Shower niche - not waterproof bc of gap

Users who are viewing this thread

Karen K.

New Member
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Houston, TX
Hi all,

My name is Karen and I am new to the world of bathroom remodeling. I would really appreciate your help with the following problem.

We have had our GK put in shower niches in our shower/tub combo (we are gutting bathrooms, just not moving any plumbing around). I read up on waterproofing and saw we should have a waterproofing membrane like redgard, so we asked them to do that including on the niche. There is hardiebacker on the walls and then redgard on top of it.

The problem with one niche is that when we examined it it wasn't properly built. They used hardie to build it out, but the corners arent aligned, and one part of the niche doesnt have hardie on it. There are gaps in the corner that would clearly lead to water leaking into the walls or at the least have moisture exposure. The other niches were built properly, but not this one. You can see the plywood beneath.

They had already tiled all the walls around the niche and the back wall of the niche. I don't think it is an option to have them take the tile out and redo the niche entirely, so my question to you is, given the situation, what is the best way to minimize water leakage? When I raised the issue to them they said they would take care of it - and then they put cement on top of one of the gaps to fill the gap (not sure if that is waterproof and rather doubt it), then some redgard on top. Doesnt look as tho the Redgard is applied well either.

I am really worried about water damage and there are still some gaps on the top left and right corners of the niche. What do you recommend I ask them to do to fix this? Use a waterproof tape to tape off the gaps? Does cementing it work? Obviously the best thing would be to have them redo the niche entirely, but tile is already on the wall around it and not sure if they can just pull out surrounding tile. It hasn't been grouted, just set.

I am at my wits end trying to figure this out and know it has to be fixed now or we will be facing the possibility of water damage down the road. Any advice would be most appreciated. Thank you.
 

Karen K.

New Member
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Houston, TX
Thank you for your response. They were recommended by friends of ours. The other niches they did are well done and properly Redgarded (painted twice I believe), not sure how this one ended up the way it did.

They did use thinset on the corners, where the long wall meets the short wall, as well as the seams. I do not believe they used reinforcing tape, since I didn't see it, but I'm not sure about that. They redgarded this shower at our request, but I am not sure they did it properly (didn't wait 24 hours, only used one coat).

At this point, most of the tile has been put in into this shower, except for on the four sides of the niche. The back part of the niche is, however, tiled. I guess I could ask them to do over the niche (not the entire shower), but that will definitely cause tension. I'd like to keep things cordial, but of course, I am not going to just sit by and say nothing when it is our house and our project we hired them for. I have already raised this and know they are willing to fix it, but the question is what is the proper method....if they just cement it up and redgard it and then tell me that works, I don't know enough to tell them, say, no, it doesn't.....so your insight is very helpful.

Quick question, when you said "You may be able to waterproof the sides and bottom and perhaps use a product like Kerdi Fix to seam the waterproofing to the tile itself in the back but this will not address the front edge.", do you mean that it still won't address the gap where the wall tile meets the front part of the niche?
 

Jadnashua

Retired Defense Industry Engineer xxx
Messages
32,771
Reaction score
1,191
Points
113
Location
New England
It's almost impossible to get the proper thickness of Redgard on one coat, plus, the instructions say to use two, applied in opposite directions (roller or brush) to help ensure you get all areas covered with the proper thickness with no gaps or pinholes. Unless this is done, it likely won't be waterproof as it should in this situation. A single coat is called for only when a decoupling or crack isolation is desired.

In the future, it's a good idea to download, read, and make available to the installers (who should already know, but that doesn't always happen), the manufacturer's installation instructions. As noted, your contract with them should include installed per the manufacturer's instructions.
 

Karen K.

New Member
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Houston, TX
Hi John, yes indeed, that is our niche and it is really helpful to get these insights. Thank you. As you say, this will have to be fixed properly and we will make sure it does - it is our home after all....
 

Jadnashua

Retired Defense Industry Engineer xxx
Messages
32,771
Reaction score
1,191
Points
113
Location
New England
That niche shown by John is a preformed, waterproof one. It sort of looks like Kerdi board was used. To finish it off, you'd use some Kerdiband to cover the seam with the wall. Not sure if that was done prior to finishing things off. Alternately, you might use KerdiFix, but it doesn't look like either of those were used (yet?).
 

Jadnashua

Retired Defense Industry Engineer xxx
Messages
32,771
Reaction score
1,191
Points
113
Location
New England
It's so wrong that clients seem to know more about shower construction that the men being hired to build them.

JW

I heartily agree with that...workmanship in general has slipped. There are people out there with pride in their work, and they generally get enough to keep them going, but some people, regardless, just want the cheapest job, and they end up with garbage sometimes.

Sometimes, it's the corporate attitude, sometimes, it's just ignorance, sometimes, it's just greed. Having spent a lot of time working as a government contractor...missile systems to be more specific, there's no room for errors and it's test, test, test until you're sure the design works as planned.

KerdiBoard wasn't around when I went through training...
 
Top
Hey, wait a minute.

This is awkward, but...

It looks like you're using an ad blocker. We get it, but (1) terrylove.com can't live without ads, and (2) ad blockers can cause issues with videos and comments. If you'd like to support the site, please allow ads.

If any particular ad is your REASON for blocking ads, please let us know. We might be able to do something about it. Thanks.
I've Disabled AdBlock    No Thanks