shower floor

Hi,
I just had my shower and shower floor re-done. We stepped in and 3/4 of the floor sounds hollow.

OK, so you want an inspection or what? Tell us more.

Jaz

Sorry, I hit enter on my computer and couldn't get my question back.

Our tile guy put us a new shower pan mortar bed in then used pre mixed thin-set let it dry for one hour than grouted the tile. Most of the shower floor sounds hollow. You can hear the hollow sound when you step in. What does this mean? Once we start taking showers, or if we drop a shampoo bottle is this tile going to pop up?

Let me know.

Brenda,

You called that guy "Our tile guy". Sorry to tell you but he is NOT a tile guy. He is a hack. Probably a handyman.

You need to remove the tiles and all that mastic, all of it. If he did other work in this shower chances are he messed up there too. I'm very suspicious about the shower pan he installed. If he can't mix real thin set, how did he mix the sand/cement deck mud?

Jaz

When you say pre mixed thinset, you mean the stuff that comes in the 3 gallon can? If so Jaz is right. Its just mastic with sand added to give it body. No professional tile setter would ever, and I stress EVER use this stuff.

We had a friend that is retire from tiling and just doing contruction now and he said too many layers on top of the mortar bed and now it's flaking and crumbling. I remove the tile yesterday to find out what was underneath. You're right it was a bad job and not sure if we can save the mortar floor.

This floor dried for three days before we let him come back to put the tile on and it still looks damp. Our friend said we probably can save the floor by adding a sealer then pouring more mortar. I want to know what is going to adhere to this current floor. It's a mess!
Thanks guys,
BK

NO SEALER! Please stop taking advice from street corner advisers.

If the subfloor looks damp that's because it is supposed to for a time. Three days is not long enough for the moisture to dissipate - not that it needs to totally.

The biggest problem so far is the use of premixed thinset. That stuff IS NOT for shower floors, or shower walls for that matter.

The abbreviated information you have given so far isn't near enough to make an informed call as to what has happened. If you can, take us through the steps this guy used to form your shower pan and anything else he may have touched while there. This may not be the end of the world at this point.

Bud,
I know He came with 3 80lb bags of mortar bed mix we think. We thought he mixed it all that night to the level of the drain. But my husband said it looked like there were atleast 2 layers of mortar. But to me it was done all in one step when he ask me to lood it over because I told him I didn't want the black hole pour. Well anyway that set for three days and then he came back to put the tile on with thinset one hour thinset and grouted. For the shower pan he put he put a finyl liner up half way and backer board and tile. I'm sorry this job has gone on since Feb 8th way way too long and now I don't have a completed job.
Thanks,
BK

I don't know who is more confused, you or me.

Here's the Reader's Digest version of what should have been done. The method you are trying to describe goes:

Cement preslope. Allow to dry then install vnyl liner on top of preslope and turn up the wall studs.

Cement final slope, sloping 1/4" per foot.

Install backer board on walls.

Install floor tile. Allow to cure minumum of twenty four hours, over night is usually enough time. Then install grout.

There are products that will allow an earlier completion of the tile and grout but you haven't mentioned what products he used and I doubt he used any rapid set stuff.

These days there are several methods but it sounds like he isn't up on the state-of-the-art stuff.

Brenda,

I know you're upset with this and being a novice you may have a problem describing what you've got and what was done. It's OK. I'm saying this because your last post above does not make much sense. (OH, I see Bud just replied, I'll read that later).

Bud pretty much covered it.

There should be 2 mud slopes, the pre-slope under then the deck mud over the membrane. (I bet he didn't do that).

Jaz

You're right he did'nt do a membrane. He just called and told us if we have used the shower and got it wet it would have adhere to each other. He wants more money to come back to pour the floor again and to make it right. No way I said I will find someone else or do this myself if I have to.
Sorry I am just a month and a half so tired of this job! It's a small shower 9sq ft. Ha! Ha!

Brenda be aware that these threads automatically close with the twentieth post being made. That doesn't mean you can't open another thread immediately and continue if need be.

You may have some components of your shower that are salvageable but to determine that you will have to give us some more information.

In the meantime it sounds like there is some kind of rip-off taking place. Maybe you should stay away from that installer and not hand him another dime.

A few of us have been here doing this Internet tile and shower stuff for about ten years with great success, we will be glad to help you.

Where do you want to start?

Brenda, I suggest you tell him to give you all your money back, otherwise, you will take him to small claims court where you will still get your money back but then he'll also be responsible for court costs and layer fees.

"If you want me to come back and do it right, it will cost you" Where did you find this guy?

I think most of the shower walls are okay. It's not exactly what we planned because he didn't plan it out. But anyhow the floor is our problem. Do you really think if we have put water on the floor of the shower it would make the hollow sound disappear and the rest of the floor adhere?
I will clean up the rest of the loose mortar tomorrow. I need to measure the distance from the floor to the cove tile after I smooth the floor back down.
What do I need to cover the floor with more mortor mix?
Do I need to seal it so the next layer will adhere with the thin-set?
I will talk with you all tomorrow. Thank you BK

Hello again,
Well today I cleaned up all the loose mortar bed. I went to Master Tile and pick up C-Cure Full contact
Med bed mortar, latex mod-EGP and M-Flex Strata flexable latex-portand cement. We are going to pour 3/4" of Full Contact to the underneath wall cove tile let it dry for several days then use the M-Flex for laying the tile. Grout after it dries. How does this sound are we on the right track? We still have a slight slope just angle just a bit. Do we need to use a latex sealer before we do this so it will adhere.
My tile measure 5/16 and has a mesh backing and I want to put it right at the edge of the cove base. Our tile guy put it under which way is best.

Let me know what you all think. Also no one really did say much on our tile guy comment "let water run on it and the tile will adhere after a while" Is this true? Or when it's hollow it will always be hollow.

Thanks to everyone for their help.

Brenda I can now see you are for some reason driven, and rather than fully explain what has taken place up to now and wait for professional advice you have chosen to solve the problems on your own - so good luck with that.

Also no one really did say much on our tile guy comment "let water run on it and the tile will adhere after a while" Is this true?

That advice is just plain stupid and "NO" it is not true. No way in hell!

Bud,
Thank you for your time. I am going to pour this tomorrow, I have done some tile work so I think I can do this myself and do a better job.

I will let you the out come of my job.

Thank you again,
BK

PS
Yes, I am very head strong!

Whatever! Just keep in mind you don't "pour" a shower floor. You pack and shave a shower floor slope using a very dry cement mixture known as "deck mud".

Bud,
Yes, you're right I just used the wrong wording for you tile guys. It's a dry a little moist but not too moist you don't want water dripping out when you squeeze it in your hands. I am going to pack it in and smooth it and slope it to my drain. The slope is still there we just have to add to it. I promise I have my husband to help me with my steady hand.

Thanks again,

BK

That whole bit has got me all sorts of confused