I am installing tile on shower walls.
Durarock was installed to Top flange of shower pan, leaving a gap approximatley 1.5". How do I tile or fill that gap?

Lucia

The Duroc or wallboard should go up the wall behind the pan, no gaps. The tile sits on the pan flange and is caulked at the pan lip
Can you post a picture?

Fill the area with thin set and let dry. This will give you a flat area to work with. Install tile from bottom up.

This is not the proper why to install the wall board but will help solve the gap problem. Proper installation would have been to run wall board over lip. This would have given you a seal from water.

Chuck

The Durock butts the edge of the flange?
Can't he just run a small bead of caulk there, and set tile hanging over the Durock by 1/8", assuming it's big enough tile?

Thx for suggestions!
Pan flange does not go on top of durock... sadly it seems.

Thin set makes sense - build up space with it, correct ? And let dry?
Do I them use caulk as well?
What is the best type of caulk for that application, i.e. on shower pan flange ?

The Durock sits at the top of the shower pan flange - so it is ~ 1.5" above the actual pan ledge.
And the durock is thicker than flange , so flange sits under and back forther than durock.
Seems to be quite a large space to fill ; but if caulk will carry tile all right, I'm glad to do that.

I will try to take a pic showing my dilemma.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by loosh

Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions.
Pan flange does not go on top of durock... sadly it seems.

Thin set makes sense - build up space with it, correct ? And let dry?
Do I then use caulk as well?
What is the best type of caulk for that application, i.e. on shower pan flange ?

The Durock sits at the top of the shower pan flange - so it is ~ 1.5" above the actual pan ledge.
And the durock is thicker than flange , so flange sits under and back further than durock.
Seems to be quite a large space to fill ; but if thin set (and caulk?) will carry tile all right, I'm glad to do that.

BTW -I am using 8"x12" tile.

I will try to take a pic showing my dilemma.

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Lucia

I'm not sure you have any "dilemma" here...

Although I don't install shower pans this way, plenty of people do. Here, some people argue that you want the cement board on top of that base flange so adding thinset to fill that space could cause wicking and that is a bad thing.

I guess I would have you simply caulk the joint between the cement board and the shower pan flange. Then, install your tile as normal being sure to use 1/8" spacers between the shower pan and the bottom row of tiles. After you set the tiles and the setting mortar dries, pull the spacers and fill the gap between the shower pan and the bottom row of tiles with a color matched, mildew-resistant caulking. This will guarantee that water cannot wick up to the joint in question and will allow for some flexibility between the shower pan and the bottom row of tiles (especially if the shower pan wasn't embedded in a bedding substrate).

Here is an article that may prove helpful in this case:

How to Install Tiled Shower Walls With a Prefab Base | Home Guides | SF Gate

Good luck!

Mark