Quite frankly, being that you've got the cast iron base, all you really need is 6 mil poly behind the cement board. It DOES NOT have to be waterproof to be up to code. It needs to shed water, which the tile will, especially with the epoxy grout, and you do need to have SOME kind of moisture barrier, which the poly is. That said, I won't do a shower, even with a prefab base, where I don't waterproof the walls. A little better quality for the customer, and a better night's sleep for me.

Thanks so much for your response! There was no poly applied behind the cement board. What does that mean for my situation? Does the lack of poly behind the cement board mean that the tile should be ripped out and the shower rebuilt?

Let me put it this way-- Technically speaking, yes. But being that you've got epoxy grout (and no I'm not supposed to look at it this way-- not supposed to count on the epoxy for any kind of watertight integrity), you should be okay. Problem is if you ever get any kind of opening in the grout, water can get behind the tile, and into the wall cavity, and cause problems with respect to swelling the lumber in the wall, and possibly causing mold issues.

Let me ask you-- did he caulk the corners?

He grouted the corners. Then the new guy they brought in worked at removing the grout and caulking but I am not confident that he was 100 % successful. He was very frustrated with the permanence of the epoxy.

Another issue with the tile work is that the original installer had never worked with epoxy grout and he did not get the grout completely off of the tiles. The contractor has ordered some special solution to try to get the grout and grout haze off of the tiles.

We have not made our final payment and I am concerned that we should withhold whatever it will take to retile these bathrooms. I need a professional opinion on what is reasonable.

not a tile person but someone who is needing a master bath remodel soon--
get them to take it out and do it the right way--
you are paying for someone who KNOWS what he is doing--not someone who is learning this craft and apparently doesn't care to learn to do it correctly...
where will these guys be when there is issue with water intrusion in the future--it probably won't come the first year but I bet it will come...
Will that guy be willing to give you a guarantee that it won't and back it with money?

OP, hope you don't mind...HI BILL! All must be right with the world again. Bill V is back :)

At this point, I'm with loves2read. If you haven't paid them yet, you have the right to have it done again, and done properly to spec. If there's no vapor barrier behind the cement board or no waterproofing OVER the cement board, you have every right to first, give THEM the chance to do it right, or withhold payment until you can get it done properly, and pay the new crew.

Now on another note, Hey Monika!! *hugs*

By the way-- Here in houzz, I go by my company name-- Creative Ceramic & Marble, and I guess now that GW is part of it, it goes to my profile here.

Bill Vincent

Thank you Bill for your input!! Wish you were closer to Bar Harbor!

Yeah, might be a bit of a drive, but it wouldn't be the first time. :-) Just finished a project in Calais a month ago, and I've got a brother in law in Brooklin (By Blue Hill and Sedgewick) wants me to come up and do some work in a house he's building right now :-)

Bill, if you want to change your shown name, you can in your profile... I will have a difficult time keeping track of your posts, just because I knew your name, but there are a lot of ceramic and marble types on houzz.

Just did. :-) Thanks for the suggestion.

Bill_vincent, I have a question regarding the picture you posted. I'm getting ready to have a contractor redo my master bath and shower. He mentioned onyx base or tile base but said he'll have to buy the kit for the tile which is what I decided. From your picture, it doesn't look like you bought a shower pan kit, rather just used the same stuff that goes on the wall. Am I seeing this correct? Or am I missing something. I think he said the kit is about $500 plus the tile and work. He's done lots of work in my house and I never had any issues so I usually just go with what he says, but your pic has me scratching my head wondering why he doesn't just do something similar. ... On man I'm already editing my post. Did I just have a blonde moment I'm wondering... Looking at your pic maybe you did use some type of shower base kit lol I don't know...

Birch, your bathroom is beautiful so I hope everything gets worked out and you are satisfied. Reading stuff like this makes me worried about my remodel coming up.

mrsshayne-- you're partially correct. Let me show you another pic of that shower BEFORE waterproofing. What I've done is use a drain very similar to the one in the "kit" your contractor referred to. But rather than use the foam pan that comes in the kit, I prefer to use a mortar to form the pan, and then I use Laticrete's Hydroban, which is a liquid waterproofing, to coat over the entire surface. I like the Hydroban over the sheet membrane that comes in the kit (called Kerdi), because there are no seams involved, which means less chance for failure. This is actually one I'm working on right now. Well, waiting for the tile to come in, and WILL be working on it over the weekend. :-)

Bill, thanks so much for the explanation and additional picture. Just curious, what size is this shower you're working on? It looks very close to my space which is about 48 x 36. My contractor asked me if I wanted to make the shower bigger because I have room but I'm already over budget. I'm waiting on the tile to come in too :) I can't wait to get rid of the carpet (yes, carpet) that's in my bathroom now... I got the 90s bathroom going on now.

The floor space of the shower is 42x48, with a 14" bench on the end. As for the carpet, been there, seen that. :-) I don't know how anyone could use carpet in a bathroom. TO me, that's just gross.

AHHHH carpet right there by the toilet yuuuuk. *thread hijack*

Creative Ceramic & Marble/ Bill Vincent - gorgeous!

Creative Ceramic & Marble/ Bill Vincent - Hi! I emailed you a question too =)

I think I missed it!!