My first Kerdi shower
 

I landed a job across the street 2 houses up :clap2: Doesn't get much closer to home than tiling my own house lol. I have a steamer to do. Checked into laticretes system and because of the in depth prep, and the price I charged for
this shower decided Kerdi is the only way to go. I have 216 ft(two rolls) coming,10 outside, 10 inside corners and a Kerdi drain. Oh and a couple tubes of sealant. There is a drain in place that I am going to cut out and replace with a coupling and 2" ABS stub. I have a question: Do you Kerdi pros leave the stub sticking up and set your drain after floating your shower floor? Are there any tricks you might have?

Here is my plan of attack. Wood stud wall>greenboard>aquabar>lath>mud>Kerdi>Kerdiseal (around pipes)>Versabond>Porcelain>Specktralock. I cant get myself to set
porcelain with unmodified thinset and I know JB has mentioned Versabond
works with kerdi. Tile is supposed to be 6x6 but may change.

I just leave the pipe sticking up and cut it once I figure out all my slope issues and then cut and in stall the drain. I then mix 50/50 tilecrete and thinset and put it around the drain. Shim where needed to keep the drain level and plumb. I cut the mud mix perfectly around the kerdi drain and let it set up over night. The thinset in the mud mix grips enough to the plastic flange to hold it in place. When I float the shower floor I skim some thinset on the mud around the kerdi drain and that's it. Simple.

Jack,

I know you're using the Kerdi Drain, but maybe you should watch the video. http://www.schluter.com/7224.htm (3rd video choice.) also look at some pics here. http://picasaweb.google.com/tile4youinc

Jaz

i have a little pipe cutter saw with a piece of tape on it so i know how deep to cut into the pvc pipe, no abs here. Then i mix some wall mud up and get ready to glue, i dry fit my drain, then i pile some wall mud on the wire and glue and press the drain into the mud. Then I float my pan i just pull the measurments off the drain and make a mark on the wall so i know where to start my runners.

I've done over ten Kerdi showers now Jack and if you need anything just call. I can give you a couple tips that makes the kerdi easier.:yo:

By the way the drain come with corners so will have plenty of them..

I do like Derrick.
figure out drain height, set drain in wet mud, measure pitch to wall. make level line. run my perimeter mud and fill in.

I usually do my drain similar to those mentioned, except a couple days ago I set a kerdi drain and gave the drain a good coating of Laticrete 254 and just pressed it down into my drypack I was using. It worked great, much better in my opinion than how I had been doing it. Seemed to hold down better, only problem is that 254 doesn't come off my fingers!

Jack, I used some Laticrete 253 Gold today to set 6x6's over kerdi. I am sure the tile police are on their way to my house right now but that tile ain't going anywhere. The stuff I set this morning was already rock hard when I left the house. I have used versabond several times too and it works fine.

317, cough cough

Jason,

I'm wondering why you wait overnight for the drain to set.

Bryan,

I wear rubber gloves when floating shower floors. Give it a try. :D

John, the drain is just always a pain when I set it and pack the floor the same day. It is a pain for me to get it set exactly plumb and keep it there when packing around it sometimes. And if that goes well then it always seems to want to sorta break free and sorta flex above my pack. I have done many in one shot and used thinset buttered to the bottom of the drain flange and smashed up threw the signature schulter triangle holes. So no problem with doing it all at once but......

It is so much easier to set it plumb and right one day and know its just a solid rock waiting on you the next day. I never have the outer flange break bond this way either. So I usually just plan my day around doing the drain last thing before I leave and the pack last thing the next day.

I will take some pictures next one I do.

Thanks for the tips guys. When I spoke to Trask's pop last winter he told me
a shower doesn't get much better than a mud base, Kerdi shower and I know
they do top notch work. This should be a long lasting shower. The tile isn't going
to be impressive, but the construction should prove to be worthy of sharing.
I'll post pics along the way. :yo:

I also have had a little trouble with the drain coming a little loose with drypack. I stole gueze's idea the other day and it worked well-epoxied a bit of mesh to the underside of the drain. It made it a bit harder to pack it in from the sides, but didn't wobble after I got it supported.

:tup2:

Glad to hear that worked well, Matt. I've never done it (epoxied lath to the bottom of the flange), just though about, umm, I mean theorized about it.

gueuze

Good luck with it Jack.

Jack,

That's going to be a powerhouse shower, the best of both worlds, mud walls for straight and plumb and Kerdi for the waterproofing. :)

I've been smearing thin set on the bottoms of Kerdi drains for years. I can't take credit for the idea, though. Brian Metus in Ontario has been doing it longer than I have. :)