I've been doing research online for a shower rebuild project for about 2 months and I always seem to come back to this site. Thank you so much for all the great resources that are available here! On to my question.

Whoever built the walk-in shower in my house did a horrible job. I just got done tearing it apart and from the looks of it, its been leaking from the get-go. The liner they installed only went up about 2 inches. It didn't even come up flush with the top of the finish bed, and they didn't even think about taking it over the curb. The tiles on the curb were installed directly to the 2x6's that it was made from! I need to install a new liner and do the curb correctly and I think that will take care of my problems. My question is should I go ahead and rip out the pre-slope mortar bed and start from scratch, or can I keep the existing pre-slope and just put a proper liner in place and put my finish bed on top?

Here are some pictures:

Before the rip-out


Curb with no liner!!!


Showing the existing liner.


Some of the finish layer removed.

If the preslope is done correctly, it can be left in place. Basically it needs to slope from the wall to the drain at 1/4" per foot, and be at about the same level or slightly higher (maybe 1/8" or less) than the drain flange. You also need to make sure it's not cracked and breaking away at it's thinnest point around the drain. Make sure it's dried out before you start. Also make sure the weep holes on the drain aren't plugged with concrete.

Having said that, it's probably not going to be a big problem to take it out and start over. That way you know it's all done correctly.

If you need someone to take a look at it for your or some face-to-face advice, I'm only about 30 miles away from you.

Thanks for your reply Kman. I've been gone on spring break, but I got back yesterday, and today I decided to cut the old liner out so I could have a good look at the preslope. I don't know why I expected any part of this to be done correctly. As you can see by the pic below, it has dips, and look at the bubble! It slopes away from the drain in places!



So it looks like I'll be tearing out the preslope as well. I'm thinking about doing away with the glass anyways and building a tiled wall with glass stone inlays similar to Harry's NuHeat shower: http://www.ontariotile.com/heated-showers.html. I've noticed that on most of the pictures on harry's site and these forums there are no shower doors installed. Do you guys install the doors or does someone else?

I never install the doors, don't really have time. So many of them have to be custom cut, and to be honest most people that spend a lot of money on a tile shower are more than willing to pay the extra for a nice door, as opposed to a one-size-fits-all door you can get from Lowe's.

Sorry about the pre-slope, but at least this way you'll know it's done right from the beginning. Since you're back to square one, this would be a good opportunity for you to install a Kerdi shower if you're so inclined.

Hi

we do install doors on our projects, so if you have any specific questions feel free to let me know.

You're going to rip out the entire shower and start over right? Were you planning a different remedy?

Jaz

If you decide to do a Kerdi shower (that's all I do now) I can tell you where you can get all you need locally or online.

I was thinking of just ripping out the top layer, leaving the preslope and doing the liner and finish bed correctly. But after looking at the preslope, my decision was made. Its all torn out. Including the sink and cabinet that was next to the shower:




Here is the mold damage that was under the sink cabinet:

If I go with a Kerdi, how far up the wall do I need to take the Kerdi liner. Right now I've only got about 3 feet of tile removed. Would I have to remove all of it and take the Kerdi liner all the way up?

You could stop anywhere you want, but if the rest of the shower is built improperly, you'll still have problems.

If that's Hardibacker on the wall behind the tile, it should have a vapor barrier between it and the framing. Moisture will penetrate the Hardibacker and eventually get into the framing, thus the need for the vapor barrier. If that's drywall, it's probably turned to mush already. Either way, you're better off to take it out. At a bare minimum, the waterproofing needs to go up to the height of the shower head.

Some of the guys are using Kerdi on the floor and on the benches, then using a paint-on waterproofing for the walls. I use Kerdi all the way up to the shower head. Either one will work. The paint-on will probably save you a few dollars over the Kerdi.