Kerdi Shower, SICIS walls, PICS and lots of questions...

[libbe]

Hi all. Due to the great info on this site, we've decided to go with a Kerdi kit for our 4x4 shower. I will attach photos along the way. I've read John's Kerdi ebook, watched the video that came in our kit so I'm hoping my questions are not redundant.

1. The drywall is up on the walls and we've taped the "horizontal seams" per the Kerdi book. How does the overall prep look (see photo).

2. We have an aluminum window that will be partly in the shower (see photo). Is there anything special we should do before putting drywall around the inside of the window framing?

3. We have a few holes in the subfloor where plumbing/pipe used to be. These will be under the Kerdi foam base (you can see this in the photo). Any recommendations on how to address these before installing the Kerdi base?

4. We are doing SICIS Irid (Zinnia 3) glass tiles on all walls. Any special considerations when using these with the Kerdi membrane?

Thanks, in advance.

Libbe

[libbe]

I'd love to get some input on my project from you experts out there.

[improve2]

Libbe,

I'm no where near expert and have barely worked through my remodel. I used Sicis with great success. Beautiful glass and well worth the money. Is it paper backed or mesh. Mine was paper and it needed to be removed shortly after install so I could get the thinset and latipoxy out of the joints. Full coverage without getting too much in the joints is a balancing act I still haven't mastered. If you don't get full coverage under the glass it looks horrible. (I took up at least 15 pieces) White thinset brings out the color of the glass. I saw a BIG difference in the color from out of the box to installed. Installed looks great. I found that I needed glass cutting tools for the places that a full tile wouldn't fit. This way there was continuity of the mosiac. A local stained glass company showed me how to cut and off I went.

I can't help with the other questions but I hope your project comes out great.

Kim

[Brian in San Diego]

Libbe,

For the hole in the floor, if you can get some small 1x3's laid on their side into the hole, I'd screw through the subfloor into the 1x3's. Then put a piece of plywood cut to the shape of the hole and screw it to the 1x3's. It's hard to see from the picture how much room there is under where the hole is. Check out the thread in the liberry about prepping for the kerdi drain. It looks like the hole in the subfloor for the drain isn't big enough, but again it'd hard to tell from the picture. Don't know what to tell you about the drywall in the window sill other than to say make sure it's square, plumb and level. I wouldn't used corner bead at the intersection to the wall, but rather let the kerdi wrap around from the wall to the sill. Hope that helps.

Brian

[libbe]

Thanks for your replies.

The SICIS I have is mesh-backed. The SICIS site gives an option of pre-grouting before installing the tile. I wonder if there is any reason not to pre grout?

Kim: What sealer did you use on your glass tiles?

Brian: Thanks for your advice. There is crawlspace below the holes so I should have enough room to do what I need to but need to figure out how to attach the 1x3s. The big hole used to be for the toilet pipe. The shower pipe/hole was installed before we decided to use KERDI so I think it's a standard size. I'll doublecheck the liberry article.

Libbe

[improve2]

Libbe,

I didn't use a sealer. It's glass and they didn't recommend one. I did use Spectraloc grout. Looks great with the 1x1's but what a PITA to get the epoxy off the surface. I had to double the quantity of mini-units. I didn't think that those little grout lines would suck up so much grout I couldn't pre-grout because I had the paper mounted mosiacs. If you pre-grout you will avoid the problems I did have. I now have areas where I can't get the epoxy out of the joints and small bits are sticking out of the grout. (Power tools have to come out again )

Aside from white thinset.....a flat surface is sooooooo important. I used ditra on the floor and had to fill in the squares first. Since you need to use unmodified thinset on top of ditra, I made the big mistake of filling the squares first and setting the glass the next day with modified. (which you must use with glass) So needless to say the glass on the border of the floor is not flat. Though this is fine with me, it still looks great. The shower pan came out great. Flat surface to work with and epoxy only had to go on very thinly. I'll post a picture when I get home. It's done and grouted now. I just love it, mistakes and all.

