Membrane puncture, now what?

[theeld]

I began a DIY job to re-grout the floor of my 2-year old shower. The original grout was beginning to break down. It was a light color which required constant attention to clean, thus I was going to redo the 2x2 tile grout with spectralock pro (epoxy grout) such that it would be lower maintanence. Used an oscillating tool with grout removal attachment. Well, the job was tougher than I thought on the removal side. Chipped a few tiles thus far, but on the more serious note, I believe I have went too deep and may have destroyed the membrane, as I am seeing orange/green being pulled up occasionally. I now realize what this is. So now what? From looking up from the unfinished basement I see a foam basin, so I am assuming the floor is foam with a kerdi type membrane over the top.

The shower is walk in- fully tiled floor to ceiling, with the exception of the ceiling, which is sheetrock.

My fear is a tear out of the floor and maybe 2 feet vertical of the wall tile. Am I am serious trouble?

[cx]

Welcome, theeld. Please change that permanent signature line to a first name for us to use.

Not gonna be able to help you much unless you can tell us more about how your shower was constructed. As it stands, we could only guess and your guess would be better because you can at least see what's visible between the tile and from below.

The foam tray may not leak right away, but if you actually have a foam tray with a waterproofing membrane over it and you've cut the membrane, I'd opt for a replacement.

If you decide to do any tearing out, I'd recommend you tear out the entire shower and re-do it.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[Platypus]

What CX said, because you won't be able to merge a new waterproof layer into the existing one.

[Kman]

Do you know for a fact that it's Kerdi, or just assuming? Can you remove the trim plate at the shower valve and see if you can tell what the waterproofing is from there?

[theeld]

Found the best photo I could, had to dig pretty deep. I believe the stuff (orange) on the walls is the same that is on the floor. See attachment

[Kman]

That's a Kerdi shower.

I doubt you'll be able to do a meaningful "repair" with it.

[Tiger Mountain Tile Inc]

Welcome Theeld!

It's not looking good. You could try to run some water in there and see if it comes down below. Unless that would be trouble. Then it might just be best to assume it's compromised.

[theeld]

I have begun pulling up the tile with hopes of exposing at least 2" of good kerdi exposed all around in order to apply kerdi patch as a last resort. As I am pulling up the tile I see a dark green layer on top of the orange in some places, almost as if it is painted ontop of the kerdi, any ideas what that could be?

[Davy]

Can you post a pic of it? I have no idea.

[Tiger Mountain Tile Inc]

I see Aquadefense in post #5 so that would be my guess. Maybe the coated over the Kerdi? Maybe just the seams?

[theeld]

Photo of the green substance

[Davy]

I think Jim was right, looks like Aqua Defense. He has younger eyes than I do.

[theeld]

Would anyone recommend Aquadefense over the seams of my kerdi patch? I will attempt to get rid of as much thinset as possible on the old kerdi with a flat rubbing stone, however it likely will not be as good as new. So I will have new kerdi overlapping "old" kerdi, thinking of aquadefense over the seam here?

[Tiger Mountain Tile Inc]

I would recommend using Kerdi and Kerdi fix. I don't know what Aqua D would do in that situation that those two won't.

It sounds like the plan is to remove all the floor tile and patch the Kerdi membrane? If so you could probably just install a completely new sheet over the old I would think.

[theeld]

I am curious as to how kerdi-fix would be used in this potential repair. Would it be used at the seam of the two layers of kerdi?? If so, does that imply that no thinset is used at the seam (overlap), as is done in traditional kerdi installation? Just need some clarification as I see it mentioned in similar threads, but am unsure as to how to execute without thinset or in conjunction with thinset.