Hey There just signed up. In hopes to end my headache.
I've done extensive research on the Kerdi membrane.
about 2 weeks now staring at the computer.
Ok so this is what I've got.My shower was leaking found out it was the pan that was leaking. One of those ancient lead based pans.
so I've gutted out the entire shower. I have installed hardibacker
board to the walls about 9 feet high. I dont plan on tileing to the ceiling.

Any way let me paint you a picture.. The shower is rectangle
with three walls. the two side walls are are 3 ft by 8 ft.
the back wall 4 ft by 8ft and obviously the floor without the
curb is 4 ft by 3 ft. the curb will be made of three 2x4s stacked. I got a concrete floor in which I'm going to put the kerdi drain and slope the mortar to the drain.

question 1. Can I use a fernco fitting to attach my iron
drain pipe to the kerdi pvc or abs drain?

Question 2. haveing trouble or maybe just seconds guessing myself on how much kerdi membrane to get? I dont want to
over purchse Because funds are limited. I've seen places that
sell the membrane by the square foot.


thanks for your time.and as this project gets going I'll take
pictures of the progress and post.

Sounds like the shower floor is 4'x3', correct me if I'm wrong. That all comes out to 92 square feet. If you're going to have a bench, that would add slightly more. http://www.tile-experts.com offers a 108 sf roll, which would probably be as cheap or cheaper than you can get it by the square foot. That would give you a little extra if you need it (I didn't include a little extra for the curb, overlaps, and waste). They also have the drain you would need. There is a shipping cost, but no taxes, so it's pretty much the same as buying it from the store for me, plus it's delivered right to your door in about three or four days.

If you want to cut back a little, you could go up to the height of the shower head with Kerdi, which is probably a little under seven feet. That would give you a little more "breathing room" in case you have any miscuts. That's what I usually do, since no significant amount of water is going to go above that.

As for the fernco, I'm pretty sure that would work, but you might wait for a reply from one of the other guys to be sure.

Hope this helps.

Are you doing the plumbing or a plumbing contractor?

Is this a slab on grade?

There's quite a bit of prep work to do before you install a Kerdi Drain.
Do you know how to do a dry pack mud bed over concrete?

(((Are you doing the plumbing or a plumbing contractor?)))

Theres no plumbing that needs to be done. The drain pipe
is allready there from the old shower it sits maybe 1/2 an inch below the top of the concrete and the concrete is chiseled out
around the drain I would say allmost 8 inch diameter.

((Is this a slab on grade?))
Not sure if i under stand what you mean but the concrete slab does not have any grade to the drain at all.

There's quite a bit of prep work to do before you install a Kerdi Drain.

((Do you know how to do a dry pack mud bed over concrete?))

never done it before but what I was thinking, Was laying some chicken wire over the slab. and securing it down with some sort
of concrete staples. Is there such a thing? and then drypack How would you recommend Securing the chicken wire down to the concrete or is there an all together different method?

I didn't even think about just going above the shower head thanks.
that will save me some materials for the bench seat.
another question that I have Is with Kerdi membrane would I have to buy Kerdi Band to put in the wall corners and then buy
the prefabed inside and out side corner pieces for the floor
corners? Or is it all possible with just the kerdi membrane?

92 sqft thats what I figured too. just needed some reassurance.
My first home and my first big project. well its not that big
I just have never done this before. I allways say though
the only way to learn is to just do it yourself.
And thanks to this site and people like the members on here
it makes that all possible.


Thanks to everyone.
I plan on doing a lot more work to the interior of my house so I'll be around here for a long while. Hell maybe as a go, and learn more I will be able to help somebody else out with their questions.

((Do you know how to do a dry pack mud bed over concrete?))

never done it before but what I was thinking, Was laying some chicken wire over the slab. and securing it down with some sort
of concrete staples. Is there such a thing? and then drypack How would you recommend Securing the chicken wire down to the concrete or is there an all together different method?



NEVER MIND.. I just read on here you can lay some thin set on top of the concrete and then dry set over that to bond the dry set to the concrete. That would be easier.

No Kerdi-Band required ... just overlap the Kerdi membrane about 2" in all areas where the sheets meet.

Is it possible for you to post a picture of the existing drain pipe?

That 8" hole is going to have to be filled with concrete once the Fernco coupling and ABS stub pipe is attached if you leave it as is.
Unless the existing drain pipe is lowered, the bottom of the Kerdi drain flange is going to be about 4-7/8" above the existing concrete which is a lot higher than normal. This will end up making your curb really high.

This is why I asked who is doing the plumbing. You need to modify the existing drain. Do you have the skill and tools to cut that metal drain pipe down?

Something else I thought of: Is the drain pipe 2"? If not, that's probably going to be another issue.

As far as the preformed corners, you should get four inside corners and two outside corners with every drain. At least that's what I get through tile-experts. Some of the guys don't like them, but that's what I still use. When waterproofing a corner bench, I don't use any preformed corners, I just make some pieces out of Kerdi band. If the bench goes straight from wall to wall, you could use two more outside corners for the front of the bench, and two more inside corners for the back.

Good luck with that drain, sounds like a bear.

I'll get some pictures up either this afternoon or tomorrow.
for ya. thanks for the help.

Harry I found this that you had posted. useing a standard
drain with kerdi membrane.

http://www.ontariotile.com/kerdi-drain.html

How reliable is this method? would I have to keep an eye on
water leaks from around the drain in the future?
heck if this method is pretty reliable I could save $95 on kerdi drain. I'm not trying to cut corners or do a shoty job.
Just if I could save some money and It still be reliable,,
why not huh?

Keep in mind the shower two side walls and back wall are in the garage.

Ok I got around to doing some work on the shower this weekend finally. took some pictures of the Drain. of the curb I built
and of the shut off valves I Installed.

