How the hell do I topically waterproof just the walls?

Are you just tiling around your tub or pre-formed shower base, using topically waterproofed wall boards to do it? Do you know what that last question even meant? (If not, start here: free shower waterproofing manual.)

I’ve been building showers for over 23 years. Properly. That last word matters more than you’d think. This manual uses topically faced wall boards such as DensShield, as well as foam-based substrates such as Kerdi-board and Wedi – and if you’re installing DensShield, it includes everything you need.

What the hell am I actually buying?

Two things. And the second one didn’t exist until now.

1. The complete topical walls instruction manual. It walks you through each step from the bare wall studs around your tub or pre-formed base up to a completely waterproofed substrate, all ready for your incredible tile design – conforming to TCA and ANSI standards without you needing to know what those are. Fully updated for current products and methods.

2. The FloorElf Shower Assistant. Brand new, included free with the manual. It’s a step-by-step digital walkthrough that lives on your phone – which is handy, because your phone is on the wall with you and this manual isn’t (please don’t hang backerboard with one hand while holding a PDF in the other).

The assistant walks you through the job one step at a time, in order, with a confirmation checkpoint at each step – so you physically cannot get to step 14 having skipped step 9. Skipping step 9 is how walls leak. It’s the manual converted into a working companion that stands in the shower with you. No app store, no downloads, no account – it just works on your phone.

“Can’t I just ask ChatGPT?”

Sure you can! And it’ll give you a confident, professional-sounding answer in two seconds. Here’s the problem: confident and correct are not the same thing. AI has read every forum post ever written about showers – including all the ones that are dead wrong, written by people trying to cash in on something they know nothing about. It can’t tell the difference. It’s never stood in a shower. It’s never torn out a moldy wall and seen exactly which shortcut caused it.

I have. For 23 years. Thousands of showers.

And here’s the part that actually matters: when you buy this manual, you get me. Not a chatbot, not a support ticket system – me. Ask me anything about your build and I will answer it, personally, like I’ve been doing on this site since 2008. Not sure you’re sealing your DensShield screw heads right? Ask. An AI will guess at your shower. I’ll actually answer for it.

If I’m giving you cash I wanna know what I’m buying!

Descriptions and instructions of the entire process from beginning to end including:

• Over 17,400 photos! (That’s a lie – there aren’t that many. But there are a lot…)
• Over 6,752 graphics! (Another lie – there aren’t that many of those either…)
• Professional, highly detailed descriptive graphics (Lie! Roger’s photoshop skills suck…)
• Materials and tools checklist (True)
• Methods for installing topically faced wall substrates such as DensShield
• Basic methods for foam-based topical wall substrates such as Kerdi-Board*
• Order of events checklist (so you don’t miss anything) (Also true)
• The FloorElf Shower Assistant – step-by-step guided walkthrough on your phone (True, and new!)
• Direct, personal answers from me whenever you get stuck (True – since 2008)
• Great humor! (Pure, unadulterated BS – it’s horrible humor.)

*While information and the basic installation practices for topically-faced foam wall substrates such as Wedi and Kerdi-board are included, this is not a comprehensive manual for either. Each of those require specific nuances which can not be completely covered in a fairly general manual such as this. It will, however, teach you how to install these also, in general terms.

What the hell are you gonna teach me that I don’t already know?

• The easiest way to install topical boards such as DensShield and the methods I use to quickly and easily achieve completely waterproof screw penetrations
• How to flatten your wall framing for a professional installation
• How to properly whip out obscure sitcom references
• The PROPER way to waterproof a shower substrate
• How to prevent your dog from bursting into flames

Why do I need this from YOU?

Have you tried to research how to build a proper substrate for tile and found conflicting, inadequate or misleading information? I’m not surprised – the internet is full of it. (That sentence could stand alone without reference to the sentence before it.) That’s the reason I began this website. And now AI tools have read all of that misleading information and will repeat it back to you with total confidence.

I will teach you the proper way to build your shower. I can do that because I’ve been doing it PROPERLY for over 23 years. Would you ask your auto mechanic how to perform brain surgery? Of course not! Don’t ask a professional ‘writer’ – or a chatbot – how to build a shower. Ask a professional tile contractor.

When finished you’ll have a properly constructed shower conforming to TCA and ANSI standards. It will outlast and outperform any normal ‘DIY’ shower you’ll see, beat it up, AND take its lunch money! It will last until you get tired of the tile design – and will never leak.

How do I give you my hard-earned cash? And how much is the damn thing, anyway?

• $53 Million dollars! (That’s a lie – the manual AND the assistant together are only $8.95)

Just click the button below to go get it. As soon as you make payment the elves will instantly send you an email with your download link and your assistant access. You can be reading (and tapping) in less than five minutes. Pay with any credit or debit card, or PayPal if you prefer – whichever is easiest for you. Quick and totally painless, I promise.

$8.95 – manual + assistant + me answering your questions.

Didn’t anybody ever tell you there needs to be a ‘p.s.’?

P.S. People always ask if I’m worried that AI will replace me. Buddy, I’ve spent 23 years fixing showers that were built by overconfident things that don’t read instructions. AI doesn’t scare me a bit.

P.P.S. Oh – and mine’s bigger. It’s 47 pages. Yeah, just for shower walls.

You can now get this manual with TileTips!

You can now purchase this manual with our TileTips booklet and save some dough! If you order both you’ll get TileTips for just five bucks – go get a six-pack! Just click the link below and you can download both in one handy zip folder. Just trying to make your life easier…

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