Custom shower build question

[Richard]

Building a custom shower for those who may not remember. had several quotes and as it turns out, a guy who has worked with my wife for 10 years has done tile on the side (during those 10 years) and is now back doing this type thing, amongst other construction, for his living.

Scenario: Shower is in studs, need concrete floor poured for the slope to drain.

I was told by one person you put the rubber seal down "first" and attach it to the 2x12 "skirt" that I had along the base of the floorplate, all around the shower. The durock then goes ontop of the rubber skirt and tile goes on top of the durock. (forgetting about the poured concrete sloped floor right now)

Well, this guy says there are TWO ways of doing it, first is as above with the plastic / rubber liner going BEHIND the durock. He said it's better to put the durock up FIRST against the studs and put the liner on the face of the durock. he then has some kind of sealant that is going to be used on TOP of the durock (entire shower) and the tiles will later be affixed to the sealant.

My question is, (since I know NOTHING about this and am relying on others), should the liner in fact be in front of, or behind the durock...or in fact, does it "matter", as long as it's done "right" (however "right" might be defined)??

He only has the 2 floor pieces of durock up NOW, so it'd be really easy to change out if in fact, that's the wrong way of doing it.

??

Thanks for any thoughts

 

[riptides]

Ours was done with Durock first, then rubber, then sealers, then tile, then grout.

-Mike Z.

 

[gotrocks]

I've been retired from ceramic tile business for several years.
A proper "pan" for a shower should hold water when the drain is plugged.
Ceramic tile installation is not water proof.

My prediction regarding the above photo is that the tile will be cracking in a few months since the wood 2x4 framing is not covered with "pan" material and moisture can get to the wood and it will expand and ..... well tile may not crack but the grout joints will be opening up.

Check out this info.
Tile Installation Methods - Handbook For Ceramic Tile Installation - Floors/Walls

 

[Richard]

Thanks for the comments, I just got back from some errands.

I'd talked to him about it when I got home. Now that I'm back, I'm finding out he's removed the bottom layer of durock, exposing the studs. He's now going to put the concrete "floor" (slope) down, THEN put the rubber layer with the "finish concrete" floor on top of the rubber. He'll then as best I know, lay the tile to the second layer of concrete. By doing it this way, the rubber will have a built in slope underneith it heading to the drain. It (rubber) will also be BEHIND the durock so if something were to get behind the tiles, it would presumably be caught by the rubber sheet.

I have a 12" "skirt" all the way around the bottom of the shower as a backer for the rubber layer. A year ago, a lady who owns the tile store stopped by as a courtesy on her way home. She's the one that gave me those pointers on how to build it to best suit the installer.

Interestingly, this shower is the most nerve wracking thing we've done since we built the house.

When the house was being built, we had the shell built, wired, plumbed and the drywall installed.

From that stage forward, we have done literally EVERYTHING except for hiring out some artist to paint some murals in the bathrooms (yes, I have cherubs on my ceilings )

Back to point, we hired her to do that and... well... that's it. We've done everythingggggggg from laying floors, putting up tile on kitchen wall behind counter splash, finish trim, paint, lights, doors, plumbing fixtures... I mean everything.

It's the fact that I'm NOT doing it, that's making me nervous, not that someone else IS, if that makes any sense!! ??

 

[Syncro]

[........He's now going to put the concrete "floor" (slope) down, THEN put the rubber layer with the "finish concrete" floor on top of the rubber. He'll then as best I know, lay the tile to the second layer of concrete....

Sounds lke this guy knows what hes doing, as this is correct. Be sure that the rubber membrane is clamped between the 2 piece shower drain, the weep holes should be above the membrane when the drain is re-bolted back together. Idealy a small amount of pea gravel should be placed above the weep holes close to the drain casting. If your installer knows enough to install a double pan then he most probably knows this.

 

[randy41]

cherubs?

 

[Richard]

Yep, cherubs... would you like to see some of them?

Here are 2 pics showing the ceiling from two different views. The third picture is looking in. This is our 1/2 bath, so it's pretty small. We did 100% of it, from laying the marble floor, converting the bombay dresser into a vanity (and kept 2 of the 3 drawers working). The crown molding has seven (yes SEVEN) pieces of wood per each wall. She hand painted & fired the lavatory, faucets and even the toilet tank lid. I'll bet I'm the ONLY person on TBN (or a lot of other places) who has had their toilet tank lid and lavatory & faucets inside their oven, baking the paint on . She also drew freehand, the design of the cultured marble top on the 'vanity' and had it custom made.

Bathroom is too small to show all of this on a couple pictures... if ya ever want to stop by and "contemplate", you're welcome to!

 

[Richard]

This is the other bathroom wall. no cherubs in here but a wall mural that is on 3 walls (tub/shower on 4th wall)

 

[Richard]

As a bit of free advertisement, the gal (artist) who painted the bathrooms is Gail Lee ( or was it Gayle?). She resides here in Knoxville and evidently does NOT advertise. She flys all over the country to do her work and when she's at a job site, not only is she charging them for the work, but they get to pay for her transportation AND pay for her lodging while there.

Seems she's quite in demand. My understanding is she has done MOST of her out of state work in Michigan but I don't really know that to be true.

She'll listen to any opportunities. Just so happened she was a friend of a girl my wife worked with so she slipped us in, about 2 weeks before our wedding (which was held here at the house). She did that as sort of a favor. Knocked both bathrooms out in 2 days total.

On the offchance anyone reads this and is intrigued enough to perhaps have something done for you (she does more than just bathrooms )

Send me a pm or email and I'll get you in touch with her.

 

[czechsonofagun]

]

It's the fact that I'm NOT doing it, that's making me nervous, not that someone else IS, if that makes any sense!! ??

Makes perfect sense to me. I would feel the same way.