Drain Pictures.


Soo how do you post pictures on this forum?

Host the photos to a site like Image Shack http://www.imageshack.us

Make sure the button that says upload is checked.
Click on browse to find the photo in your computer. (Then click on the photo you want)
Check mark the box that says resize image and select 640x480 (for message boards)
Click on the host it! box
Make sure you uncheck the box that says include details.
Click on the box beside where it says Hotlink for Forums (1)then right click to select copy.
Go to your post and right click and select copy This will past the image to your thread.
Select Preview Reply to make sure your image is good.
Repeat the above to post another photo
Once all your photos are pasted to your thread then click on Submit

Image Shack will only allow you to copy and paste one photo at a time.

Ok I got around to doing some work on the shower this weekend finally. took some pictures of the Drain. of the curb I built
and of the shut off valves I Installed.

Drain Pictures.







Curb..



shut off valves

I have decided that I'm going to do the drain and kerdi base Harrys way with a standard drain.

http://www.ontariotile.com/kerdi-drain.html


My question here is what options do I have on the drain assy?

being that the drain is cast iron. The drain as you could
see in the above pictures is flush with the concrete.
I really dont want to start messing with cutting concrete
and cutting the pipe.
building a thicker mortar bed to accommodate the hieght of the pipe and drain Is not a problem. You should of seen how thick
the conventional shower pan was that I pulled out.

put up the insulation and cement board this weekend. hear are some pictures. Any comments and what I did right and what I did wrong
Are more then welcome.

INSULATED-- scratch scratch after that for about 3 hours.




Put up the cement board.



Cut out for Niche



Niche and all seams sealed



I cement boarded 7' high and I'm going to sheetrock the rest
to the ceiling.

The drain pipe as you can see in the pictures is flush with
the concrete slab. the pipe measures Inside diam. 2"
outide diam. 2 1/4"

Do they make any drains that fit inside the pipe instead of
fitting over the outside of the pipe?

what type of drain is Harry useing?

http://www.ontariotile.com/kerdi-drain.html

do they make drains that fit inside the drain pipe instead of
over the outside of the pipe. My pipe is Outside diam is 2 1/4"
and the inside diam. is 2"

If you look back I posted pictures of the cast iron drain pipe I am dealing with. Its flush with the concrete floor. I need to go as low profile as I can with the drain/ferco coupling.

The drain is a standard clamp style.
The membrane he put over it is Schluter Kerdi.

There is no drain that will attach directly to the inside of cast iron pipe. You will need a Fernco boot to transition to a 2" ABS pipe stub.

The concrete will have to be lowered, otherwise your going to have to do a fairly deep drypack shower base.

BTW all of your photos are out of focus.

so What your saying is I can not use a Fernco boot to fit over the cast iron pipe and then attach the drain to the other side of the boot. I would have to go pipe,boot,abs pipe,then drain?



I kind of prepared for this. Thats why my curb is 7 1/2" tall.
but with the problems I'm having transitioning the drian i'm
getting closer to knocking up some concrete.


Out of focus?????? looks like you had one too many smiley faced beers there RC. :0) j/k I know its a cheap camera.

Yes



I don't think so and yes every photo except the close up of the drain pipe you posted that displays on my computer are blurry. All other photos on this web site have sharp images.
How do they look on your computer?
Maybe one of the others could comment on how they appear.

Those are pictures of a shower?

Just kidding. They are a little fuzzy. Sometimes the wrong setting on a digital camera can make them that way.

Well technically its not a shower yet. But When it grows up thats
what it wants to be. This is my first house and my first DIY job
I'll be like you guys when I grow up I swear.

I'll keep you guys posted on the next phase of my shower "The Drain and the slopped floor." and post pictures as I go.
But for now, its hurry up and wait- to save some more cash so that I could finish.

Thank you guys for helping me out.
I'll chug a beer for ya guys tonight.

update on the progress. I'm going to be knocking out some concrete to install the kerdi drain. What tool can I rent to use to do this? (I do not have an air compressor)

what can I use to cut the iron pipe? do they make A drill
bit that cuts from the inside of the pipe?

Then I'm going to have to use the fernco fitting over the iron pipe then abs pipe on the other side of the fernco fitting then the drain Right?

One more question I'm going to build a bench in one of the corners of the shower. out of wood. and cover with cement board.
would I be safe building the bench before laying the sloped floor? This way the bench base would be secured down with the
sloped mortar bed
or should I build the bench out of 2x4s lay the mortar bed then
cement board?


Thanks again for all the help....

A demolition hammer (also sometimes called a chipping hammer) will work. The one I have just requires electricity, not air. This is the one I have.
http://www.hitachipowertools.com/store_item.php?iID=67&arrPath=1,68,16,p67,

As far as cutting the pipe, that's out of my league. I'd have to call a plumber. If you do, just make sure you're sure you know where you want it cut off. I'd rather have it cut too low and add more ABS or PVC, than to have it cut too high. Maybe one of the other guys will have better advice.

I always build the bench first and cover it, although if you're doing a full kerdi shower, you can use drywall as opposed to CBU if it's convenient for you. At the minimum you'll need the drywall/CBU on the front of the bench to create the mud bed. Doing the bench before the mud bed allows you to keep the perimeter of the floor at the same height all the way around.

I build the bench and attach the sides to the wall studs and glue the base to the floor. If needed, you can add blocking inside the bench attached to the wall framing to stiffen it up even more.

cool i'm sure I could rent one of those at Lowes.
Thanks. You answered all my questions regarding the bench.
I'm going to get stared on it tonight.


KMAN is the MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nah, I got everything from Harry and RC and the other guys here, Torrez. If it wasn't for them I'd still be installing tile face down!