Here's some pics of a shower demo I started today. The picture from underneath the tub, which is to the left of the shower, shows two screws coming through the CBU. You'll notice the liner is not behind the CBU, which is a bad indication already. Water was already leaking out through one of the screw holes. I busted up the tile on the floor and the concrete underneath. When I got the concrete busted out around the drain, I found that the "installer" had cut a holt in the liner and installed the threaded drain through the hole and screwed it into the flange. The correct clamping drain was used, but the liner was never clamped between the upper and lower flange. Water was leaking into a hole below the drain. The hole was filled with sand, which was blocking the weep holes. I could already tell that the liner was lying directly on the slab with no preslope. [IMG] [/IMG] [IMG] [/IMG] [IMG] [/IMG] [IMG] [/IMG]

On two of the walls, the liner was attached to the CBU inside the shower with 50-60 screws and nails about five or six inches above the slab. On these two walls, the top half of the bottom row of tiles were stuck to the CBU and the bottom half of the tiles were "stuck" to the liner. On the other two walls, (one of them is the dam, the other a half wall with glass above) two layers of CBU were used so that the thickness of the walls allowed the "installer" to use a full 6X6 tile on top of the half wall and dam. The liner was sandwiched between the two layers on the half wall and wrapped around the dam. The dam had at least 15 screws/nails in the top and inside of the dam. No type of sealer was used on any of the walls. Red duct tape had been used to "tape" the seams on the CBU. In several places there were five or six screws or nails in one stud to "secure" the liner. Obviously it wasn't going anywhere.

In the corners, the liner was cut all the way to the slab and the corners folded over and nailed to the bottom plate with several nails, all of which were rusted, of course. Cutting the liner and folding it over left holes at the bottom large enough to poke my finger through.

When I pulled the bottom row of tiles loose and cut away the CBU, I found that one of the many screws had pierced a hot water line just above the installed safety plate. A plumber had to be called in to repair the leak.

When I pulled away the liner, the floor was saturated and the bottom plate and bottom six inches of several of the studs was black with mold. Furthermore, I pulled up on the drain and found that the 2" two foot long pipe extending from the drain to the trap had not even been glued to the trap. The hole that was left out in the slab to install the trap had been filled with sand that had sunk several inches below the slab. It was soaked and had obviously been catching all the water that got to the hole. The insulation in one corner was damp and black with mold.

I washed everything down with bleach water and right now a fan is directed into the shower to dry everything out. Here's the really sad part: The homeowner happened to see the builder driving by and flagged him down. He came in to look at the situation and said, "It only leaks when you plug up the drain, right?" He said the "installer" isn't even living or working in the area anymore.

Hopefully I'll have more tomorrow. [IMG] [/IMG] [IMG] [/IMG] [IMG] [/IMG] [IMG] [/IMG]

I don't even know what to say about that. It's terrible .... but unfortunately not uncommon.