screws on top of shower curb and below curb

[mrkski77]

Here's some photos from my ongoing shower install. The contractor (with 20 years of shower building experience) insists no waterproofing membrane is necessary on the durock shower walls even though we asked him to install redgard. There is no plastic between the durock and studs either. He started installing tile and now I see screws going into the durock below the curb level and also on top of the curb which seems like a no-no from reading these forums.

We are asking him to re-do the walls and use a waterproof membrane but before I also complain about these screws, is there any possible way this is ok and he's going to waterproof these holes later? Thank you.

[Dave Gobis]

It is not OK and there is no effective way to tie in waterproofing now. Based on his trowel skills I highly doubt the 20 years' experience. It will be much cheaper and easier to deal with now than continuing and hoping for the best. Your correct on the plastic or paper on the studs. Durock is unaffected by water but not waterproofing.

[jadnashua]

The moral to this story is that way too many people do things wrong for way too long! To their defense, what they do wrong may take a number of years before it exhibits problems, and most only provide a 1-year warranty, so may not know about the issues they cause.

People tend to get the idea that all tiled showers fail after time, and that's because a large proportion of them are not built to industry standards.

A shower should last without issues until you decide to remodel, not because it has performance issues.

[Davy]

What Jim and Dave said, give him the boot.

[Tool Guy - Kg]

I agree with them all. I’m not piling on for no reason…I just don’t want you to be convinced with some seemingly logical reason your contractor gives you and you give it a chance. This is a re-do. Not a fix. You simply want this shower built using an industry-recognized and published standard.

[jadnashua]

You could ask him which TCNA industry shower build method he's using. He probably won't know what you're talking about, but he should. There's more than one way to build a reliable, long-lasting shower, and each method has its advantages and disadvantages, but they all work IF you follow the instructions and have good workmanship. What he's done so far does not meet any of the industry guidelines, and would lose in court if it were to get that far.

[Kman]

I feel compelled to say one positive thing.

At least he put mesh tape on the seams.

That's about all.

[mrkski77]

Thank you everyone! We will do a do-over. Better now than in later. Thanks again.