Kerdi shower base

[weller]

How thick should the sloped motar floor be if you are using kerdi? If I just do the minimum, it would be 1/2 at the drain 1' at the edge.

[John Bridge]

Hi Weller, Welcome.

The minimum at the drain should be an inch and a quarter. An inch and a half is better. One-half inch of mortar does not give you enough substance. It could crack up.

Please tell me a little more about how you chose Kerdi. I'm very interested in the process.

I only use Kerdi in the shower, I find it alot faster than a traditional shower pan.

[Cisco]

k-tile

Are you running the Kerdi on all the walls up to at least the shower head?? or Just as a shower pan ??


Cisco...

[K_Tile]

Cisco
Both! On applications where I only use it for the shower pan I use 10" Kerdi Band up the lower portion of the walls overlaping the shower pan 2-3". I guess that would be 7-8" up the wall. I also coat the seams of the Kerdi Band w/ 9235 just to give me added protection. I was supposed to go to a Schluter course last week but it was canceled. I was going to pick some brains and find out why the walls had to be Kerdi up to shower head. For now I'll assume the walls are drywall not a CBU. For my installations, I have yet to find a problem with leaching or wicking behind the membrane. I use this method only when a CBU is used not drywall or greenboard.

[K_Tile]

Cisco
Both! On applications where I only use it for the shower pan I use 10" Kerdi Band up the lower portion of the walls overlaping the shower pan 2-3". I guess that would be 7-8" up the wall. I also coat the seams of the Kerdi Band w/ 9235 just to give me added protection. I was supposed to go to a Schluter course last week but it was canceled. I was going to pick some brains and find out why the walls had to be Kerdi up to shower head. For now I'll assume the walls are drywall not a CBU. For my installations, I have yet to find a problem with leaching or wicking behind the membrane. I use this method only when a CBU is used not drywall or greenboard.

[John Bridge]

We're in the wrong forum for this, but the Kerdi shower IS done over sheetrock. The material is run up to the shower head for two reasons: It protects the sheetrock and ensures that water won't get behind it at any point.

I don't think you're going draw accolades from either Schluter or Laticrete for mixing their respective products.

[weller]

I chose to use Kerdi in my bathroom because about a million years ago (really just about a year ago) when I started the addition to my house, I posed the question of building a tile asian soaking tub. The response from many people was to try Kerdi.

After a lot of research into alternative materials, wood, metal, cutom fiberglass etc. I kept coming back to Kerdi. At this point I am to the point of installing the kerdi. Hopefully, It will turn out.

[Dave Gobis]

They had the class last week. January is cancelled. Next session is Feb. 19-21, 2003.

Hi Weller

One thing to add to what John said about the thickness of the mud....if this is going in over a concrete slab, then the thickness of the mud under the Kerdi drain could be thinner because the concrete slab doesn't have any deflection.

If you are working over a wood subfloor, then do as John suggests and beef up the thickness of mud under the drain.

Have you seen the Kerdi video?

[Scooter]

I couldn't find it at Blockbuster!

[weller]

The video that comes with Kerdi drains is very helpful. It shows a lot of closeups to get the idea of overlaps and coverage. It didn't say how thick to make the base.

My tub is built on a wooden floor. In the area of the tub I put in 2 floor joist every 16". Also the wooden floor beneath the tub is 2 layers of 3/4 plywood glued and screwed together. I have now put in the the motar base (1.5" at the drain and two inches at the outside). I emailed Schluter but I didn't get a response. But I wanted to get this part done before Christmas. Thanks to you guys I could.

[John Bridge]

Attention Schluter:

Did you see that, Kimberly? Somebody didn't answer their email. How unusual.