Jessica's Shower...

[Jessica]

Hi everyone!

I have been reading this forum for some time and have finally gotten up the courage to redo my shower! It's a tile shower in which they used normal drywall in - which of course got wet and rotted! I'm just a beginner at this so hopefully you boys (and girls) will help me out?


Anyhow, I ripped the walls all down to the studs and jackhammered out the old
mortar base - wow, that was challenging for me!

My first question is about the photo below. The botton 2 feet of stud cirlcled in blue is quite rotten, so I'm going to gently cut the rotted piece out and nail a new chunk in. But the horizontal 2x4, although not nearly as bad, is a bit soft... how can I get it out? Or maybe I shouldn't worry about it? I'm not sure how well you can see it's condition from the photo...

Thanks so much!
Jessica

[Scottish Tile and Stone]

If its not showing bad signs of rot, I might just leave that little piece in there. Might be more work than its worth to get it out.

[scuttlebuttrp]

there's a cool article around here somewhere that talks about dryrot and mushrooms and other groovy things. I think it ended up saying spray it with Thompson's watersealer(?). You should read it. It's either in the Liberry or on JB's homesite.

[SBower]

I wonder if you couldn't just use one of those liquid wood hardeners? I think the brand I used was minwax and you just soaked the wood with it. It's used for rotten window sills and such. I used it on a couple of windows this summer and I was amazed at how well it solidified some punky wood.

[John Bridge]

Hi Jessica,

I don't remove wood that's hard to get at. Instead, I sister new pieces along side and screw the new to the old. Once the source of the leak it dried up nothing will rot. Dry rot needs water to continue.

[Davy]

"Mushrooms and other groovy things". Had to chuckle on that one, Royce.

I agree, leave the bottom plate and just replce that stud.

[cx]

I'm thinkin' ol' Royce been into them mushrooms, Davy.

Welcome, Jessica.

I can't tell much from your picher, but I agree with the others, leave the sole plate and repair the studs as necessary.

I've never seen the product in the MinWax line that Shelly is recommending, but I regularly use wood restoration products from Abatron, including a two-part liquid product for stabilizing that sort of rot damage. Generally only for visible repairs, but sometimes for the kind of damage you have there. It's rather "spendy," but frequently pays for itself in not having to replace difficult pieces.

My opinon; worth price charged.

[davem]

Hi Jessica, welcome. I bet the old shower only had one mortar base didn't it? Make sure you read the liberry shower info that tells you to use two mortar based, one under and one over the pan. Unless of course you're doing a kerdi shower, then you only put one under.

[Jessica]

OK, thanks guys! I will remove the vertical stud and not touch the horizontal which is not very bad.

Next!

1) The shower is in a basement and, since I'm using Kerdi, I'm thinking that I should NOT put up any plastic vapor barrier on either the interior or the outside walls... right?

2) My shower is 36x60, with the drain 17 inches from one end and centered. I saw the deck mud calculator in the liberry which seems to be for non-Kerdi floors, but I tried to use it anyhow and I came up with needing 45lbs of Portland cement and 128lbs of sand, assuming a thickness of 1.25 inches at the drain. That sounds like a LOT! Does it sound correct?

3) John's (fabuluous!) book suggests that I put a layer of thinset on the floor before the portland/sand... by thinset, he means the same Kerabond that I'll use for the kerdi install and tiling, right?

Thanks for being so good!
Jessica

[Mike2]

1.) Right, Jessica. No vapor barrier needed, or wanted, with Kerdi. It acts as its own.

2.) For that shower floor I get 40 lbs of Portland cement and 200 lbs. of sand. Or alternatively, 160 lbs. of Sand Topping Mix and 80 lbs. of sand.

3.) Correct again, flat trowel a loose (near runny) mixture of Kerabond on the slab just before placing the deck mud down.

[Jessica]

So about drywall... I'm going to be putting up 13x13 ceramic tiles on the walls and ceiling.

I went and bought 1/2" drywall - is that good or do I need 5/8"?

Thanks,
Jessica

[Tool Guy - Kg]

1/2" is good for the walls.

What is the spacing for the joists on the ceiling?

[SteveVB]

Jessica

I would leave the plate, not necessary to replace it or repair it with the epoxies. If the studs are loose though(nails arent holding) you may want to add some 2x4 blocks on top of the existing plate to tie everything together.
One thing I would do though is treat it with Tim-Bor or some other borax based solution before I made any repairs. I'd spray all of the framing and lower parts of the wall framing and existing drywall after Ive removed the damaged lumber Im going to replace. (Ill do a tear out one day and then spray everything before I leave, repair on the next trip)

I get mine from the pest guy I use, but a quick search returned;

http://www.pestcontrolamerica.com/se...nal-bag/Detail

[Jessica]

Well, I measured and the joists (on the shower roof) are 16" apart... is it OK to use the 1/2" drywall under the tile for the roof, or do I need to use a 5/8" up there?

Jessica

[SteveVB]

1/2 inch is fine.