# Shower tapering????



## ididit (Jan 31, 2008)

there are too many oppinions on this subject and some are bad. was a big debat on it on the contractortalk site last week. I dont know how to give the link so do a search on shower basin and youll find it. Or go to H.D. and buy a book on the subject is what i did the first time i done a built in shower and everything worked out great.


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## AtlanticWBConst. (May 12, 2006)

Read up: http://web.archive.org/web/20011211.../archive/kitchen/mortarbed_showers/index.html


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## troubleseeker (Sep 25, 2006)

Read up on Atlantic's link to Michale Byrne's article. He is well respected and published in the trade circles. Pay particular attention to his use of a tapered mud bed BENEATH the waterproof membrane. It has become all to common, and unfortunately, accepted to skip this and just lay the membrane flat on the slab or sub floor. This obviously provides no positive drainage for moisture to the weep holes in the tile drain, eventually leading to moisture buildup under the tile setting bed and long term failure.


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

Take it easy take it easy! 
The first question is: What is the floor drain arrangement now? Is the drain already a floor drain in place and working and you are simply building around it?


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## Demochick (Jan 19, 2008)

Well, We added a drain for the shower, so we dug up our concrete tapped into the pipe and checked our "fall" then we filled that back in with cement. Now we are back to a slab, we studded our shower in and we just need to level it out becuase the original floor was off about an inch from one end to the other end..basically tapperd..which makes our shower floor off also,,so what we did is in the shower made it level with regular cement which there really is only cement added on the one side...so now we were level side to side...then thats where i was when i asked the question....I red up on the information below...great help...what we did is used the unnderlayment cement found at our local lowes,,,said thats what it was for on the back....to form our underlayment...we tapperd it in twoard the drain...using our trowel...we used string to make sure we were level end to end and it also showed our taper to the drain well..now i guess we must lay the rubber membrane, then the thinset to lay our tile.. correct..? We are supposed to take the membrane up the wall approx 3 inches and over our step into the shower..will it hurt to go a bit farther with it...just to be safe or will it not really do anything?

thanks so much...for any advise...i will post pics if i can figure out how too...


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

HOLD ON, HOLD ON!!

What is the relationship of the top of the floor drain to the top of the current cement? What type of floor drain did you use? Can you post a picture?


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## Demochick (Jan 19, 2008)

This is after we sloped it..now it is is flush with the cement..but it has a gasket (i guess you would call it) that bolts and seals on then over the membrane then the actual drain screws in and is adjustable to meet the tile.


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## Demochick (Jan 19, 2008)




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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

Alrighty, now we're getting somewhere.

You don't need much. That drain isn't the correct drain for a shower pan liner so that's out. But not a problem.

I would first install a vapor barrier to the studs. Use 4mil or 6mil poly. Then install the wallboards using cement board.

Add one more 2X4 to the curb. The curb needs to be 1-1/2" higher.

Some of that lumber looks like treated lumber which should never be used in a tile installation unless it is KDT (kiln dried treated). Oh well - moving right along.

After the wallboard is installed also cover the curb with wallboard. Tape and bed all the joints for the bottom 9 inches up the wall.

Now, coat everything with RedGard waterproofing. Floor, walls (9" up), everything. Apply several coats and be sure not to leave any pinholes where you used the thinset in the junctures. Slop that RedGard into all of the junctures abundantly. Paint it right up to the floor drain.

Paint the curb in, top, and outside and all the junctures of the curb.

You are basically ready for shower floor tile. Once the shower floor tile is in grout it except against the walls where you will caulk that juncture, be neat. The wall tile has to cover the grout juncture at the floor.

Then tile the walls. Grout the tile, seal the grout, your outta there.

This method is slightly unorthodox but it will work fine for this purposesince you aren't off to arule start to begin with.. No more cement, no vinyl pan liner, no more problems.


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## Demochick (Jan 19, 2008)

ok Why is the drain wrong, Lowes people suck,, what drain should i have..? what drain do i have? is redguard replacing the rubber membrane? should i use the red guard for the entire shower since im tileing that to? I do have 2- 2x4s for the curb..you think i should use more..till i get everything else on there ill trip gettin in.. umm..o the pressure treated..we only used that on the floor and i dunno know why but the frame of the shower..is this bad? Why? Vapor barrier..would black felt paper be this? o and thanks for the knowledge...


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

My mistake on the drain. You were posting the drain pictures as I was typing my response I guess. That is the correct drain for a clamping shower pan. You then said the top of the drain was flush with the concrete and I assumed the drain components were totally buried.

So....again, when the drain is fully assembled how exactly does the top of the drain relate to the top of the concrete?


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## Demochick (Jan 19, 2008)

Well as you can see in pic #1 of the drain they twist and bolt togehter like a toilet one does, we were told to run the rubber membrane under the top peice and bolt them togeather...then as you can see in pic #2 the actual pretty part of the drain screws into the peice that is in the cement..that is adustable so it can be where ever we put it apparently..but it will screw the entire way down for us and we are going to use the pvc glue to glue it, the tile thickness and thinset will be level with it at this point. does this make sence?


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