Pre slope and water leak test

[Andy P]

Poured my pre slope, put liner down and performed leak test. Used a water balloon to plug drain for test. Level dropped about 1/8th inch in 20 hours (48 x 42 pan). I don't think the balloon made a complete seal - I noticed when someone flushed an adjacent toilet that a very small bubble came up from the drain area?? When I drained the water from leak test, there was a small amount of water on the liner. My questions are: Do you think leak test was successful? Should the liner be void of any water after you drain the leak test water? Thanks for your help.

[johnfrwhipple]

How did you measure the 1/8" drop in water level?

Bubbles coming up from the shower drain is very odd. Do you have pictures of the rough in work? Is the shower connected to a P-Trap?

1/8" of water is a lot. I would re-test and use a proper plug.

There should be no water after a leak test if the drain is installed properly and the drain has weep holes.

Can you post a picture of this drain?

JW

[jadnashua]

Put a pan of water out in the same room and see what evaporates after 20-hours. If the shower and the pan are the same, you don't have a problem. Any air movement in a winter, dry heating season will evaporate some water over 20-hours. You won't know how much until you run the simple experiment.

[Andy P]

Here are some pictures of my liner after performing the water leak test (passed this time, the balloon must not have made a complete seal first time allowing a little water to drain). Is this much water too much water to have on the liner after this test. Should the liner be completely void of water after draining from the leak test? If I need to build it up a little, I've read to use a "modified thinset". What is the difference between thinset and modified thinset? Thanks for all the help.

[johnfrwhipple]

Great pictures.

Nice work in the corners with that liner!

I would not sweat that little bit of water you show there at all. The weight of the mortar will flatten out your liner somewhat and the water will wick through the drypack base to some degree.

A little candle wick in those 4 weep holes or a positive weep protector from Noble Company is a good idea.



I think Noble ships all order's in the states for $5.00 from there online store. A little weep hole protector like this will fit any clamping drain and is worth the effort if you do not like the idea of using pea gravel or candle wick.

You can use Pea gravel, Tile Shims, Coffee filters - anything to keep the drypack from sealing off those weep holes.

I tried using a little left over Ditra Drain on my last shower and that worked great. But you don't want to buy a $500 roll for 1 square foot.



Make sure this areas don't get filled with drypack.

JW