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nickko

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I have a shower in a basement that I'm looking at doing for some people. The floor is concrete and it is an existing shower that i will be tearing out. The person that did it fifteen years ago just tiled over the existing concrete floor so i was going to do a dry pack job on the floor and use a kerdi drain.
Im just wondering if i could kerdi over the dry pack and kerdi band the corners so the band would be up the walls two inches and then two coat red guard over my cement board walls down over the kerdi.
I would think there would be no warranty from schluterr but it seems like it could work.

thanks.......nicko
 
Might also consider a Schluter foam base instead of dry pack, as you can start on the same day putting Kerdi down, and tiling. Saves a day, and materials get billed to the customer. Sell it as a system that provides a great warranty from you with confidence in the quality of workmanship and materials.



Redgard will again slow you down...like watching paint dry.
 
Never used the Schluter foam board but I have used the membrane over Hardiback. Don't care much for the pre-graded foam floor, the slope on it wasn't enough to drain with cut pebbles. It might have helped if the plumber set the drain at the right height. The liner is easy enough to cut and overlap for a pan and integrates with their tile in drains.
 
I have a shower in a basement that I'm looking at doing for some people. The floor is concrete and it is an existing shower that i will be tearing out. The person that did it fifteen years ago just tiled over the existing concrete floor so i was going to do a dry pack job on the floor and use a kerdi drain.
Im just wondering if i could kerdi over the dry pack and kerdi band the corners so the band would be up the walls two inches and then two coat red guard over my cement board walls down over the kerdi.
I would think there would be no warranty from schluterr but it seems like it could work.

thanks.......nicko
Search in the history of the tile forum, a couple guys here would do it regularly. I think groutface was one of em.
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
Might also consider a Schluter foam base instead of dry pack, as you can start on the same day putting Kerdi down, and tiling. Saves a day, and materials get billed to the customer. Sell it as a system that provides a great warranty from you with confidence in the quality of workmanship and materials.



Redgard will again slow you down...like watching paint dry.
I have done about fifteen showers and have always used the foam base. Sometimes i have to cut the base and sometimes i would have to use dry pack to extend a base. This shower is an odd shape and already has a drain that is in an odd spot in the shower however it works and they just had a new sewer line put in and pressure checked so i don't want to mess with moving the drain. If i did move the drain i could use a 4x6 foam base and cut it to fit the existing shower size.
So in this case I'm going to do a dry pack and use the schluter drain.

thanks......nicko
 
Yes, you can kerdi a dry-pack pan, plus kerdi-drain, if that's what you want to do. The advantage is no water soaking (and sitting) into the pan like mud pans do. But you would have to be certain to do it right, especially the kerdi-drain transition. Same principle as with the foam.

As for the walls, if using durock, you're still going to want to Kerdi the corners, all joints, etc...and still two coats of waterproofing for the rest.

It's a hodgepodge that would work.
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
Yes, you can kerdi a dry-pack pan, plus kerdi-drain, if that's what you want to do. The advantage is no water soaking (and sitting) into the pan like mud pans do. But you would have to be certain to do it right, especially the kerdi-drain transition. Same principle as with the foam.

As for the walls, if using durock, you're still going to want to Kerdi the corners, all joints, etc...and still two coats of waterproofing for the rest.

It's a hodgepodge that would work.
Thanks MarkJames for your advice and you are right it is a hodgepodge way to do it.
This is a basement bath and i gave them a price to do it right but they want to try to cut cost as they are going to sell the house in a few years. So I'm trying to do do something for them that is between the best way to do it and me not doing it at all cause i don't want to do a total hack job.
It would be a job i could do over Christmas since its in the basement and they don't care if I'm there working.

any way thanks for the advice......nicko
 
I used to do them all the time.

Lots of em.

Dry pack.
Kerdi drain.
Kerdi fabric on the pan.
Wide band for pan to walls.
Liquid membrane with membrane tape on seams over DuRock.


Fast.
Solid.
Last forever.

Now I’m a hybrid drypack/ Kerdi/Wedi guy.

I can’t follow rules.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I am not so sure on a huge price savings going with two materials. If you are spending the money on the Redgard + Durock/Hardi, it is barely cheaper than Kerdi over drywall. Most likely you will already need a roll of Kerdi Band, and the Kerdi Corners are a given. Why not just do an entire Kerdi membrane over drywall. To me it seems like less labor to use Kerdi throughout.
 
I am not so sure on a huge price savings going with two materials. If you are spending the money on the Redgard + Durock/Hardi, it is barely cheaper than Kerdi over drywall. Most likely you will already need a roll of Kerdi Band, and the Kerdi Corners are a given. Why not just do an entire Kerdi membrane over drywall. To me it seems like less labor to use Kerdi throughout.
I've heard people, mostly salesmen, say this bit about Kerdi over drywall. I don't see how it wouldn't work, as long as the fabric was applied right water wouldn't get out of the shower enclosure. But lets say that the water came from a supply line on the other side, or a leak from the roof? Beyond that here in OR code is 1/2" wet area board(cement, or that foam board will pass), so these salesmen are selling an installation method that isn't to code.

I mean if you back an enclosure right to code and make sure the drip is right and you don't have standing water these systems aren't even needed and just add to install costs.
That being said when I've worked with it I liked the way worked and I think it an excellent safeguard against that one lil spot u missed.
 
I like GoBoard on the walls and using a Kerdi pan and drain.
I think that's going to be my go-to in the future. My last bath, I used GoBoard for a tub surround. On my current bath, I went back to Kerdi-board for the shower. The GoBoard is so much easier (and less expensive) than the Kerdi-board.

The Kerdi is much of a fuss to waterproof the corners and screws with their thinset/banding method. I could probably seal the GoBoard seams and screws in about the time it takes me to cut out all the Kerdi banding and patches. I just wish my supplier stocked 4x8 GoBoard.

BTW, I used large tubes of Sika Construction Adhesive from Depot instead of the GoBoard adhesive. They spec it as one of the alternatives to their own branded adhesive. I found it more economical and doesn't stay tacky like the GoBoard adhesive.
 
60 sheet minimum order
That stinks on the 4x8'. Menards does carry the smaller 3x5' in stock in my location. Same deal, just a bit more seams to work with.

I just checked my suppliers' inventory and they have the larger boards in another location. I can usually get transfers the next day with no minimums / freight fee. You may want to check your local supply house.



Here's their partner locator: https://www.jm.com/en/contact/partner-locator/#
 
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