I have a nightmare going on that I have a few questions about. I've had a contractor in my house for 6 weeks installing a 3' by 5' shower with glass doors. It's been an ongoing problem with these guys, and I think I may have even more problems with the way they've installed the tiling. They left the drain at the end of the shower nearest the shower head and slightly sloped it down from the opposite wall. But the sides that run along the stall were not sloped inward, so there is a gap at the bottom where the floor meets the wall tiles that runs from around 1/4" by the opposite wall to an inch down by the wall that the head and drain are installed. My initial thought was that the joint was way too wide, and that any failure would happen at the wide joint. They've also grouted all of the corners and where the tile "meets" the floor, even though I've seen that these should be caulked. Also in some pix of a properly tiled shower, it looks as if the wall tile went below where the floor tile started. This guy probably has another week of work on this mess, so I want to cover any areas that may cause problems in the future (or near future) I've also seen that a grout sealer should be applied and that an epoxy grout is the best to use. (they state in their contract that they use "the finest materials available")

Voklust...

It would help a lot if you could post a few pictures of what you are talking about.

Otherwise, I'm wondering if this guy pulled a building and a plumbing permit for the work? Is there a light in the shower? If so, then an electrical permit should also have been pulled.

When a permit is pulled it allows the building inspector to come in during the ROUGH phase and inspect that the shower membrane was PREPITCHED and to make sure that all the right wood, insulation and a vapor barrier have been installed as required by code in your area.

The plumbing inspector would then come in and make sure that the shower valve and drain pipe were properly installed, etc. The shower pan should have been tested for leaks, overnight at a minimum... I do a 24 hour pan test.

Now, in terms of epoxy grout... if they did not state epoxy grout then you can't hold them to that. The "finest materials available" can mean almost anything and now you know what to look for the next time.. ;) Always... always get materials to be used spelled out specifically... never any questions that way.

In terms of grouting or using caulking in the corners... can't say right or wrong on that as each contractor does it different. I am a big fan of the color matched caulking, but grout will work fine, too. It did for 100 years before caulking showed up... :)

If you have any questions... could always call the inspector... but I'm betting your shower/tile guy won't like that!

Anyway, post a couple pics... sounds like something is wrong here...

MARK

There really is no solution other than a complete tear out. What you describe is so bad and so incorrect that I can only imagine how bad the work that is hidden will be. I imagine no presloped bed under the liner, no moisture barrier on the walls, possibly greenboard used on the walls, I envision the curb being formed by nailing cement board through the liner and guessing from the size of the shower, that this was possibly a tub conversion which would explain the drain placement. It can be done that way without moving the drain but creates for a really unsightly slope or creative layout and cutting, which your contractor is obviously incapable of doing. If this was a tub, often they are plumbed with 1.5" drain lines but a shower stall requires a 2" drain line all the way to and including it's connection to the plumbing stack. I picture a reducing fitting from 2" to 1.5" being used somewhere along the way.

Really, if you have any pictures taken during the construction phase and also current pictures, please either post them or provide a link to a personal web page or photo sharing site such as photobucket. There's a lot that we could probably figure out from those pictures and we could confirm all our worst concerns.

Do you have a bench in this shower and do you know how it was constructed?

Seriously, pictures, pictures, pictures.

I did a walking shower about the same size and it took 2 weeks tiled and epoxy grout and silconed the corners. I used a product called Wedi board for the walls, floor pan and curb.Wedi building board tiling solutions. It a no brainer to use. This the shower I did, by using it the wall is all sealed before tiling is started. Is a little more expenisve but it's a great produce for showers and any tiling in a bathroom.


Good Luck
Gerry