Ceramic Tile Shower Walls
|Ceramic Tile Shower Walls – When many people enter their tile shower they rarely consider the behind the scenes procedure that went into making that shower be effective. Unfortunately some contractors make use of this with their advantage to scrimp and save a couple of bucks. I have to say most contractors making the effort to do a sufficient job, although some people might of these never learned the proper procedure and why these processes are important. The best way to find the best tile contractor is usually to make them explain the idea. If they could inform you how it operates behind the scenes, higher you will get a great job. If your pals refer somebody for you it is OK to inquire about these questions, in fact what do your pals fully realize in regards to the foundation of a tiled shower? They may have found a contractor who is nice and easy to use along with their fresh shower looks great, in case you won’t want to fight mildew in 6 months but for the next twenty years you’ll ask a couple of of questions.
So let’s begin in the beginning and explain common language and theory of the tile shower. First you have what is known as a shower pan. This is a completely waterproof section that covers the shower floor or more the walls about 10″. This is sometimes a hot mop, (the number of layers of tar paper, hot tar, tar paper, hot tar and the like) or it can be a PVC membrane which is folded in to the corners well as over the dam. The most important much of this for you personally the homeowner to know is of course it is absolutely waterproof but also it has what is known as a sub-pitch. A proper sub-pitch is simply float of cement or similar product underneath the pan that induce a flow for the drain along with the shower pan. This is important because, say as an example your shower pan is flat (no sub-pitch) water will travel through your grout making its way for the pan while showering. If this water forms a puddle under your tile floor as an alternative to flowing towards drain it is stagnant and shortly will end up mildew in your grout. With a sub-pitch the lake that makes its way for the pan continue to circulate towards drain always being replaced with fresh water. It is much like the difference between a pond along with a creek.
Next you have a vapor barrier which is applied for the walls directly for the wood studs. This is normally a paper that features a tar trapped in the center. This paper keeps moisture out from the walls. Why is this important? Not a lot of water penetrates the shower walls, but the substrate (the substrate is whatever surface your tile is stuck to, backer board, cement float, etc.) this surface is certain to get moist. Moisture will move from substrate toward the within wall, out with the grout and down towards pan, without vapor barrier paper you will get small amounts of water in your wall cavity. So you say “why should I be worried about a real small amount of water”. The reason is when you’re getting a drop of water inside your wall every time your shower can be used, those drops add up when your wall doesn’t have any ventilation for evaporation, so eventually the wood is definitely moist. Do you know what loves moist wood? Termites, they love these conditions because they never have to travel back for the ground to obtain a drink, they could just keep eating. It would be just like you and I never having to go for the grocery store. Think of how productive we’re able to be if it were the case.
Well that’s the idea of waterproofing behind your shower walls. When you follow these guidelines your new shower contains the best chance of looking great for several years, without extreme maintenance.
So a final thought, I hope it has been an informative along with understandable explanation of why a nicely waterproofed shower makes a difference. As a Contractor I welcome customers that will ask me these questions, it tells me they see the value of the job congratulations.