Copperfield (Showers)                      (Home)    

John P. Bridge

Located in Northwest Houston, Copperfield is one of the area's outstanding communities.   Parks, promenades, pools, playgrounds, good schools, churches and affordable housing contribute to the neighborhood's desirability.  A truly great place to live.   Wish I lived there, but I don't.

I live just down the road off Barker-Cypress between Little York and FM 529.

I've done work in Copperfield almost since its inception. I am convinced that at the start, the various home-builders of Copperfield got together and held a little meeting. At that time they defined how certain aspects of home building would be universally handled. I am convinced of this because through the years I've found striking similarities among Copperfield homes no matter who the original builder was. I think this is called collusion, but, of course, I can't prove it.

One of the things agreed upon was how ceramic tile showers were to be constructed, and I'm sorry to report that the method chosen was not the best available. In fact, all the shower tile in Copperfield was installed over nothing more than sheetrock. No mortar (concrete) was used behind the tiles.

Sheetrock (also called wall board) is the material your walls are made of.  It consists of paper on the outside with compressed lightweight gypsum on the inside.   When it gets wet, it turns to mush.  And since shower tiles are not water-proof, it is almost inevitable that "sheetrock showers" will indeed turn to mush.  It's only a matter of time.

What this means is that if a shower in Copperfield (and nearby communities) hasn't been completely rebuilt already, it will have to be rebuilt in the near future.  And folks, I must inform you it's an expensive proposition. For a typical shower in Copperfield (say 3 by 4 feet) we charge $2,100 in labor. This covers everything . . . tearing out the original installation down to bare slab and studs and reconstructing the shower using the Kerdi® membrane method from Schluter Systems (See Kerdi Showers). The price does not include glass work, which must be done by glass people.

Material usually runs between $700 and $900. This brings the total (minus glass enclosure) to about $2,900.  The wall tiles used in the majority of Copperfield homes (white) are still available, so there's no problem matching the rest of the bathroom tile.

The prices I've mentioned above are minimums, and the shower can cost much more depending on the degree of difficulty of the project and the nature of the material chosen.

Because sheetrock showers were not properly built to begin with, replacing the shower pan (waterproof membrane) is not an option. It makes no sense whatever to tear out half of a shower that was not properly built originally.  Water damage to a sheetrock shower almost always extends far above the shower pan.

Which brings me to another point.  I have found that some of the tile showers in the Copperfield area were not blessed with shower pans to begin with.  Do you suppose the builders (or the plumbing contractor) simply forgot to install them?  Well, it doesn't matter.  The fact is, though, those showers have leaked since the first time they were used.  It sometimes takes years for the problem to manifest itself.

I am posting this information because in the past a few people who've called me have thought I was trying to fleece them, when all they needed was a simple "repair." I assert that I and other ethical contractors are not the "bad guys." The bad guys have long gone.

The above pertains to all the surrounding communities in some degree. To determine whether your shower is built with mud or sheetrock, remove one of the trim plates on the shower valve (faucet) or shower head, and probe with a screwdriver directly behind the tile. If the material is soft (mushy if wet), it's simply sheetrock. If, on the other hand, you run into something that reminds you of concrete, you're in better shape. You have a shower built using the "mud" method.

All the tub/shower combinations (tub surrounds) were built from sheetrock also, but these seem to last a little longer than the standup showers, since the brunt of water spray hits inside the tub itself.  We re-build tub surrounds starting at $900, labor only. Kerdi® membrane and tile materials will come to about $500 (or more).

You can prolong the life of a shabbily built shower (or a well-built one) by completely drying it off each time it's used. See Ceramic Tile Showers.

For glass shower doors and enclosures call any residential glass shop. Tip: Most of them will use the words "Glass and Mirror" in their business name. 

For "frameless" glass shower enclosures visit DeSola Glass. And say hi to Dale Vandergriff (owner). As far as I know, Dale is the only glass guy in Houston who still employs his own workforce. And I can state from having seen finished jobs that the workmanship is excellent.

Of course, we do other work in Copperfield and the surrounding area, including kitchen floors, patios, other bathroom tile, well, a lot of things. If you have not already read it, please see:

John Bridge's Valuable Information and Important Propaganda Sheet.

For further propaganda, return to my site.

In 1999 the Tile Council of America, the agency that publishes the standards for the tile industry, dropped sheetrock (greenboard, etc.) as an approved substrate for tile in wet areas. The standards for the tile industry are rendered by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). You can purchase the TCA handbook for $10 at http://tileusa.com

In 2005 the International Code Council (ICC), publisher of the International Residential Code, disallowed the use of sheetrock (greenboard) as a substrate for ceramic and stone tile in wet areas.

It's been a long haul.

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