I’ve finally gone and done something worthwhile! Well, that’s a matter of opinion, I guess, namely mine. I have written complete manuals on properly building and waterproofing your shower utilizing the different waterproofing methods.
Each manual describes a specific method so you don’t get bogged down with a bunch of information you don’t need for your chosen project. Not sure which method you want? Not sure which methods are available? Didn’t know there were different methods? Start with the free manual here: Shower Waterproofing Manual. That will help you decide which one you want to use based on time, skill and cost.
Once you figure that out you can get the manual that is specific to your particular project. Although these are all mostly completed it’s a whole process to get them ready for you guys. It’s difficult to describe but it includes half a watermelon, platypus eyelashes and a full moon – weird, right? Let’s just say I’ve been writing the damn things for close to two years – it’s not a short process.
Anyway, I do have two of them all finished up, uploaded and ready for you to devour!
I have the complete shower manual utilizing the traditional waterproofing method for walls and floors. This will walk you through the entire process for complete shower floor and wall building and waterproofing. If you are going to have a tiled shower floor and walls and need to construct the entire thing – this is the one you need. You can get it here: Complete traditional shower waterproofing method (Price goes up next week!)
And I have the manual using the traditional method for just your shower walls. If you already have a tub or pre-formed base (like acrylic or Swanstone) this is the one you need. You can get it here: Traditional waterproofing for your shower walls
You can always just click the yellow highlighted ‘Library’ tab at the top to see what’s currently available. If you have any questions just feel free to ask them in any of the comment sections on the site. I always answer them – I’m just super cool like that. 
I will add the new manuals to the library section as I finish them up.
Comments on this entry are closed.
Roger,
Due to leak damage I am redoing our master bath, including the walk in shower and an adjacent drop-in tub surround. I just purchased & read your Liquid Topical Waterproofing book & plan to use HardiBacker on the walls and the curb of the shower, a mud w/ divot style deck, and Laticrete Hydro Ban as the membrane. I would also like to use HardiBacker and Hydro Ban on the wet part of the tub deck. You may have stated this & I apologize if I just missed it, but I am not clear about the installation proceedures with respect to backerboard and the deck. On page 39 you say we should start by installing the cement backerboard. The diagrams on pages 15 & 20 show the wall backerboard above the deck and the curb backerboard below the deck. On page 66 you say that we need to leave a small gap between all perpendicular surfaces including walls & floors. Since I am using the divot method, my shower will require 3” of deck mud at the floor perimeter which is 1-1/2” above the bottom plate of the wall. Do I install the bottom edge of the backerboard 3-1/16” off the floor and block between the studs to contain the deck mud, or do I set the backerboard below surface of the deck mud and use it as the form for the deck mud? Do I do the same with the curb? Also, what is your experience with respect to the real-world coverage of a gallon of Hydroban? The spec sheet says coverage is 50 sq ft / gal but I am unclear whether that means 50 sq ft per coat or that I need a gallon for 50 feet of finished surface. Including pre-coating the corners and screw holes, how much coverage can I actually expect? Thanks for your help.
Hi Roger, I just finished going over your liquid membrane waterproofing manual and it’s both informative and entertaining. I wish you wrote some of the crap I have to read for work. Mindnumbing….anyways….as detailed in the manual the proper method for tying the backerboard into the tub nailing flange would be to shim the wall studs 1/4″ and overlap the backerboard over the flange about 1/8″ off the horizontal arm of the tub. Silicone, etc. Fine and dandy. I’d like to do that but if I shim the backerboard 1/4″ I’d have a tough time transitioning to drywall outside the tub alcove. The durock seems to be pretty close to 1/2″ thick which matches my drywall. I’d rather skip the shimming and extra mudding and stop the backerboard above the nailing flange which I hear (read) is quite common. What is apparently uncommon is the way to fill and seal the gap between the backerboard and the flange. So far my top choice is to silicone or kerdi-fix a strip of kerdi band between the two and apply the liquid membrane over the whole shebang. This makes sense for waterproofing but doesn’t seem to offer any tile support for the 1-2″ of tile that will cover this. Should I thinset over this kerdi band strip when I set the tile? Am I mistaken that this is an ok idea? Is the kerdi band required or will silicone/kerdi-fix be sufficient? If silicone is ok by itself how is the tile supported (and grouted for that matter)? And lastly how many chocolate milks is recommended to build up the courage to start my first tiling job ever?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Greg
Hey Greg,
What you propose is actually the perfect solution. Kerdi-band is the best choice to deal with that. As far as the unsupported tile – you just leave that hanging in the breeze. That’s actually the proper way to deal with it. The tile does not need to be supported for that small of an area and anything you place behind it will crack out or cause other problems.
Thanks a lot Roger, really sincerely appreciate your time and help.
Yo! I saw a pro bed his tape with waterproofing membrane on his denshield joints completely skipping using thinset and mesh tape first. I already bought too much kerdiband, so I was thinking of using my LATICRETE watertight (spreads like blue butter) to embed the kerdiband over all my denshield seams and not bothering with the thinset and mesh tape (I’m lazy like that). Will the waterproofing membrane cure under the kerdiband? Is the whole idea for shyz? Thanks, for just being… an elf.
It will take forever to cure and you’ll be defeating the purpose. The reason for taping and mudding the seams is to tie the boards together to create a single, monolithic plane. Nothing at all to do with waterproofing.
Roger, great blog site. Now, I’m looking to regrout my shower floor (10 yrs old). I searched and found a specific article on this .. http://www.howtodothings.com/how-to-regrout-a-shower-floor .. this howtodo calls for regrouting as usual, then caulking on grout lines with silicone, followed by a sealer. Wow! Me and Mr. Smith are flabbergasted … what sayeth the Floor Elf? It seems contradictory to your beliefs, not to mention … what a freakin’ mess that’s gonna be.
Hey Sam,
It’s simply another example of blaringly bad information on the internet. This problem is due in large part to sites like that having contributors that are compensated for each article they write. While that’s completely fine, people figured out long ago that if they simply submitted articles instructing people on how to do just about anything, whether accurate or not, they would be paid for it. They are assembly lines for misinformation.
And it pisses me off. A lot.
Roger,
Just bought your Topical Waterproofing book. A lot of great info, and my wife is looking at me strangely for laughing at….a shower waterproofing book.
OK, but why I’m posting.
Above all, I want to know if I should put Redguard on my Durock-ed shower wall. I mean all over every square inch. All your material suggests clearly that I should–I know. I just would feel better seeing a picture of Redguard all over Durock walls. Your ebook shows a cool pic of a drop-in tub with Redguard all around, but not that comforting picture I’m looking for.
So, should my nice Durock-ed shower walls be 100% pink when I’m done? And you recommend your v-trowel method?
Sorry for asking the obvious which I’m sure you answered adequately for the majority of people….
Jim
Hey Jim,
Yes, every square inch – like this. There should be no bare areas at all, no place water can soak into the substrate. 100%. They will be pink when you’re first done, but dark red when cured. Yes, use the trowel.