Hello, happy I found this place, stone shower floor advice

[CFinn]

Hello, thanks for having me.

I bought a house one month ago and now the stone and grout are chipping and cracking on the shower floor in the master bath.

I am a complete novice, but wondering where to begin or if it can be repaired.

I talked to the home inspector we used and he hopped to have photos of it and no damage was present when we moved in, this is damage from one month of normal use. Pictures in one min.

[CFinn]

Thanks

[Houston Remodeler]

Finn,

Welcome to the forum.

The best news - you have a kerdi drain.

Can you add your location to your User CP so we can know where your location? That will help with advice and materials.

The crack should be cosmetic . Should be. Unscrew the drain cover, plug the drain, fill the pan, wait overnight to check for leaks. There should be none.

Use one of these to plug the leaks. Two inch version

[Karls tile Inc]

I could be wrong but I think the problem is pebble tile on a foam pan. Not sure if its a foam pan though. The point load on pebbles can be to great for a foam pan in my opinion. The pebbles may be compressing under the weight and deforming the pan thus cracking the grout.

[cx]

Welcome, Finn.

I think Karl is probably closest to the mark, but without knowing how your shower receptor was built, it's difficult to speculate any further.

We don't even know if the shower was built on a wood framed floor or a concrete SOG and we don't know if it was built using a prefabricated foam tray or a sloped mud floor. Lots of variables to consider here.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[CFinn]

Okay, I will try to find out more information. Thanks for the thoughts, will reply when I know more itis on a main floor bath and the tfloor is wood

[CFinn]

Starting demo, it was a foam base. Not sure what to replace it with from the flooring up to the tile. Looks like the foam base was tappered to the floor drain and is like two inches thick on the outside and one inch thick in the middle. Need advice and thank you guys

[tatumjonj]

Whoa. Who in the world told you to demo the pan of a Kerdi shower? I mean you might as well just start ripping out the rest.

[jadnashua]

Was there thinset on the under side of the foam tray? That is critical for proper operation so it cannot flex. If it is installed properly along with the Kerdi membrane, then the tile (even pebbles) is installed with 100% coverage, their trays have sufficient compressive strength so things don't flex allowing things to crack or break up. If the pebbles have full coverage with the thinset then are grouted well, you have a monolithic structure and point loading shouldn't be an issue. The fabric membrane helps to spread the load IF it is properly installed, along with everything else. Wedi foam trays require epoxy setting materials with smaller or uneven tiles/stones, but they don't have the membrane for the waterproofing.

The issue you have now has multiple parts...to make a seam of Kerdi (or any sheet membrane), you need an overlap of at least 2", which means you will have issues at the floor/wall connection. Second, assuming the tile was adhered well, when you removed things, it will tear off the fleece, and FWIW, thinset doesn't stick to the material...it holds things together because the thinset flows around the fleece fibers, then cures, locking it in place (sort of like pouring wax onto fabric...a real bear to get out). You might get it seamed without a leak if you use KerdiFix, but you'd have to be VERY careful.

[tatumjonj]

It sure doesn't look like it was set in thinset. The way that small chunk came out next to the drain makes it look like somebody set it in some kind of epoxy.

I've done two Kerdi foam trays. One many years ago with round pebbles and one recently with flat pebbles. I wouldn't expect any issue with the flat pebbles, but the round ones have held up fine with no cracking and constant use.

[evan1968]

Well that escalated quickly.
That was real bad advice to rip that pan out. Going to have a really hard time properly waterproofing the floor into the walls.

[CFinn]

Well it has started so please don't make me feel worse then I already do about it I thought the foam base was causing my issue when I started this. I have pulled up the bottom wall tiles bought a rubber membrane and plan on going up 6 inches on the walls all away around. We are gonna use a mud pack for making a floor base.

So this is the plan put concrete down on the floor to build it up to correct hieght, then use the membrane glue it to the concrete and to the wall. Then use thin set above the membrane and tile. Please advise on if this will get me a leakproof seal?

[CaliGrown]

Is that CBU on the floor??

[CFinn]

No it is wood I think

[MisterJJ]

The pattern left on the floor after removing the foam tray is the pattern that is on the TOP of the foam tray. So it looks like they installed the tray upside down.