For the shower above it would be nice to see proper outside dam corners installed. You can see the shower is going to have steam as well. So right off the start we know that blocking is missing for the cement board and the shower liner should have been extended higher up the right hand wall. This shower has a lot going for it. It is nice and large. It passed a flood test. And the weep holes have been protected from blockage. But is this the best way of achieving that? I'm not sure but certainly think it is better than doing nothing.

This install (shown above with the Candle Wick) are not seen much anymore. I would guess only 1 shower in a 100 built with the LynCar waterproofing membrane sees Candle Wick. What are the plumbers doing in the rest of North America? Are you guys seeing Hemp Cord or just some lame attempts from the tile setters to use pea gravel or tile spacers.

I have been using up the last of my Ditra Drain (which I bought for an exterior deck job and never used) and Noble Company's positive weep hole protector in replacement for Candle Wick. the Ditra Drain is the orangey whitey stuff shown in the photo and the weep hole protector is the clear plastic thing. The drain is an ACO and this is a custom shower renovation here in Vancouver. I have the entire perimeter set with Ditra Drain and up the wall. Anywhere water gets into a crack it has a roadway that travels to the weep holes of the primary shower drain. Of course the ACO stainless steel channel drain is not the primary one in this shower, but it is the Watts drain below it.

I wonder what system works better? There was an email sent out almost two years ago from the NTCA that someone in California did a study and they claimed in their tests all the test boxes stopped draining because the weep holes got plugged. That was it. A scary email and then no follow up. I have been bugging Bart at the NTCA ever since and after maybe three follow ups we know nothing more than we did almost two years ago.

So if the showers we are building and the techniques that are accepted are not working. Is it a time for a change?