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| Proper Shower Pan installation | Inferior Shower Pan Construction |
SHOWER PAN INSTALLATION: Shower pans are made from vinyl, rubber or other type of material. Older homes in Utah have a tar paper (hot mop) type material that brakes down as water enters cracked grout joints where the wall meets the floor, causing the the concrete below the tile to become saturated with water. The wet concrete becomes over saturated forcing water to leak out. The proper method of laying a shower pan is start with a structurally sound wood floor or concrete if in a basement. A layer of roofing felt is applied to the floor. Then a mixture of 5 parts sand and 1 part portland cement is sloped towards the drain. The pan is then smoothed out over the sloped concrete, the sides of the pan are wrapped up the walls about 10 inches and wrapped over the door step ledge. The corners are folded and sealed watertight and checked for leakage. Next, a mortar bed (concrete with wire mesh) is then laid over the pan, sloping toward the drain which is surrounded by crushed stone. |
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| Proper Shower Pan installation | Inferior Shower Pan Construction |
| Here is a new generation shower pan building technique. If you are building a new shower, this is the system to use. Click Here about the Schlüter®-KERDI-DRAIN |
The purpose of the crushed stone is to allow any water that enters to flow toward the drains weep holes. Floor tile is then installed over the concrete. This all done BEFORE the walls are installed. The walls should always be installed over the floor. This way a flexible sealant can be used where the tile wall overlaps the floor, creating a proper expansion joint. Flexible sealant should be applied instead of grout where ever walls join at a right angle. This paragraph is my opinion and is not what is stated in Tile Council Of America handbook on how to properly lay tile. 99% of all the showers built in Utah are built in an inferior manner. Shower walls are built first. Next, the shower pan is laid directly over the wood substrate or (concrete if in a basement). Instead of 2 layers of sloped concrete sandwiching the shower pan, one layer of concrete is poured directly over pan. The surface of the concrete is then sloped towards the drain clogging the drains weep holes. The actual pan material is laid flat without an incline. When expansion in the joints occur, the grout cracks, water then flows through the cracked floor grout into the concrete, similar to a sponge absorbing water. Eventually water builds up in the concrete and finds a way out. Sometimes the pan separates around the drain area, or leaks through the poorly wrapped pan seams located at the corners. It's quite common for a stress crack to form in the concrete splitting the surface tile, usually forming from the drain too one side . |
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Leakyshower.com (801) 897-1929 leakyshower1@yahoo.com Salt Lake City, Utah |
