How to finish sloped ceiling in steam shower

[RascalHoudi]

Hi.

I am finishing construction of my steam shower and need to decide on how to finish the sloped ceiling.

The shower has kerdi on walls and ceiling, so that limits me to using an unmodified thinset. I emailed Schluter and they told me that I could not use any kind of adhesive and needed to stay with the thinset.

The walls and floors will be tiled.

The ceiling is 6' x 4', with a slope along the short wall - a 4" slope for 1" per foot. The ceiling also has 3 protrusions - 2 round lights and a round exhaust fan vent.

I am thinking that tiling the ceiling will eliminate the benefit of the slope, as water will roll to the end of the tile and then drop - never reaching the far wall. I was considering using 4' t&g cedar for the ceiling (to allow an unbroken path to the far wall so that the water drops can run), but if I'm limited to thinset- that won't work too good with cedar will it? Perhaps I can put a ledge near the top of the tiles to support the cedar?

Just looking for some ideas that some of you may have on how I could finish this sloped ceiling and prevent water drips in the middle of the room.

Thanks.

[jadnashua]

SOme tile have a squarer edge than others. And, overdressing/washing the grout can make the grout joint to become recessed during installation. If you are real careful about cleanup when installing the grout, it should be fairly flat.

Adhesives, especially those with solvents in them, could really mess with the membrane! And, I'm not sure you'd like the cedar there anyway. You obviously can't nail it up as you'd compromise the water/vaporproofing. And, no, thinset is unlikely to make a permanent bond with any dimmensional wood. Maybe an epoxy thinset if you really want to go that way. Check with the manufacturers (both Schluter and the epoxy thinset) to see if they'd approve that.

[johnfrwhipple]

Hi.

I am finishing construction of my steam shower and need to decide on how to finish the sloped ceiling.

The shower has kerdi on walls and ceiling, so that limits me to using an unmodified thinset. I emailed Schluter and they told me that I could not use any kind of adhesive and needed to stay with the thinset.

The walls and floors will be tiled.

The ceiling is 6' x 4', with a slope along the short wall - a 4" slope for 1" per foot.

The ceiling also has 3 protrusions - 2 round lights and a round exhaust fan vent.

Is the exhaust fan in the steamer? What exact steamer unit do you have?

I am thinking that tiling the ceiling will eliminate the benefit of the slope, as water will roll to the end of the tile and then drop - never reaching the far wall. I was considering using 4' t&g cedar for the ceiling (to allow an unbroken path to the far wall so that the water drops can run), but if I'm limited to thinset- that won't work too good with cedar will it?

You won't be installing cedar over your Kerdi membrane with thinset.

Perhaps I can put a ledge near the top of the tiles to support the cedar?

I think you should hit the brakes and work this trough to the end.

Just looking for some ideas that some of you may have on how I could finish this sloped ceiling and prevent water drips in the middle of the room.

Thanks.

There is not many drips in a regular steam shower with a flat ceiling. At 4" per foot of slope and a grout joint that is not heavily raked back (where lots of grout is removed an the grout joint is deep) you will be fine. I bet you never notice a drip once you use it. The steam is "Hot" the drip is "warm" you can't really feel them while steaming...

[johnfrwhipple]

We do not recommend that fans get installed inside your steam shower. These can act as chimneys for steam vapour. I like the fan placed right outside the door and ideally best a window transom that can pivot.

JW

[RascalHoudi]

Thanks for the replies guys.. this is a great help.

I find that I'm starting to lean towards tiling the ceiling as it really appears that I'd have to nail/screw the cedar and compromise the integrity of the Kerdi. Even though I could fill the hole with silicone, it just introduces potential failure points that I really don't need.

From what I read, the threat of drips doesn't really happen until the steamer has been on for about 40-45 minutes, so perhaps it won't be a concern for normal day to day usage. Combined with the ability to lessen the exposure by grouting as close to level with the tile as possible is really making tile seem like the proper solution.

John.. your comment about not installing fans inside the steam shower is interesting. Since I haven't ordered the door yet, I can still go with a transom and move the fan to just outside the door quite easily. Have you actually seen any installations where they had the fan inside and experienced problems?

thx/jd

[johnfrwhipple]

.... Have you actually seen any installations where they had the fan inside and experienced problems?...

I have not seen a failed ceiling fan in a steam shower before but have installed dozens of ceiling fans. The inside of a regular ceiling fan is not designed for the high concentration of steam vapor. All that steam will wreck havoc on your fan.

Call a few steam generator manufactures and check their recommendations on this detail.

JW