Daily Home Renovation Tips

In Part 15 we introduced you to the different parts of the Schluter shower system that Bennett was going to use on our corrected shower floor as part of repairing the water leak issue from last year’s home renovation / makeover project.

Now, the manufacturer instructions state to first install the Kerdi-Drane on top of loose thin-set mortar, then embed the Kerdi water-proofing membrane (the big orange sheet) in the mortar on the shower floor, being sure to remove any air pockets. So this is what Bennett did.

Bennett first placed the Kerdi-Drain on top of some thin-set into the drain hole in the floor, then applied a layer of thin-set mortar on top of the hardened concrete floor, paying attention to have the slope continue to go slightly downhill from the four corners and the 4 edges of the floor towards the drain hole.

This was then followed by placing the pre-cut piece of the Kerdi waterproofing orange membrane on top of the thin-set mortar using a trowel to remove any air pockets.

This took hardly any time at all.

The next day, Bennett returned. Now that the thin-set had sufficiently dried, he cut from the excess water proofing membrane long pieces, two the length of the long side of the shower floor and two the length of the short side.

This was followed by him placing some thin-set mortar at each of the 4 corners of the walls surrounding the shower floor. Upon the wet thin-set, he applied one of the specially pre-formed Kerdi-Kereck corners. Placing the pre-formed corners on top of the water proofing membrane ensures that should any water get to the pre-formed corners it will roll onto, rather than underneath, the water membrane

Next he placed some thin-set along the base of each of the 4 walls surrounding the shower floor, followed by the appropriate strip of the water proofing membrane. Yes, the vertical membrane was appropriately flattened.

Again, this sequence is to ensure that should any water leak onto the water proofing membrane on the wall, it would roll down onto, rather than underneath, the water proofing membrane on the floor. 

Now what? Well, return next time (as this article is already sufficiently long)  when we will continue with the installation o the new floor for our shower stall.

To continue with the next article in this series, simply select this link to Part 17.