Question for Bill or other expert about Redguard waterproofing
lenitsa
17 years ago
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Underlying the tile question for tile experts Bill and Mongo
Comments (15)"Mongoct-- (sorry OP) If not using Kerdi shower pan, but just a mudbed/liner, can you use a topical membrane for a shower floor? I've posted previously, but it didn't catch your attention. I'm trying to understand this more as well... " Sorry if I missed your previous post. I seem to be hit and miss on the forums these days. I'm a little confused by the "mudbed/liner" comment and the desire to use it in conjunction with a topical membrane. So let me ramble a bit: I consider "liners" to be the CPE or CPVC thick shower membrane liners, the ones where you use a deck mud preslope, then install the liner over that with a clamping drain, then top the liner with another layer of deck mud, and you tile upon that. If that's what you're asking about, no I wouldn't use a topical membrane on top of all that. Here's what I consider to be a liner installation. Now back-tracking a bit: There are folk that use a topical membrane with a clamping drain, but they have to "dish out" the sloped mud bed as it gets close to the drain. It's sometimes referred to as the "divot method". That way the topical membrane will drain to the drain's weep holes. If you don't use a divot, then the raised part of the clamping drain can sort of act like a dam, causing water under the tile to pool around the drain. The area around the drain might appear perpetually wet. The divot method is not a technique I embrace. Nothing really wrong with it, it's just not my cup of tea. Here is a photo showing the "divot" carved out of the mud base: Virtually every shower I do is a one-off size or shape, so I'm almost always doing a sloped deck mud base. As to which topical membrane to use, when using Kerdi, I'll do a sloped mud pan and then cover that with Kerdi. If using Hydroban, then I'll still use a Kerdi drain in the sloped mud floor but then use Hydroban on the floor and walls. So if you want to use a topical membrane, then no , do not also use a liner within the floor. One membrane is all you want. Does that help?...See Morequestions for Bill V and other experts
Comments (1)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...See MoreShout out to Bill V. and other tile experts
Comments (15)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....See MoreCalling Bill Vincent (& other tile experts) for sealing advice!
Comments (5)Botticino is great stone-its quite dense. Therefore even honed it won't take in much sealer. Not sure what you mean by unhoned-polished? The carrara is another story as it can be very porous. White marbles can also have ferrous minerals in their composition. Placed in wet environments they can oxidize or rust. Sometimes white marbles will exhibit yellow,brown or orange stains. White Carrara when it gets wet looks very grey. It is one of the marbles I think should be sealed in a shower stall. I am not a fan of sealing all marbles in a shower stall because I think in some cases water getting below the stone will take longer to evaporate because of the sealer. To answer your questions . How often to seal -it isn't the sealer that will protect your stone as you have been lead to believe . It is the installation along with the proper specification of material. Natural stone requires in most cases impregnating sealers however some slates and other products can be top coated . Topcoats are acrylics and waxes which will need to be maintained and will fail often in shower stalls. The performance of an impregnating sealer is to temporarily inhibit the intrusion of a staining agent. When you think about that -how many things in the shower can stain the stone. The culprit is usually water and not from above the stone but from below it. This is why caulking all the change of plane joints is so important. Along with the proper slope to the drain and the proper construction of the shower pan. Even then there can be some issues. Polished marbles in shower stalls will over time become uniformly honed by steam. Something that isn't talked about often. I hope this helps....See Morebill_vincent
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