Kim

[geniescience]

1. OK
2. How far out will Kerdi go, in relation to window?
3. Close holes
4. I wouldn't grout first unless it was within the same hour of thinsetting. To prevent solidifying and ending up with large, and not flat, "tiles".

Libbe, with the Kerdi tray you don't need to enlarge the pipe hole in the floor. Without the Kerdi tray, yes, you would have to chisel out about 1/4" deep around the hole to let the 6" cup bottom have a place to set into. The tray has a depression to receive this. As far as I can remember.

[libbe]

1. Thanks
2. Tiles will go about 3" past window (to the left if looking straight on)
3. OK
4. So if I grout first, if I set within the hour than the grout will have some give? Correct?

Thank you so much,

Libbe

[geniescience]

#4 - it might work well. With a more expensive thinset designed to set fast, you might be able to remove the paper and work the grout lines. But I wouldn't do anything until I got opinions from people who really know this far far better than i do.

Are you planning on using epoxy grout? if so, did you know you can freeze some of it and bring it out the next day to continue with?

[improve2]

Libbe,

Didn't you say that your glass is mesh mounted? The only reason I couldn't pre-grout is because the paper mounted glass is, well, mounted on the face of the sheet. The mesh mounted are not hindered by that. The sheets aren't so easy to put verticle and make them stay in place. Here's a pic of the pan. It's prior to grouting though so don't laugh.

Kim

[Brian in San Diego]

Libbe,

To close up the old toilet hole. Cut a 1x3 or 4 about 8-9" long, stick it into the hole and hold it up to the subfloor from up above, then screw through the subfloor with screws long enough to go through the subfloor and the 1 by. Do this again on the other side. Then cut a circle of plywood the same thickness as your subfloor and screw it to the 1x's you just installed. That will be plenty sufficient. You will have a gap between the 1x's big enough to fit your fingers in enough to hold the 1x in place. You shouldn't have to go down into the crawl space to do this.

Brian

[JTG]

Why not just put a pice of 3/4 ply on the floor to cover all the holes and then set the Kerdi pan on that?
You want to grout the glass prior to putting in on the wall to keep the damm mortar out of the joints. Lay the tile paper down and use a float to grout them. Use a sponge to wipe the back of the tile clean and then put them up on the wall. When you take the paper off then you can dress the grout joints.

JTG

[John Bridge]

Libbe,

Kerdi (any membrane) and glass tiles place you in the twilight zone. You should get hold to the tile manufacturer for instructions on what to use. If they are all mosaic tiles, there's really not problem, but if you have larger pieces you need directions.

[libbe]

Thank you, thank you, for all the input. I am rather intimidated by the Kerdi so I've been procrastinating.

JTG, do you mean just lay a full piece of 3/4" ply over the whole space (minus the drain hole) and go from there? I was thinking about that at one point but forgot to ask so I'm glad you brought that up. Would I put the Kerdi Curb on top of that?

John, You're a rock star! Thanks for creating such an easy-to-understand book.

My glass tiles are indeed the little mesh-backed mosaics (I think 5/8"?) so it sounds like this is not a concern.

Lib

[libbe]

1. I have a window that will partially be in the shower (see earlier pics) and the drywall guy taped the corner. Under the tape he used one of those soft metal corner pieces. It looks great but does it have to be ripped out?

2. Upon final measurement (anything to delay starting this), the shower space is 48"d x 46.5"w. Can I still use the 48 x 48 KERDI foam base? I've got some wiggle room so I could just shorten the 48" span to match the 46.5" span but I'm wondering if this is necessary.

3. The subfloor has about 1/8" slope from the back wall to the entrance of the shower. Per a previous suggestion, I was going to put a new piece of 3/4" ply over the existing subfloor (in the shower) because there are some old plumbing holes. Any suggestions on how I make it level?

At the rate I'm going, I'll have finished shower pics to share sometime around 2008!!!

Thanks, ya'll.

Libbe