Water held against the tile edge can lead to absorption into the marble. The crack in the grout in that second photo, you also wrote that there are other cracks. That's usually a sign of too much water used in the grout mix, or that sanded grout should have been used instead of unsanded. Unsanded should be used in joints less than 1/8" wide. Cracks can also indicate movement in the floor, but that shouldn't be an issue with a properly set Kerdi Tray. As far as him having used a preformed Kerdi-Tray, if he did, it appears that is was certainly cut down in an awkward manner. The drain is no where near centered in the shower. So if he did some filling here and there with mud or thinset to even out the floor pitch or edge elevations, that could have be part of the problem. But that's supposition on my part. About the only other thing I could question is that often times with small tiles, when the sheets are set into the thinset, thinset can ooze up between the hex tiles and partially fill the grout lines. That thinset needs to be cleaned out so the grout lines can be completely filled with grout. If it's not, you can get uneven thicknesses of grout, think of it as a veneer of grout over a blob of thinset. That can result in uneven water absorption, the grout cracking, etc. All that aside...with this being your second go-around, he should have install the sloped Kerdi Tray and thinsetted it to the subfloor. Then he should have set the Kerdi drain. Then he should have thinsetted Kerdi Membrane (an orange colored sheet material) over the Kerdi Tray, then tiled on the Kerdi Membrane. I'd be interested in how he tied the Kerdi Membrane in with the wall membrane IF he used Kerdi Membrane over the Kerdi Tray. Best. Mongo

the Emser website says it has a water absorbtion rate of 3.75%!!! The picture on their website shows the tile installed in a bathroom with a shower tho and, when we picked it, I figured if Emser's website showed it being used in a shower, it must be okay to use that way. So, maybe the website is supposed to say 0.375%? It's GOT to be a typo. I've yet to ever run across a porcelain with that high an absorbsion rate. Even the .375% would be extremely high for porcelain. Most of them are closer to .02- .03%. Next, could some of you kindly tell me - in baby-talk terms please - just what I need to specify with respect to getting my showers built correctly so that they don't leak? And then, what should I watch out for to make sure that whoever I hire is doing the job the way it is supposed to be done. I don't have the time, energy, or money for another law suit if my showers start leaking and my tile guy won't or can't fix them! THere's a link below with the most detailed instructions I've yet to see on the subject. I had hoped to use the 16" tiles on the floor (except for inside the shower where I figured we would use a smaller mosaic). I am willing to use the 12" tiles instead tho if they will be less prone to cracking. 16" should be fine. Okay. As far as the Kerdi system is concerned, that certainly is a consideration, and yes, it CAN be used for off shaped showers. You just need to build the pan out of mud, rather than using the styrofoam base piece. (I've built more Kerdi showers than I can count at thi point, and I've yet to use those foam bases even once yet.) As for cost, it might be a bit higher, being that the waterproofing has to continue up the walls with the Kerdi, and the drain by itself is about 100.00 or more, but it doesn't necessarily have to be Kerdi to be a good shower pan. Here is a link that might be useful: Harry Dunbar's shower pan install instructions

Go to the following link and check out the 8th product down. Megabond's not a bad product, but it's not the thinset I suggested, and it's not quite as good. Here is a link that might be useful: Laticrete thinsets