Bathroom Tile For Shower Walls
|Bathroom Tile For Shower Walls – When most of the people enter their tile shower they rarely look at the behind the scenes process that went into making that shower work correctly. Unfortunately some contractors use this with their advantage to cut corners and save a couple bucks. I have to say most contractors making the effort to do a passable job, and some ones never learned the proper procedure and why these processes are important. The best way to find a very good tile contractor is always to keep these things explain the theory. If they’re able to tell you the way it operates behind the scenes, it is more probably you’re going to get a great job. If your mates refer somebody for you it is OK must these questions, in fact so what can your mates fully realize regarding the foundation of a tiled shower? They may have found a contractor that is nice and simple to work with along with their brand new shower looks great, in case ensure fight mildew in a few months but for the next twenty years you are going to ask a couple of questions.
So let’s start at the start and explain common language and theory of a tile shower. First you have what is called a shower pan. This is a completely waterproof section that covers the shower floor or more the walls about 10″. This is whether hot mop, (which is a amount of layers of tar paper, hot tar, tar paper, hot tar etc) or it’s rather a PVC membrane that’s folded into the corners as well as over the dam. The most important part of this for you the homeowner to understand is obviously it’s completely waterproof but in addition it has what is called a sub-pitch. A proper sub-pitch is just a float of cement or similar product within the pan that produces a flow for the drain on top of the shower pan. This is important because, say for example your shower pan is flat (no sub-pitch) water will travel through your grout and earn its way for the pan while showering. If this water forms a puddle through your tile floor as an alternative to flowing towards drain it becomes stagnant and shortly can become mildew inside your grout. With a sub-pitch the river which makes its way for the pan continues circulation towards drain always being substituted with fresh water. It is just like the difference between a pond and a creek.
Next you do have a vapor barrier that’s applied for the walls directly for the wood studs. This is normally a paper that has a tar trapped in the center. This paper keeps moisture out of 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 will get moist. Moisture will move from substrate toward the lining wall, out over the grout and down towards 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 a real little water”. The reason is when you’re getting a drop of water as part of your wall whenever your shower can be used, those drops mount up when your wall doesn’t have any ventilation for evaporation, so eventually the wood is usually moist. Do you know what loves moist wood? Termites, they love these conditions simply because they never have to travel back for the ground to acquire a drink, they’re able to just keep eating. It would be as you and I never having to go for the grocery store. Think of how productive we’re able to be if it were the situation.
Well that’s the theory of waterproofing behind your shower walls. When you stick to these tips your new shower has got the best chance of being confident for countless years, without extreme maintenance.
So in closing, I hope it has been an enlightening as well as understandable explanation of why an adequately waterproofed shower makes a difference. As a Contractor I welcome customers that will ask me these questions, it tells me they comprehend the value of a job well done.