Where do we go from here in this shower?
nwegemer
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
Helping a friend finish his cabin and I may have screwed the pooch, as they say. Where it’s at: sloped pan on an old slab, 40 mil liner, dry-packed floor to a grate drain. . 3/4″ AC screwed on six inch center, edges and field. Grace Ice and Water bituthene over that. Was planning Duroc over that, but I understand now that he wants to apply a waterproof shower paint to expedite the occupancy permit. Can one apply an epoxy paint over Duroc Nex-Gen? Red guard with seam tape troweled smooth, then paint? Or can one sack these walls smooth, then red guard, then paint?
Replies
recommend your re-think your waterproofing approach
It you want things expedited, do yourself and your friend a favor: install Shluter's Kerdi membrane over a Schluter pre-formed shower pan kit. Forget the Grace, epoxy, duroc, red guard and all that stuff; don't need it for a shower. You can get that shower tiled with Kerdi in a day or two. And, if you install it correctly (easy to do) it's surface waterproofing that's guareented not to leak.
Next time deadnuts, next time. Today I hung the durock. Any thoughts on prep for epoxy paint?
Pooch screwing must feel good.
Maybe I wasn't clear. Original intention was Venetian plaster or milestone in the shower. Time and money dictate a change to a waterproof paint. Grate drain elevation prevents changing to tile at this point, along with his competency to successfully set tile on 100 sq ft of surface. He can play the bejeebers out of a cello, but needs a simple solution to change from plaster to another thin dimension finish. So, before he made this choice, I had set the mortar bed to allow a 1/8" drop from floor to grate drain. Not going to use tile on floor now and see a 3/8" or greater bump there, and poxy paint seems to be tthe solution. I simply need product/application advice on prepping a mortar bed floor and durock on walls to create a smooth surface for paint. Going to call a tile shop today, Merkrete seems to have a good reputation and has bonding primers and a variety of thinset mixes that may work. Can't believe I'm the first knucklehead that has been faced with a change like this. Since this is my first shower, not going to feel too bad about making it harder then it really needed to be... Who here has a painless learning curve when the life is so short and the craft so long to learn?
i'll screw this pooch one time only, and respect the tile guys and gals more now.
The best I can offer...
...a quick question:
On the floor, you already have a 40-mil liner, so I presume you have a 2-part clamping drain in there? Why can't the threaded part of the drain that holds the grate be raised or unthreaded a couple of turns to accomodate the thicker tiled floor covering? If you embedded the grate in mud and that's why it can't be unthreaded or raised for tile, then simply chip out the mud around the grate so it can be unthreaded. Raise it. Then repack with new mud. Then tile the floor if you want to tile. Chipping out and replacing/repacking mud is quite simple.
I can post more later, as there are other considerations as you're proposing two membranes on the walls and floor. Sandwiching construction materials between two membranes can be a bad move in a shower. But I'll stop here for now.
Mongo,
Thanks for the questions. I believe that during my rush (when will I learn?) I set the clamping drain to shallow. It's unthreaded to the top of its travel limit. The grate is not set in mortar yet as I thought I would run the waterproofing (redguard) and/or bonding primer and thinset over the edge and down into the cavity where the grate will eventually sit. After treating the floor, I planned on wet-setting the grate in non-shrink grout and then caulk the seams with 5200. The drain stem on the grate is long enough to allow raising the drain itself to accomadate tile. I will propose tile to him as an option, I have always thought that was a possibility even at this point, but I have concerns, once again, at his ability to dedicate the time necessary to achieve good results with tile. Guy is in no way stupid, has a phd is music, but is strapped for time and patience with building processes. Would very much like to give him the waterproof paint option.
Yes, there is a 40 mil liner set on a sloped bed, clamping ring on a two part sub-drain.
Yes, there is WR Grace bituthene over 3/4 CDX, with 1/2 Durock NextGen over that. I was aware, before I charged into this project like a bull in a china shop, that I didn't want to trap moisture between two waterproof membranes against a decomposable product. I thought Durock would take care of this scenario. Your last thought lends me to think that I may be in error about putting waterproof paint over primer over thinset over bonding primer over Durock over bituthene over ply over studs.
Damn. Thats a lot over what was probably necessary.... but then there was never a plan for the shower area... just a wait and see on his part to accomadate time and budget when it became decision time. So, I decided to allow him the most stable environment (3/4 ply) to apply whatever material he chose when it became necessary.
Feeling very committed at this point to paint. Would love him to have the three or four k necessary to get a wall finishes pro in there to plaster but it's not going to happen, nor is tile on the walls. Tile on floor, maybe. I'm sure I can extend the drain pipe on the drain itself if you feel tile on the floor is way superior to trying to get a thinset to bond to the mortar bed sufficiently to paint over.
Thanks Mongo. Good to see you have stuck around for all these years. Is Jim Blodgett, Luka, Art H, AJ... any of those guys still around? Oh, the cat fights and humor that rolled around back in 2000.....