membrane

Installation of Laticrete Linear Drain (Part 1)

The wonderful folks at Laticrete sent me a linear drain to play with. And you know me – I bastardized it until it was virtually unrecognizable, ran it through the paces and did things you really shouldn’t do with nice, high-end products like this. And it survived. Word on the street is that they read [...]

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Waterproofing fixture cutouts in shower tile

One of the problems with waterproofing a shower is the fact that you NEED to have holes in it. The cutouts for the shower head, shower or bath controls and any other fancy stuff you saw in that magazine. The problem with holes in a waterproof shower is that they make it not so waterproof. [...]

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Unmodified Thinsets – A User’s Guide

In my previous post about thinsets I explained what modified thinsets are and how they came about. That post actually started out as this post, I tend to get sidetracked by beer my dog. Unmodified thinsets, in one form or another, have been around forever. With the expanded use of modified thinsets, the unmodified version [...]

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Shower Waterproofing Manuals

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 [...]

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Shower Tile Basics or Shower Tile 101

I get a LOT of questions from my readers about basic shower construction. I understand that my readers don’t consider this stuff basic and there’s no problem with that. The problem is that I end up answering the same questions over and over and over… So, to save what very little is left of my [...]

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Effects of Improper Ditra Installation

I am not writing this to tell you why your tile is cracking or why your grout is cracking – I have other posts that may tell you that. (Click on the pretty little links ) If you happen to have Schluter Ditra as your substrate, this post will tell you why either one of [...]

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What is a ‘Soft Joint’ and When to use One

That title right there is absolutely ripe for me to go off on a sophomoric, mildly humorous rant about the viability of inferior illegal plant use. But I’m not gonna do that. (Okay, maybe later…) A soft joint, or control joint,  is simply one grout line, all the way down the length of your installation, [...]

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ProvaFlex vs Ditra

That’s right, I said typed it! Bring it on In the last month or so there has been a lot of hype about Loxscreen’s new polypropylene tile underlayment membrane. That’s just a big phrase for plastic tile underlayment. It is being marketed as a replacement product for Schluter Ditra. Since I use Schluter Ditra almost [...]

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Create a Shower Floor for Tile – Video Post

Since I’m just a tile guy I”m not usually up on all the new technological crap that has nothing to do with tile, like online video or the ‘SlapChop’.  I’ve decided that since I spend most of my days in other people’s showers that I should get out more and learn something else. So naturally, [...]

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How to Build a Niche for your Shower – Part 2

Waterproofing Just look at you! Sitting there with a hole in the wall of your shower. What are we gonna do with you? If you do not happen to be sitting there with a hole in the shower of your wall read How to Build a Niche for your Shower – Part 1 and join [...]

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How to Build a Niche for your Shower – Part 1

This four part series describes methods to create a niche in your shower wall for tile. Please read through all four parts before starting. Your layout dictates the size and placement of your niche. You need all this information before making a hole in your wall! Or don’t – it isn’t my shower, eh? Framing [...]

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How to Create a Shower Floor – Part 5

And the rest . . . Once you have your entire perimeter done you simply need to pack deck mud into the rest of the base from the perimeter to the drain. Once again – beat the hell out of it. Seriously, pack it in there really well. The more dense your floor is the [...]

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