Glue Up Shower Walls
|Glue Up Shower Walls – When a lot of people enter their tile shower they rarely look at the behind the scenes method that went into making that shower work effectively. Unfortunately some contractors make use of this to their benifit of cut corners and save one or two bucks. I have to say most contractors want to do an adequate job, and some ones never learned the best procedure and why these processes are essential. The best method to look for a tile contractor is to keep these things explain the idea. If they can inform you the way it operates behind the scenes, it is more likely you’ll get a good job. If your friends refer somebody for you it’s still OK to question these questions, all things considered what do your friends truly know concerning the first step toward a tiled shower? They may have discovered a contractor that is nice and simple to use as well as their fresh shower looks great, but if you won’t want to fight mildew in a few months and for the next twenty years you’ll ask one or two of questions.
So let’s begin in the beginning and explain common language and theory of your tile shower. First you have what is known as 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 amount of layers of tar paper, hot tar, tar paper, hot tar and the like) or it’s really a PVC membrane that is certainly folded into the corners well as over the dam. The most important much of this in your case the homeowner to find out is obviously it’s totally waterproof but additionally who’s has what is known as a sub-pitch. A proper sub-pitch is simply float of cement or similar product beneath the pan that can cause a flow towards the drain together with the shower pan. This is important because, say as an example your shower pan is flat (no sub-pitch) water will cross your grout to make its way towards the pan while showering. If this water forms a puddle below your tile floor rather than flowing towards drain it will become stagnant and soon will end up mildew in your grout. With a sub-pitch the river that produces its way towards the pan continue to circulate towards drain always being substituted for fresh water. It is similar to the difference between a pond plus a creek.
Next you have a vapor barrier that is certainly applied towards the walls directly towards the wood studs. This is ordinarily a paper which has a tar trapped in the guts. This paper keeps moisture out from the walls. Why is this important? Not a lot of water penetrates the shower walls, however 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 through the grout and down towards pan, without vapor barrier paper you’ll get small amounts of water into your wall cavity. So you say “why should I worry about a real tiny amount of water”. The reason is when you’re getting a drop of water with your wall each time your shower is used, those drops accumulate because your wall has no 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 towards the ground to secure a drink, they can just keep eating. It would be just like you and I never having to go towards the grocery store. Think of how productive we might be if it were the case.
Well that’s the idea of waterproofing behind your shower walls. When you stick to the following tips your brand-new shower gets the best probability of being confident for quite some time, without extreme maintenance.
So in conclusion, I hope it is been an interesting as well as understandable explanation of why a properly waterproofed shower makes a difference. As a Contractor I welcome customers who’ll ask me these questions, it tells me they understand the value of your job well done.