Regrouting Shower Walls

Regrouting Shower Tiles In Bathroom Walk In Shower Base with size 1200 X 1062

Regrouting Shower Walls – When most people enter their tile shower they rarely take into account the behind the scenes process that went into making that shower work effectively. Unfortunately some contractors uses this with their benifit of go cheap and save a couple of bucks. I have to say most contractors want to do a good job, even though some of them never learned the best procedure and why these processes are very important. The best strategy to find a very good tile contractor is to you can keep them explain the theory. If they could let you know how it works behind the scenes, it is more probably you’re going to get a great job. If your mates refer somebody for you will still be OK to question these questions, in fact so what can your mates really know regarding the first step toward a tiled shower? They may are finding a contractor who’s nice and simple to assist and their brand new shower looks great, in case you don’t want to fight mildew in 6 months as well as the next 2 decades you will ask a couple of of questions.

So let’s start at the beginning and explain common language and theory of an tile shower. First you have what is called a shower pan. This is a completely waterproof section that covers the shower floor or higher the walls about 10″. This is either a hot mop, (the industry number of layers of tar paper, hot tar, tar paper, hot tar and so forth) or it’s rather a PVC membrane which is folded to the corners and also over the dam. The most important thing about this for you personally the homeowner to understand is needless to say it’s totally waterproof and also it has what is called a sub-pitch. A proper sub-pitch is simply float of cement or similar product underneath the pan that creates a flow on the drain along with the shower pan. This is important because, say as an illustration your shower pan is flat (no sub-pitch) water will travel through your grout to make its way on the pan while showering. If this water forms a puddle beneath your tile floor as an alternative to flowing on the drain it will become stagnant and very quickly will end up mildew with your grout. With a sub-pitch the lake that produces its way on the pan will continue to circulate on the drain always being substituted with water. It is much like the difference between a pond plus a creek.

Next you’ve got a vapor barrier which is applied on the walls directly on the wood studs. This is commonly a paper that has a tar kept in the center. This paper keeps moisture out from the walls. Why is this important? Not a lot of water penetrates the shower walls, though the substrate (the substrate is whatever surface your tile is stuck to, backer board, cement float, etc.) this surface are certain to get moist. Moisture will move from substrate toward the interior wall, out through the grout and down on the pan, without vapor barrier paper you’re going to get small amounts of water in your wall cavity. So you say “why should I be worried about this type of little bit of water”. The reason is when you are getting a drop of water as part of your wall whenever your shower is used, those drops mount up as your wall doesn’t have any ventilation for evaporation, so eventually the wood is obviously moist. Do you know what loves moist wood? Termites, they love these conditions simply because they never have to travel back on the ground to acquire a drink, they could just keep eating. It would be just like you and I never having to go on the food store. Think of how productive we’re able to be in the event that were the situation.

Well that’s the theory of waterproofing behind your shower walls. When you follow these guidelines a new shower has the best chance of feeling better for quite some time, without extreme maintenance.

So to summarize, I hope it has been an interesting as well as understandable explanation of why a correctly waterproofed shower makes a difference. As a Contractor I welcome customers who will ask me these questions, it tells me they comprehend the value of an job done well.